Doing a great job is fine, but it’s not enough. The real question is … will you do it consistently? While we start out good, we may later become lackadaisical and it then goes downhill from there.
I remember back to when I became a sales trainee with a national office products company. This firm was recognized for providing the best sales training in the industry. The program was eight months long and included a one-week, and then a two-week, intense advanced session at our home office.
Each time a trainee returned from headquarters, they were filled with the confidence that they needed to succeed. This lasted a month or two. Their noses would get bloodied and they would almost universally fall back into their old comfort zones. It was a running joke.
Through my many many years of training salespeople, I have seen too many to count who are very good salespeople, but they chafe at the mere suggestions of things that might make them better. They already know it all and it is working. They may have built up an effective network of repeat customers and referrers. Why change? More earnings? Works for me!
In most cases, they have abandoned the proven processes that made them successful in the first place. As professionals, they feel comfortable with winging it. They take shortcuts because … they can. We stray from doing those correct things consistently when we become complacent or overconfident.
I am a huge believer in sales processes. A proven process can be replicated. A proven process will also deliver maximum results and it will do so consistently. It can also be used in teaching, bringing on new hires. Would you rather throw them to the wolves or give them a roadmap for success.
Can a CRM help?
Absolutely! Since I represent Nimble CRM, let’s talk about how easy it is to do and I will use a typical B2B sales environment as an example. Nimble features both workflows and pipelines. Both represent a process.
My workflow is designed to show the steps needed to properly qualify and potential new opportunities. This may come from prospecting or even a response from your website. A process is represented by stages which move this opportunity from the initial contact to the point where they are either not qualified or you are converting this to an actual deal. Drag and drop.
If this is a valid opportunity, a deal record is created. Unlike a process, this includes things like a deal value, a projected closing date, and a percentage probability of closing. Your percentage probability is particularly important. It creates a weighted value (deal value x % probability). Nobody wins every deal and it provides a more accurate revenue forecast.
Like a workflow, there are drag and drop stages all the way to a win or a loss. All of these numbers are used to create your sales forecast (predictable revenue) and your win and loss reports. Both workflows and pipelines can also alert you to when something appears to be “stuck”, past due, in their existing stage.
Once again, if your process has proven to deliver consistent and maximum results, historically, it will continue to do so in the future. What could be simpler!
Certainly, practice makes permanent, not perfect. If we practice the wrong things, I can guarantee you that you will get very proficient at those. This is why it is important to consistently practice the right things and to do so consistently.
Please be sure to check out these top 100 sales blogs on Feedspot. I am honored to be one of them!
Are you thinking about a CRM? If you would like to explore whether or not Nimble CRM might be right for you, please book a free 30-minute Zoom consultation with me by going to my calendar. To learn more about our Nimble training and implementation services, please visit our Nimble CRM training services page.
In addition to Nimble CRM, I also offer sales training and training on LinkedIn as well as getting started with AI (Artificial Intelligence). I can even assist with hiring new salespeople with initial interviews and pre-hire DISC personality assessments.
I would also be happy to connect you to a marketing professional who I know and trust or to an automated yet personalized and human-to-human LinkedIn prospecting system. Please reach out to me at craig@adaptive-business.com for an introduction!
Craig M. Jamieson
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