My 40th birthday was frightening. After consistently ragging on everyone in the office who crossed that threshold, man did my team deliver by capitalizing on my inexplicable fear of clowns. Not only was there clown stuff all over my office on my birthday, but there were 3-d pictures of the team dressed like scary clowns! At lunch, the team wore the same scary clown masks. CRAP!
Nightmares would be mine! Then they gave me a cool gift to remind me of the nightmares salespeople have. A vintage, "sales activity board." Activity Leads to Success. Its such a mantra in so many sales organizations and just as silly as my fear of clowns.
Just who invented the sales saying, "its a numbers game?" Probably the same tool who came up with "Activity Leads to Success?" It's clear from the white board that "activity" means dials. So, let me get this straight: all salespeople have to do is make lots of calls any calls and they will get sales? According to these sales geniuses, yes.
Reminds me of the book "The Wolf of Wall Street" in which Jordan Belfort outlines how he would give salespeople the "mirror test." If there was breath on a mirror, Mr. Belfort would hire them. This is the essence of "Activity Leads to Success" because even the worst salesperson can get a few if they bang away at it long enough. Sure, Mr. Belfort trained them in his closing techniques, but some would close far more than others. Bet the 80/20 rule applied there, big time.
So where do you want to be? The 80 or the 20? And why do companies accept that 80/20 nonsense? It's one of the biggest self-fulfilling prophecies in sales. "Well, 80 percent of the sales will come from 20 percent of salespeople. That's just the way it is." What are we selling or talking about the US tax code?
The problem with "Activity Leads to Success" is that it puts too much emphasis on throwing up numbers and not enough emphasis on the activity of honing a quality message, the skills to deliver it and close the deal. Guess what gentile salespeople, that takes time and hard work. The time salespeople waste just being "active" and trying to hit dreamed up dial numbers.
As outlined in my last blog, sales managers dream these numbers up so they can have an illusion of control. Instead, managers should dream up ways to improve your skills and the solutions you offer. They should find a balance between "dialing" and delivering.
There's more blame to go around regarding, "its a numbers game" than just to sales managers. Sales people are to blame too for not having the guts to buck the numbers game nonsense and being too lazy to improve their skills. Leads are too precious to waste with with poorly planned pitches, lack of prospect knowledge and something original to say. If your manager isn't helping you, that's no excuse not to help yourself, kiddo.
I promise you the "20 percent" helps themself. The "20 percent" most likely abandon the sales script, record calls to improve (game tape), and immerse themselves in the business and desires of their prospects. Maybe selling securities, or in Belfort's case fake securities, doesn't lend itself to such techniques. But if you're in B2B, even other consumer sales it sure does.
What would you rather do? Show lots of dials or spend a little more time with each dial to lock down quality and have a better chance to close? Most second graders follow rules without question. Don't sell like one. And for goodness sake, don't ever get a clowns at your birthday party!
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