The Last Thing A Sales Manager Wants To Do Is To Go Through A Certification Course In Sales Prospecting. Theyve Been There And Theyve Done That, Or Theyd Not Have Been Promoted To A Sales Manager Level. After All, Thats Up To The Sales Rep. Thats Why They Are Hired On. In Fact, I Recently Asked A Vice President Of Sales In A Competitive Industry If Hed Be Open To Looking At A Sales Prospecting System For His Sales Managers His Remark Was Thats What We Hire Sales Reps For. If They Dont Do It, We Fire Them And Find Some That Will. Well, By Definition, I Guess Thats Fair. Because If You Take A Look At Any Outside Sales Representative Job Description, Youll See Experience Criteria Listed Such As: Excellent Cold Calling And Lead Generation Experience, Or Must Be Able To Identify Target Prospects And Maintain An Appropriate Activity Funnel, Or Must Meet Or Exceed Activity Standards. So Why Should A Sales Organization Consider Establishing A Prospecting Certification Course For Their Sales Managers? In Order To Consider This Argument, Lets First Take A Look At Standard Criteria Within A Sales Manager Job Description:Responsible For Managing Sales Activity For New And Existing Account ExecutivesNow Lets Break This Job Criterion Into Individual Elements And Look At It As A Professional Investor Would Look At A Business Case. Here Are Some Synonyms For The Word Responsible:AccountableIn ChargeTo BlameLiableGuiltyAnswerableDependableConscientiousI Dont Know About You, But If I Understand The Kings Language Here, I Am Beginning To Feel I Have Some Skin In The Game As A Sales Manager Already. Lets Investigate A Little Further By Pulling Out The Phrase Managing Sales Activity. There Are (2) Different Ways To Manage. You Can Choose To Supervise Or You Can Elect To Organize. If 100 Of Your Sales Team Is 100 Effective At Professional Prospecting; Meeting Or Exceeding The Necessary Activity Standard, Supervising Will Do The Trick. Youre Dismissed.But To The Extent That They Are Not Is The Extent You Will Need To Organize, Put In Order A Best Practice Prospecting System To Support New Sales Appointment Activity. (Or Start Over Like The Sales Executive Fore-mentioned.) Now Lets Peel Back The Phrase New And Existing Account Reps. In A Sales Manager Dictionary, New Means New-hires And New-hires Reflects Ramp-to-quota. Simply Put, The Quicker A New-hire Ramps To Quota The Better For Both Parties; The New-hire And The Sales Manager. Both Get More Credit, Earn More Recognition And Receive More Commission. And What Is The Most Important Facilitator In Getting A New-hire Sales Rep To Quota In The Least Amount Of Time? Its Making Sure They Secure The Necessary Amount Of New Appointments. Its The Fuel In The Tank. The Quicker They Do That, The Quicker They Will Ramp To Quota With The Proper Mentor Support Of Course. And That Brings Us Back To The Leadership Choice Between Choosing To Supervise Versus Electing To Organize.Heres A (1) Rep Hard-number Example. Average New Hires Per Year: 1Monthly Sales Quota: 7,500Average Term Agreement: 24 MonthsCurrent Average Ramp-to-Quota: 5 MonthsImprove Average Ramp-to-Quota: 4 MonthsAverage 'Sub-Quota' Revenue Per Month During Ramp: 2,800 Annual ROI: 112,800In This Example, Reducing The Time It Takes For (1) New-hire Sales Rep To Achieve Quota By Only 1 Month Returns Back To The Sales Manager 112,800 In Additional Sales Revenue. The Other And Sometimes Forgotten Performance Silo Within The Term New-hire Is Sales Employee Turnover. Most Sales Employee Turnover Occurs With The First 8 Months Of Bring A New Sales Employee Onboard. My Studies Also Tell Me That 90 Or More Of That Turnover Is Directly Related To Low Sales Activity; Not Setting Enough New Appointments To Meet The Quota Ramp Criteria.Using The Same Model As Above, Lets Look At Whats In It For The Sales Manager To Promote A Prospecting System To Reduce New-hire Employee Turnover.Number Of Sales Reps: 1012 Month Turnover Rate: 40Average Salary: 25,000Recruiting CostsRep: 1,000Training CostsRep: 1,800Monthly Sales Quota: 7,500Improve Turnover Rate To: 30Revenue Ramp-up Costs: 60,000Total Annual Cost: 178,533Revenue Production Loss: 63,000Saved Reps: 1Annual Savings: 44,633Reducing Annual Turnover For Just (1) New-hire Sales Rep Returns Back To The Sales Manager 44,633 In Additional Sales Revenue And Recovered Costs. Multiply That Out By Your Own Sales Employee Turnover Number.Now Back To Our Sales Manager Job Description Criteria Of Responsible For Managing Sales Activity For New And Existing Account Executives. Lets Investigate The Term Existing Account Managers And What Managing Sales Activities By Supervising Or Organizing Means To Our Career.First Of All, What Percentage Of Your Existing Sales Team Is Reaching Or Exceeding Quota Each Month. Of The Percentage That Is Not, What Percentage Of Them Are Not Achieving Quota Due To Sub-par Sales Activity? When You Uncover That Sales Performance Number And Understand The Ramifications To Revenue Result, You Will Move Another Notch Closer To Your Ultimate Answer Of Supervise Or Organize. Secondarily, What Percentage Of Your Sales Reps Time Is Spent On Securing New Business Appointments? JDH Group Clients Spend On Average 50 Of Their Weekly Hourly Rate On Prospecting. For A Sales Rep Working 45 Hours Per Week, Thats Over 22 Hours Dedicated To Front End Activity. If You Decided To Organize A Prospecting System, Become Certified In It And Help Others With It, Would That Drive That Number Down? Will That Allow Your Sales Team More Time To Pursue Higher-value, Solutions-based Selling Opportunities?One Definition Of Best Practice Is The Sum Of Everything Everybody In Your Sales Organization Knows That Gives You A Competitive Edge In The Market Place. Putting In Place A Prospecting System With Best Practice Components And Elements, Becoming Independently Certified To It As A Managerleader And Mentoring It Throughout Your Sales Team Will Ensure That Nobody Is Left Behind. And Enabling Your Sales Team To Share Knowledge And Insight Stimulates Targeted Sales Activity That Will Drive New Business And Help You Reach Your Desired Results More Often.
