A Standardized Company Sales Plan - Good Idea or Bad?
by Frank Rumbauskas
Published on this site: December 3rd, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
I came across an article today that explains how companies
can successfully implement a company-mandated sales plan and
be sure that all of the salespeople are following it.
I found the advice given in that article to be deeply disturbing
to me, especially since it is new and not from a twenty-year-old
book from the old school of selling.
The essence of the article is this: Companies that intend
to implement a new sales plan must make it mandatory, must
hold the salespeople accountable for following it, must let
the salespeople know that managers will inspect to make sure
the new plan is being followed, and that role plays should
be done in training sessions to teach salespeople how to use the new
sales plan.
I felt shivers down my spine when I read the part about how
managers will hold salespeople accountable, and will inspect
to be sure that the plan is being followed. I immediately
got the picture of the stereotypical raving lunatic, "little
dictator" sales manager who terrorizes his or her salespeople
through micro-management and blunt orders.
Is this the kind of organization good salespeople would want
to work for? I'm amazed that this kind advice is still being
given in this day and age.
I also have a major problem with mandated role playing in
training sessions. I hate role plays. I always have and always
will. I think they're stupid and a complete waste of time.
They're absolutely banned from my training programs. The biggest
problem with role plays is that they're never realistic. In
fact, if you train a salesperson through role plays, he will
be completely blind sided and blown out when meeting with
real prospects who have real problems and real objections.
All of the example sales dialogues I use in my programs have
come from real sales appointments, those carried out by either
myself or other salespeople I know and trust.
When I was in sales, I was almost always a top performer.
The only times I was not a top performer was while working
at companies that had a mandated sales process that I was
required to follow. It always baffled me as to why companies
that forced us to follow their plan would hire experienced
sales reps. Why not hire inexperienced people right out of
college? They won't have any pre-conceived notions of how
to sell, won't have any prior experience or training, and
therefore will blindly follow the company's system, no questions
asked.
Here are a couple of realities that managers and sales
directors must face up to:
- If you want an experienced sales force with a proven
track record, you must understand that they already know
how to sell. How else could they possibly have a great track
record? Attempting to force them to learn a new system and
follow it negates their talent and experience and will immediately
destroy their top producer status. Proven salespeople excel
and perform at their very best when treated like independent
contractors.
- If you really want to implement and mandate a company
sales plan, the only way to do that successfully and with
little turnover is to hire people with no experience right
out of school. And even then, you'd still be much better
off with sticking to option 1.
If you want a successful organization, hire the best and
place your trust in them that they know how to sell. They've
done it before and can do it again for you. Don't derail their
performance and undermine everyone's success by forcing something
on them that is totally unnecessary.
Frank Rumbauskas is the author of the hit sensation
"Cold Calling Is A Waste Of Time: Sales Success In The
Information Age". His training and products teach salespeople
how to generate hot leads without cold calling and how to
keep their power and remain in control of sales situations.
For more information please visit http://www.nevercoldcall.com
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