ARE YOU REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT DEVELOPING A WINNING SALES TEAM?

Article

By Carl Davidson    of   Sales & Management Solutions 

As we travel around the country working with all types of companies in the industry, it seems that the companies with the most stable sales forces are by far the most profitable. That means if you are constantly turning over your sales people, you are losing more than staff, you are losing a lot of money. Now, more than ever, dealers need to look at ways to recruit and keep a winning sales team.

One problem with staffing is that as homes have gotten more complex during the last decade, so have laws relating to personnel. Our clients estimate it cost between $10,000 and $15,000 in invested time, money and lost profit every time you hire a new sales person. In addition, every hiring experience is like unprotected sex. You allow a new, untried person to have access to your staff, your assets and your customers. The new member can bring you a lot of profit or a lot of pain. What can you do to improve your averages?

The first step is to realize that recruiting is a never-ending occupation. As the economy has strengthened and fewer people are looking for sales positions, the chance of finding quality staff members by simply putting an ad in the paper the week you need new sales people is getting smaller and smaller. Most dealers report that their most successful sales people weren't looking for a job when they were recruited. They had a job and were successful at it! If you are dealing with newspaper respondents only, they are mostly the unemployed and the desperate. To find the winners, you need to recruit or court the winners  that is the people who make good money and get along well at their present job.

Sound tough? It is and that's why so many companies take the easy route of hiring anyone who answers an advertisement and hoping they will work out. It did work in the '70s but it's the road to ruin in the '90s. In today's market, you have to see the recruiting process as a sale. The first thing you need is lots of prospects and the realization you will only be closing a small proportion of the people you approach. Write out a simple brochure on why your company is a great place to be employed. Write how it offers security, opportunity for advancement and fringe benefits. You need to offer these things to attract someone who is already successful. Once you have the brochure, pass them out freely to everyone. They only need to cost a few pennies each to be effective. Next, target industries that have delivered great sales people before. If you have done well with people from the insurance industry for example, find ways to meet insurance agents and promote your opportunity until you land some.

Most of all, don't be afraid to close and overcome objections. I am always amazed that when most of us offer a position to a prospective sales person and they turn it down, we often immediately shake hands and move on. View any recruiting attempt as a sale because that's exactly what it is. When they say "no" dig in and overcome their objection, don't fold like a cheap suitcase. The tougher the person is to land the more successful they may be for you. Remember, it's all a numbers game like sales. You may need to approach a hundred or more prospects and sell them, in order to recruit one or two great sales people. Some people say this is too much work, but the fact is that nothing adds more to the bottom line that recruiting a winning sales person. Because of that, recruiting them should be a top priority and one that you spend enough time on to get all the great sales people you need.

Recruiting them is one thing, but getting them to stay and make a career at your company is another. There are several factors you must offer if you want the best people to stay and grow with your firm.

One factor is security. The days of hiring great sales people on commission only are over. There are just too many companies out there who offer salary plus commission. Actually, it's a good thing this has evolved. In the old days, you could hire anybody and keep him or her as long as they could stand it. After all, they weren't costing you anything. But the truth was, they cost you plenty in lost gross profit and lost image. It's better to be so strict in your hiring standards and expectations so that you can hire with a salary and not be afraid of losing money. As an experiment, try offering different base salaries in several ads and you will see that different salary plans attract different caliber applicants. No one will leave their present job (if they are successful) unless you offer some security against starvation.

Another factor to make sure you offer is opportunity. Why would someone who is successful in sales at their present company want to join your team? The answer is usually perceived opportunity. That means if you are the owner and manager of a single lot operation, there is nowhere for a sales person to advance to unless you die or retire. Successful people want to get ahead. They want to brag about what a great opportunity they have. You have to build in opportunity for advancement to attract them and to keep the winners. Make sure you have a concrete plan of where they can advance to during the next five years.

Another trend in recent years is the trend toward concrete, guaranteed results. In the past, all you needed to recruit was a friendly smile and a way of telling prospective sales people that "you just knew they'd do well." Now, our clients report guaranteeing results is a better way to recruit and keep the best. To do this, we recommend that you enter into an actual written contract that states what the employee will do and what you will do to guarantee success. Here are some of the things you could agree to do:

We agree to generate an average of 10 prospects for you per week. You agree to generate an additional 10 for a total of 20. To generate your 10 prospects, you will need to approach by phone or letter 100 people per week. If you cannot get 10% of the people you approach to come in to see our products, we agree to assist you in developing your techniques until you can. We agree to train you about our products and company until you can close a minimum of 10% of the people you show homes to. This will result in 2 sales per week on the average and will result in an income of $65,000 your first year."

That example contains all hypothetical numbers. The numbers you might agree to would be different. But getting that agreement on the table in writing does two wonderful things. First, it gives a potential recruit a strong feeling that they will be successful and that you know what to do to make sure they are. Secondly, it gives the company something to measure from the very first week. It gives the company a way of knowing when the recruit is turning out well and when they need to pull the plug before losses mount. It is shocking to me how many companies have sales people who are not doing well on the payroll for far too long. To be successful, you need to set criteria that must be met for the sales person to keep their job. You also need to communicate these criteria in writing and up front so that the new recruit know exactly what is expected.

Finally, you need respect for your company and for your sales team. Respect for your company means that if you are offering a good opportunity and pay plan, you should expect to recruit successful people who are professionals with a track record of success. Unless you have more money than you need and are really running your company as a charitable institution, you will not be successful rehabilitating or changing people. Respect for the sales people on your team is something you should emphasize in recruiting and in keeping staff. Lack of respect is the factor that makes successful sales people look for a new company to work with. If your company is honestly happy when a sales person makes good money and doesn't see them as loud-mouthed, over-paid do-nothings, let your staff know that you understand that sales is a tough job that needs to be rewarded well when done properly. Understanding this factor has allowed me to recruit some of the best sales people I ever worked with, so play the "respect card" when ever appropriate if you honestly respect sale people and wan them to succeed.

As we race toward the millennium, our business is evolving. Make sure you evolve along with it and spend the time you need to have the very best in sales staff. Make sure you stay in tune with the changing desire for security, opportunity, guaranteed results and respect. Most of all, set your standards high and keep track of what is being done on a daily basis to help the company, the sales person and the customer to fulfill their dreams.

 

Carl Davidson is President of Sales and Management Solutions, a company providing audio and video sales and management training cassettes for the Manufactured Housing Industry as well as live seminars. You can reach Carl Davidson: