Category: Sales leadership

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Influence Personal development Sales leadership Strategy

Importance of briefing execs ahead of external meetings

Briefing execs ahead of meetings with Execs from outside your business is critical to gain the outcome you are looking for as well as preparing the execs for questions.

Recently I skipped a briefing with my boss ahead of an executive steering committee with on the grounds my boss met with the executive of the Customer regularly. I have never done this, so what processed me to make this call I don’t know! But DONT miss a briefing.

Regardless of how well the executives know each other, what they don’t know is what is happening on the ground that’s impacting the relationship, gaps in process or opportunities for greater sales and other improvement observed by the wider team that may need to be brought to the attention of the exec.

What good looks like:

  1. What is the Customer likely to raise? What’s your response

2. What you would like to ask or opportunities identified? What is their likely response?

3. What other insights can you share, that would be helpful to their business?

If the exec is meeting for the first time, also have link to linkedin profile or summary.

Make sure you send the points in advance. Use summaries for each point not chapter and verse.

Set up 15-30 mins to brief the exec and take them through the points. Help them get familiar with the topics. If a member of your team has pulled this together, get them to do the brief with you in the room or on the call.

Once the exec meeting has taken place, then set up a time for a debrief and include your team members, to ensure all the topics are followed up correctly and updates re progress on any points are given at agree intervals i.e. daily, weekly to your executive as well as agreeing updates for the customers executive, including who is sharing the updates..

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High Performing Teams Personal development Sales leadership

Toxic Sales Cultures

Not a day goes by when this topic is not discussed. In the last week I have met with a number of people in the tech industry and the theme is consistent the days of “just get your number” are on the brink of extinction. There are some last bastions of this approach, but they are usually devoid of women, diversity and team work.

Yes coaching for success and making your people feel great so they can be successful is the only way to truly a high performing team in sales. If you work in a culture which is “just get your number”  then its important to know the new world of sales is very different.  The new world is about building a territory plan, working on the execution and coaching for success.

The “bully boy” approach may work with some men and young women who know no other way, there is a far more successful approach. HR practitioners, ensure you are not protecting the bully boy behaviour!

We need more sales people and the “50’s” method of get your number, is a way to put people off sales for life. It does not need to be that way. We could ensure more people are successful, and that will breed more success, Sales can have a great name and thrive in a great culture instead of a tribal culture, where the ones that know how to get results succeed the the others leave. This culture celebrates lone wolf behaviour which is detrimental to the well being of others in the team. The getting results is not by means we all know, they can be gaming the system, favouritism by the boss leading to the best portfolio and other scam that makes you look successful.  These cultures are toxic and lead to what looks like good sales results, but the underlying damage to customers is long term deterioration of revenue and customer satisfaction.

5 signs that the toxic behaviours are embedded:

1. Salespeople are under so much pressure to achieve numbers they create ways to achieving it dishonestly. Here are some of the worst I have personally experienced: photocopying signatures on contracts, selling a lesser product which does not fit business needs in order to sign a new Sale, but destroying the customer experience. Sell products that are later credited due to customer not understanding what they have signed.

2. “Best performing” sales people rewarded with best portfolios when their previous portfolio, signed business which is now hit with credits due to poor selling. The incoming sales person’s performance is radically impacted without the previous sales person being impacted.

3. Lone wolfs are celebrated, as they are seen as successful. One of the side effects of individual targets, is there no such thing as team players, everyone is out for themselves.

4. Gaming of territory and portfolio is rife in order to secure the target. Letters are written from the customer asking for a specific sales person or another person signing a customer knowing they are not in their portfolio.

5. Overcharging, not cancelling products that are not used, not passing on discounts that new customers have access to, all erode the trust with a customer. Not being a “trusted advisor” in account management is only going to result in the customer churning to the competition. In a toxic sales culture, salespeople work on the short term principle on the customer focused principle of Life time value.

The future of great sales cultures, is one that is supportive, nurturing, diverse, customer focused, group targets, to develop collaboration, leverage skills across the team, every success is celebrated no matter how small, lone wolf behaviour is not accepted, diversity is the norm.