Don't let "displacement activities" divert you from the right behaviours

In these challenging times we are all faced with having to do things that fall outside of our comfort zone, and as managers we not only have to worry about ourselves but also our teams.

Over recent months we have seen a worrying behavioural change in the increased prevalence of "displacement activities" - activities we undertake as a replacement to doing what we ought to be doing. This is significant as it highlights the failure to embed the desired behaviours & habits, and an acceptance that being busy is often an excuse for not doing.

Let me give you some examples of what we are seeing:

An organisation that is trying to focus its outbound calling activities around Reasons to Call:-

• The sales managers are saying that they are being asked to promote specific offers (due to excess stock) and that this is stopping their people having needs led conversations to identify broader opportunities.
• The displacement activity make calls to everyone about a price led offer
• The outcome is that the sales people are fixated on price and failing to identify the business needs behind the purchase decision. This is resulting in a low conversion rate (we are still too expensive) and poor selling of value add services
• The required action - Sales Managers have to be driven to use the Reason to Call approach (formal KPIs) and explain how this can be used to sell excess stock as well as everything else

An organisation that needs to drive sales managers to coach to overcome weaknesses in basic sales activities within the teams

• Sales Managers have successfully moved the goal post from a sales managers programme to identify talent and improving their performance.
• The displacement activity, build a talent programme
• The outcome - The basic issues will sales management will remain, but a few people will feel better as they are now in the talent pool.
• The required action - Have a sales managers programme that improves sales management & coaching behaviours, by all means include the talent pool in this to build sales managers of tomorrow

An organisation who is growing rapidly which is putting pressure on its existing processes

• The operations team and sales team have started a debate about "pre-sales" and who owns it
• The displacement activity - ongoing debate as opposed to someone owning it and driving to a solution
• The outcome - nothing will change until a client problem forces the issue
• The required action - Set a deadline when the new processes must be in place, allocate an owner who has both power and responsibility.

As a sales person I regularly see displacement activities being used in my clients as a means of ignoring the issue, in fact one client admitted that with so much change going on they were busy keeping busy (I need to look indispensable). Clearly it is my job as a sales person to overcome this.

Step 1 in overcoming this is to get people to recognise it is taking place and the impact it will have!

Step 2 is to get into the habit of doing the important things rather then the urgent, displacement things.

Step 3 is getting your team to do the same

Want to know more on Urgent versus Important, register for a free trial on our E2M website (www.esquaredm.com) go to the Coaching & Resources section and look at "Success is planned it does not just happen"

Sales Managers - JDI is not good enough

I have been speaking to a lot of Sales Directors and Sales People who are at either end of the frustration spectrum:

• Sales Director - "the activity is just not there, we are not seeing the results, pipeline is poor and forecasts are not accurate"
• Sales Rep - "I don't have time to do my job, I keep being asked to update reports, do account plans, focus on this product and then that product. They have cut head count and handed the work over to me, there is just not enough time in the day"

Clearly the person who is supposed to bridge the gap is the sales manager but I keep hearing the same message "it's tough out there for everyone, they just need to get on with it, I used to and I got the results....."

I am sure many of you are thinking, what's wrong with that, "I was brought up on the JDI school of management and it didn't do me any harm". But think back, how many people fell by the wayside as you progressed through sales, and how much of your experience was based around a sellers market.

So here I go back on my favourite theme coaching - the JDI approach to sales management relies on people knowing what they are supposed to be doing and a philosophy that activity equals success. However we all know now that it's not just about activity, but it is about focus and quality leading to effective activity.

Before you say JDI, find out what they are currently doing. Remember Einstein defined madness as "doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different result". If sales management follow a pure JDI approach to life they are re-enforcing the madness and we are just creating a lunatic asylum.

So let's move away from JDI and introduce a new mantra for sales management Observe. Listen, Analyse, Coach.

Once sales managers, or your best performing sales people (the ones that just get it and do it well), have done this then by all means they can tell their people to JDI, but at least they know what they should be doing.

Email - Friend or Foe

How often do sales people hide behind e-mail, thinking that an e-mail is an equivalent of a conversation.

When asking for an update on an account how often do you hear "I dropped them a note and I am waiting for a reply......" Let's be clear e-mail is not a replacement for a conversation, it is solely an electronic, one-way communication. If you want an electronic equivalent to a conversation then by all means use IM, Skype Chat, etc. These all have the characteristics of a conversation, you know if the client has "heard" as they have to give an immediate response, no response tells you that they have not received the message.

Why do I think this is important well I was recently speaking to a senior manager of a professional services company, a supplier had just cancelled a meeting and he was fuming. I asked him why and he said "they didn't have the grace to call me, they just sent an e-mail" as far as he was concerned it completely undermined the relationship that the sales rep had been trying to build up. "I didn't mind the meeting being cancelled, but it would have been as quick to call me as it was to send the e-mail"

I have a simple mantra that helps me ensure I communicate with my clients in an appropriate manner "do to them as I would like them to do to me." If your relationship is purely e-mail based then e-mail is the perfect media. If you have moved on to a more "personal" relationship then your communication should be more personal (phone, text, IM, etc.)

I am not anti e-mail, but it is not a "real-time" communication tool and if you need to get a quick answer or to apologise for re-arranging a meeting, please use a more conversational based tool.