Recognizing The Sales Performance Competencies

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Let's first define what we mean by a "core competency." We will then introduce the 3 Core Competencies, and spend our time understanding how they can dramatically increase your success.

The term Core Competencies refers to those essential elements in the sales process that most directly impact your success. These elements are controllable and measurable, and sales professionals can be trained to be proficient in these areas. Unfortunately, many sales organizations and individuals lose focus - distracted by peripheral activities or sophisticated systems that track dozens of different activities when only a handful really matters.

Without a foundation built upon these essential elements or Core Competencies, and because of all the distractions and roadblocks an organization is susceptible to today, results can be mediocre or less.
Take a look at the following list of items that are prevalent in the sales cycle, and select the items that you believe are absolutely essential to your success.
- Closing Sales
- Developing Prospect Lists
- Setting Appointments
- Running 1st Appointments
- Working Qualified Prospects through the Sales Pipeline
- Post-Sale Marketing
- Developing Referrals
- Reporting and Paperwork
- Documenting Testimonials

Many of these tasks are important, but they are not all sales performance competencies. Yes, it is important and useful to ask for referrals and develop testimonials from satisfied customers, but your success hinges mostly on the mastery of - and attention to - the Core sales Competencies.

One simple way to determine whether an activity, routine or task is truly a core sales competency is to ask what activities are directly linked to revenue.
After all, revenue is how we sales people measure success. That's our scorecard at the end of the month.

We can do that through a series of questions listed below.

Is it an essential component to the sales mission or is it just an ingredient in the recipe?

Separate necessary tasks in your sales day from key competencies.
Consider a golfer's essential competencies from tee-off to last putt. Is the core competency the ball - or the club? Or is it the golf swing and putting stroke?

As an example, Prospecting for new business is a necessary sales system to put in place for routine success. Within your Prospecting system are individual components for lead generation; things like customer referral programs, vendor collaboration programs, affinity programs, target information seminars and association programs. These are not authentic sales competencies but tactical vehicles for lead generation.

The actual sales competency is the 'Act of communicating the Business Reason to Meet' once you are given the opportunity to have a face-to-face or telephone conversation with your intended target prospect.
And the measurement of that competency, or key performance indicator, is the 'Conversation-to-appointment' ratio; how many times you ask for the business appointment versus how many times you achieve it.

Can it be measured routinely and accurately with a napkin, pencil, and calculator?

Just as measuring your 'Conversation-to-appointment' ratio; how many times you ask for the business appointment versus how many times you achieve it, your first appointment to proposal ration is a key performance indicator which make it also an essential sales performance competency, because the objective of your first appointment is advancing your sales process to the next step. That might be a demonstration, a site visit, a survey or a proposal.

The degree that you perform your 1st appointment sales process to achieve your 'Next Step' objective is measurable and will give you diagnostic feedback to your competency level parallel to your 1st appointment methodology and process.

Can you set a realistic performance benchmark tied to revenue goals?

Let's say you have diagnosed your sales performance competencies as converting target prospect conversations to appointments, converting 1st appointments to the 'next step' in your sales process and then closing the business from there. So that's (3) sales performance competencies; Conversation-to-appointment ratio, 1st appointment to proposal ratio and closing ratio.

How would you go about setting realistic performance benchmarks that the team can aspire to and measure themselves against?

To do so you need (3) more sales performance numbers; your average revenue per sale, your monthly revenue objective and your weekly activity number. Your weekly activity number is a derivative of your (3) sales performance competencies and your average revenue per sale parallel to your monthly revenue objective.

Here's an example of a sales manager in the document management industry. Her team's average revenue per sale is $3400. She calculates she needs to maintain a 1st appointment to proposal ratio of 65%. The closing ratio is set at 40%. Their individual monthly revenue goal is $25,000.
The derivative of these performance numbers is a weekly activity goal of (7) new appointments per rep, on average.

Next is the reality check. Are these performance numbers realistic to meet? Do they have the necessary skill-set and supporting tools to meet all the benchmarks and achieve the performance ratios and activity goal?

If not, what adjustments are needed in line with the benchmarks and what training is needed to achieve them?

Can you apply "Pin-point Training" and "Powerful Routines" around each core competency?

We know what training is, but do we understand why training fails? Timely training is NOT a seminar or one-time event. It requires appropriate structures for learning and application, defining useful short-term objectives, measuring progress, working closely with qualified trainers for follow-up and support, and most importantly, organizational commitment from the 'Top' down.

'Timely training' is focused on one sales performance competency at a time until the appropriate benchmark of performance is realized.

So if you can say it is directly tied to revenue (or your end result), is a skill set that can be trained to for improvement, and can be easily measured, it is a Sales Performance Competency.

Perhaps a golf analogy will help illustrate the power of the Business of Core Competencies. A self-professed "poor" golfer with a chronic slice might attempt to correct the problem by adjusting his stance - actually aiming away from the fairway so that the slice hopefully lands the ball in the middle.

