Grace knows what the end of the year means to a successful sales professional; get busy doing account reviews. After 10 years in the business Grace was willing to have these conversations, but after turning in the write ups to her sales manager she was not sure what was accomplished. The customers sounded like a tape-recorded message every year; we like your service, the products have been fine, no big plans for any changes, keep doing what you are doing. If Grace had filled out the reports before she spoke to customers, she probably would have gotten the same information. This year with all the changes caused by the pandemic, Grace figured that this tired process needed to change as well but had no idea of what those changes should be.
Diagnosis:
For many salespeople charged with this annual ritual the feeling of more effort for little result describes how they perceive these meetings. The tape-recorded messages essentially leave many salespeople thinking no news is good news. The report card is pass/fail and getting a pass is good enough and keeps management at bay. Grace did not feel good as she was setting the appointments and was certain there was a way to create more value for both her and her customers. Grace needed a remedy to her sense of wasted time and ending up with nothing more than an assignment checked off as completed.
Prescription:
While it is important to offer the customers and clients an opportunity to vent or provide a performance review, year end meetings should be much more proactive and growth oriented. Since she knows her real deliverable is business success and profitability, Grace needs to have a business conversation with her important relationships. This conversation should include a review of the sales results, debriefing any logistical issues, making sure there are no loose ends that need attention and, get ready, a request for more business. Any salesperson worth his or her salt has to know that there is no reason to hold back from asking how to be more involved in working together profitably. Review your numbers, look for specific opportunities and step right up and ask how you can do more than you did this year. Your customer is not worrying about your success, so do not expect that conversation to be started by him. Create a goal, ask if that is a reasonable request and then collaborate on how to achieve that outcome. If they will not participate you might have a real idea of what message you would get in the typical year end conversation.
Critical Thinking:
Where could your conversations be different? What successes have you had by asking for more?
The Drill
Final Thought for the Morning:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
Your Top 3 Goals & Tactics for the Week
LAST WEEK: Update us on how things went last week with your stated Goals and GD Tactics.
THIS WEEK: Please share your Top 3 Goals for this week and the GD tactics you plan to deploy.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
