Unbound Growth Blog

Do you have one of these health watches or Fitbits? It seems like everyone does. But how many people actually look at their stats or, better yet, how many know what these stats mean in regard to their health? And how will these stats help lead them to the health outcome that they are looking for?

It kinda reminds me of how sales teams use their CRMs. It's there, they wear it everyday, but does it impact what, or how, they do things?

On a recent Live Sales Management Lab, we talked about the metrics that no sales manager can afford to ignore in 2019.

Have you ever sat down and calculated what it actually costs when a sales hire doesn't work out?

A lot of sales leaders are scrambling to hire right now, and sadly that means that many might be settling for Mr or Ms Right Now, not objectively looking for the right hire.

The amount of time, money, potential lost revenue, and morale downer when a new hire doesn't work out is a scary number. (If you are brave, click here to calculate your number.) In many cases it's more than twice their base salary!

If about half of sales people make quota, I have to wonder, wouldn't you be better off putting your money on the blackjack table in Vegas? I mean, at least you'd be getting some free drinks from it.

Why is this happening? And what can you do to increase your odds?

In the very first Live Sales Management Lab, we discussed how to go above and beyond quota, which means helping our salespeople to identify those personally meaningful goals that are going to stretch them outside of their comfort zone, so that they can accomplish things they've never accomplished before.

Why is this so important?

And more importantly, why do we put it off? Why do we avoid these kinds of the conversations which are so crucial to change?

Last week I presented brand new data on sales managers and their impact on their salespeople. If you were one of the sales managers and executives with growing teams that were there- thank you for your questions, the conversations in the hallways after, and the multitude of messages saying it was one of the best sessions all week.

For those of you who missed out, this post is for you.

Last year a sales manager asked for sales coaching because he “...didn’t want his shortcomings to become the collateral damage to his team.” After going through a 3-6 month program to ‘coach the coach’ and the team at the same time, his SaaS sales team is now #1 in their company, with a 98% customer retention rate.

Many of us have heard the phrase, “As goes the leader, so goes the team,” and much has been written about empathy in leadership (put yourself in their shoes), servant leadership (put others first), and ethical leadership (do what is right). And there are studies that show that these things help team members be more creative and more efficient when doing their jobs.

Imagine if your teenager was taught to drive by spending only a week or two watching training videos and sitting in the passenger seat watching you and others drive. Would you want them driving you across the country? Or even just across town in a snow storm?

It is pretty normal at the beginning of the year for many companies to start hiring salespeople, or to at least start thinking about hiring. When I ask VP of Sales and CEOs what their ideal salesperson is like and what they will need to accomplish, I have gotten answers that included;

One of the salespeople we have been coaching asked, “Could I be a good sales manager? It seems like a thankless job of being pulled into many directions at once. I can’t say that there is any one at my company that I would want to be like…”

Last week my husband asked me to teach him how to play piano. The extent of his piano skills was playing with one finger the Miami Vice theme song. Showing him how to play reminded me how I first started and also how many sales people and managers end up starting in their roles as well.

First thing on Monday morning one of our inside sales clients, let’s call him Scott, told us that their manager insisted that they send a proposal to all the opportunities in their pipeline that “might possibly close this month.” Didn’t matter what was happening or not happening in the conversation.