In contrast, a low handicap golfer with a persistent slice might address the problem by adjusting their grip, rotating their hips, or the adjusting the arc of their swing. In other words, the good golfers address the core competencies of the swing vs. adjusting peripheral elements.

Off the golf course, in the sales arena, the opportunity for you is to identify, train to and measure sales performance competencies and performance metrics, and not just chase after quota.

By: Ali Wright

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Information on sea flea can be found at the Flea Infestation site.

Sales Training Courses Teach The Importance Of The First 30 Seconds

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>A question that is often asked on sales training courses is ‘how should I dress?’ I think this is a vitally important question. You see a prospect will subconsciously have a perception of you built up in their mind in the first 30 seconds to 1 minute of a sales call.

The old saying you only get one chance to make a good first impression is vital. Sales training courses will tell you that these first introductions are vital and we all know the importance of the firm but not wrestle mania type hand shake as opposed to the wet fish hand shake. We also know the importance of eye contact although we must always consider that all cultures are not the same and eye contact, handshakes etc may not be correct in some cultures.

When we think about eye contact, we really do tend to think of looking at someone in the eyes, but this s not necessarily true. Eye contact is really the face and the easiest way to think of this is if you were to imagine a triangle with the base line going across the eyebrows and the point of the triangle being the chin then eye contact is any of that space within the triangle. Eye to eye contact is slightly different and is known as the 2 I’s of eye contact the 2 Is stand for Intimate or Intimidating, so when your next sales training course talks about eye contact remember it is not really eyeball to eyeball.

So going back to that all important question; ‘how should I dress? It is as important to look and dress well, as it is to have good closing skills in a sale. Of course what you are selling and the sales environment you are working in will determine how you should dress, so there is no standard answer. I was told many years ago on a sales training course that sales people should always dress like the type of person that the prospect would go to for advice. Although this is not very clear it still does give an idea of how we should dress going in to a sales call.

The other thing with our dress sense is the better we feel about ourselves the more likely we are to sell. So if we think about it this way, how often have you been invited to a wedding and we go out and purchase new clothes for the occasion, the day of the wedding comes we obviously shower and put on the new clothes, we feel great.

In the one minute manager series books which are more geared towards management training than sales training it clearly states ‘people who feel good about themselves produce good results’

Sales training courses all over the country will emphasise the importance of first impressions and remember the first 30 seconds can count more than the next hour

By: searchrankpros

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The author of this Frank O’Toole has been coaching and developing people for premier training courses to create more sales opportunities for many years, he emphasises the importance of having the ability to close more sales

How To Find Good Management Training

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There are several options available when looking for help to get management training. A guide to management and management concepts, strategies are available at college through certain business classes or courses. If you are already in a professional field and are unable to attend college then this training can be gained through seminars, conferences, evening classes and online training. This is the most convenient way to gain this training if you already have a job.

Management training is a large part of business college; here you can gain good insights into how to learn good management skills. If you are attending college then management training will probably occur or be integrated into your course. These courses can be tailored to suit your interests or career choice, for example if you wish to work with a profit company or a non profit company. The course will often break classes down so that each individual is given a chance to manage a small group and develop the management skills that are important in later life.

So if college is the best option for you then you will find you have two options, management training can be taken for personal achievement or even studied as a degree. Even if you are not working on a degree path in management then the courses you take regarding management can count towards getting on a degree. If credit towards a degree is not something that you are looking for then training can also be offered in a continuing education course, which is less intense than a college course.

However, if you have already completed your degree and are on your career path then management training is offered through workshops or seminars that many reputable companies offer online. The seminars may be offered throughout the day either onsite or offsite. Offsite management training will often be supplied by the company and paid for this way. However if your company does not offer this, then you can finance your own management training.

A new concept in training that has recently started is online seminars, which work with a trainer presenting a course that is streamed live. This obviously has the benefit of allowing workers to stay onsite but also being able to communicate directly with the trainer, asking questions and such. Overall finding management training locally really isn't too difficult at all; trade publications also publish lists of events in the area.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the training industry.
Find out more about Management Training and how the services available can help with furthering your career.

Management Training - The Key to Corporate Success

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A Project is a provisional and exclusive endeavor, with a characterized starting and end, to come to exact goals and objectives inside time, allowance and mechanical constraints. Project management assists us to accomplish task goals by optimizing methods through correct designing, association and share of assets and integration of sub-processes inside the project. Project management abilities are in demand by a broad variety of parts, extending from technology and building to IT, wellbeing care and administration.

In general, Project Management Training Programs are required mostly by:

Individuals who desire to launch their vocation in the area or employed professionals who desire to accelerate their vocations, by enhancing their proficiency to inspire persons, competently handle convoluted tasks, and discover sophisticated administration methods to double-check cost-effective outcomes for their company.

Corporate looking ahead to train task managers and workers to boost their organizational effectiveness; smooth and simplify their workflows; boost coordination between groups employed on a task over borders; and double-check on-time consignment of a task with higher earnings margins.

To select a management training Program that works for you, it is essential to meditate upon your objectives and yearned outcomes from the course. A number of universities and organizations offer hordes of this Programs, online and offline, with diverse curriculum and at diverse grades to assist their goal audience. The knack is to select a program at a befitting grade that teaches you in abilities that you and your commerce require. You furthermore have to glimpse if you are involved in connecting a program that encompasses general administration abilities or not.

Maybe you are interested in Management training or presentation training? Choose PhoenixTraining and you won't lose! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_Sorrow

Leadership Top 5 Tips

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1. Be authentic! People may listen to you talk, but they always watch the walk too!
2. Leading from the front is a myth; effective leaders lead from the front, middle & the back, dependent on the situation & what their people actually need.
3. Wherever possible give your people all the information; if you don’t they will fill the gaps with misinformation.
4. Leadership is about doing the right thing. When you do the right thing more often than not, you will do the thing right.
5. The organisation will often provide the ‘what‘ that the team needs to achieve, but it is leaders who provide the direction on ‘how‘ the team achieves it.

Source: http://www.phoenix-training.co.uk/blog/

The Advantages of Having Business in the Internet

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The internet is a something that most of us can't imagine living without. We can do everything there - including shopping and educating. So why not to choose this way to earn some money? Get know what are the advantages of e-commerce.

Small costs
Having an e-commerce doesn't cost so much. In fact, at the beginning it might not cost you at all - cause you just need a computer, access to the Internet and a little bit of time to make the business work. And you don't need anything else - simple and cheap, isn't?

Freedom
Working in the e-commerce you have a freedom to do what you wish with your business and time you have. You are the boss! You don't have to listen to orders that someone will give you. There is no time limit - you organize your work on your own and work when you like and have a mind to it.

Do what you like
If you are interested in something you can realise your passion by making money of it. That is the way how you can combine work and pleasure - change hobby for something you can actually live of. In example, if you like fishing you can share this passion with others and in the same time promote some fishing equipment.

Big audience
Thanks to the global reach of the Internet our e-commerce can get to a lot of people, much more than we would find locally. Internet is connecting people from around the world and there is nothing that might stop in example people from Spain to find your business in UK and buy something. And normally you wouldn't reach those people at all.

Easy promotion
There is an easy way to promote the website in the Internet - you don't have to put a lot of effort and money in it but just make the nice content on your website, connect with people, write on their blogs and people will get to know about you sooner or later (rather sooner).

Choosing the path of e-commerce we can easily change our future, become wealthy people and start working for ourselves. There are only benefits here!

If you don't have an ecommerce and work in a business world you would be definitely interested in improving you leadership skills and try management training too.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_Sorrow

Age Factors In Sales And Management Training

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I want to spend some time discussing the difference, obstacles and advantages of training for sales and management within different age groups. I will take on the obvious one. I have and still on a daily basis have been blessed with the opportunity to train both the very young and the...we'll call them experienced... sales persons.

One of the most obvious is the young, open mind opposed to the experienced person that has predetermined ideas. I have found that there is an upside to both! It is definitely true that the young salesperson has an open mind that is readily cultivated and eager to learn, while the experienced person coming in with a predetermined notion has to be shown that that the person doing the training not only is his or her equal but also somehow has more knowledge than them. Not easy to pull off unless you really are better and have a lot to offer.

While the young mind is easy to impress it is incumbent upon the trainer to teach the young salesperson the right way with integrity or you could ruin him or her forever.

Unfortunately, the experienced person usually has an "I know everything" attitude and you have to break through that before the learning process can begin. If you can break through, the training is a lot less tedious because they usually have a lot of the basic skills, even some advanced skills. They also bring the baggage of some bad habits. With the young person, even though their mind is open, you are literally starting with a blank canvas. There is a lot to teach!

I find enjoyment from training both.

I have found that the reason a young person wants in on the sales profession is quite different than his or her older counterpart. The young person is a great deal of the time looking for validation that he or she cannot find in routine jobs. They love the excitement, the contests, the fun, but most of all they like being part of a team that is motivated to be all for one...almost like belonging to a club, if you will. The idea of the big money that lures many into sales is not a major factor to the young person and I am not sure that they believe it anyway. They want their job to be fun and they love the excitement of possibly winning trips and awards that give their life validation.

On the other hand the older sales professional is almost 100 take them to where they want to go. It still is just part of the formula. They still must have mentors.

On the other side of the equation, the experienced sales training professional, just like in a lot of marriages, has let the flame on the candle not shine through quite as brightly. Also, just like in marriage, you have to constantly stoke the flame. Keep the love burning.

Well, in our great profession so many experienced sales persons have all but let the candle extinguish. Imagine what a professional you would have if you could have the experience and the youthful enthusiasm. WOW! Each group brings a lot to the table. I have found and encouraged the approach that the young can and should learn from the more experienced and the more experienced should definitely take a refresher course from these youngsters on the proper attitude and enthusiasm in which to attack their profession.

By: Charles Kettner

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