Disqus - Latest Comments for davestei

Re: Has Your Mission Expired?

Dave Stein — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 15:55:52 -0000

Wonderful post, Rob, and very relevant to me, personally. I'm sure I'll read this a dozen times.

Thanks.

Re: Hiring a New Sales Manager: Promote or Recruit?

Dave Stein — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 12:12:35 -0000

Great subject. I've heard previous research that says that more than 80% of top sales people who were promoted into sales management jobs within their own companies failed within the first year. (HR Chally.)

This post addresses the challenge and provides the right answers, but let me add my two cents.

Although it's almost always required for a successful sales manager to have been a successful salesperson first, the skills and traits of salespeople and managers are different.

On the skills side, for example, high-performing salespeople don't generally have hiring, territory assignment, compensation planning, problem resolution, career development, coaching, training, leadership, management, strategic planning, and other must-have skills that a sales manager requires to be successful at their job.

On-the-job training in these skills is likely to result in a less-than-optimally performing sales manager. And none of us need any more of those.

Re: LinkedIn, Microsoft and the State of Social Selling

Dave Stein — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 15:33:32 -0000

Reminds me of what I used to tell clients about CRM... If you haven't done all the required work in advance of installing and implementing a CRM tool, you're just automating all the chaos that exists in your sales organization...

Re: LinkedIn, Microsoft and the State of Social Selling

Dave Stein — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 16:23:59 -0000

Mike Kunkle is one of the voices of experience, knowledge, and relevance that we all need to listen to. Here's an example: "A fool with a social tool is just a better amplified fool."

Re: Why You Don’t Hire for Experience or Degree – The Difference Between Sourcing and Selecting Criteria

Dave Stein — Tue, 31 May 2016 17:16:26 -0000

Excellent post, Keenan.

If you don't "select" using a process, you'll hire based on subjectivity and emotion, as in, "I like her. She's good people. She knows the same people I do."

Here's the (long and tedious, but correct) approach:

Engineer interview questions that evoke responses from the candidate which will enable you to determine whether they have the skills, traits, experience, and behaviors that will enable them to be successful in the job. Be as objective as possible.

Leading questions, such as, "What steps do you take when you get a lead," won't help you determine if they employ process in their selling efforts. Nor will, "Are you a good negotiator?"

I love the way you broke down sourcing and selecting by function and purpose.

Let's designate Q3 '16 as the quarter of effective hiring!!!!

Re: The Ultimate Reading List for B2B Sales Pros: 89 Sales Books Every Sales Pro Should Own

Dave Stein — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 08:55:29 -0000

Delighted to have my book, How Winners Sell, listed in here, Garrett. I trust my newest book will be in your 2017 edition!

Re: Pope Francis Is About to Blow Elizabeth Warren out of the Water

Dave Stein — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 12:46:27 -0000

"Warren" in the headline? Click bait. I wish they'd stop doing that.

Re: Going from 0 to $1.000.000 in monthly sales brought to our customers

Dave Stein — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 14:01:07 -0000

I'm with Matt. I've been involved in enough tech start-ups to know that this is a big opportunity. Hard work, but hopefully value for your customers --> value for you --> big success.

Re: The Periodic Table of Sales Experts [infographic]

Dave Stein — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 09:40:10 -0000

Very cool. Delighted to be included.

Re: 4 Things You Need to Consider When Screening Job Candidates

Dave Stein — Tue, 12 May 2015 17:39:07 -0000

Great points, Josh.

What I've learned is this: If you're hiring salespeople whose job it is to make contact on the phone, your first interview with them should be on the phone. How else would you be able to get the same first impression as your customer?

Re: 7 Social Media Psychology Studies That Will Make Your Marketing Smarter

Dave Stein — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 16:21:18 -0000

Extremely well done, Courtney. I especially like the profile photo A/B test.

Thanks.

Re: 7 Ways to Evaluate the Sales Hiring Process

Dave Stein — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 15:55:29 -0000

Hey Will, thanks for the shoutout. Great post! You've nailed the key elements.

Re: 10 Surprising and Important Social Media Stats You Need To Know

Dave Stein — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 17:46:07 -0000

Just a suggestion... When I clicked on the Twitter icon, this came up: "10 Surprising and Important Social Media Stats You Need To Know http://blog.bufferapp.com/s... via @buffer"

Why give them credit? I changed it to, "10 Surprising and Important Social Media Stats You Need To Know http://blog.bufferapp.com/s... via @kevanlee." So you get credit, not them.

Re: The Ultimate Guide on Sales Management

Dave Stein — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 15:38:42 -0000

I agree with Dave.

Re: Answer Your Damn Email.

Dave Stein — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 18:42:04 -0000

Sometimes I don't answer emails. I never have a good excuse.

Good post.

Dave

Re: 2014’s seven most popular sales kick-off meeting topics

Dave Stein — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 12:39:40 -0000

Good list, Matt.

I'd just like to add that sales training stakeholders should spend a bit of time making sure that these (or other) topics are presented in the context of executing the sales process.

For example, the introduction to a session on active listening skills should touch on where in the selling cycle (or non-linear sales process, if that's how the company's customers are best served) those skills are required and the impact they will have on the execution of that process.

We've observed far too many skills training sessions that not only don't support the company's sales process, but don't even refer to or mention it.

Re: 'The Vineyard' – the docu-soap that is us. Not

Dave Stein — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 20:48:12 -0000

Holly, you make me laugh. Thanks.

Re: Coast Guard responds to plane crash on Cuttyhunk Island

Dave Stein — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:49:44 -0000

You're right, Ebba. I've flown over Cuttyhunk a hundred times and never saw that strip. I used to see a Cessna parked at the eastern one.

A quick ruler calculation on Google Earth of the western strip puts it at around 1,000 feet.

Re: Coast Guard responds to plane crash on Cuttyhunk Island

Dave Stein — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:55:51 -0000

I'm sad for the pilot and his family.

At this point it hasn't been determined if the pilot was landing, taking off, or was in transit and attempted an emergency landing.

Cuttyhunk has an airstrip at the far eastern end that is shaped a bit like a hockey stick. The long leg, sandy I presume, is around 800 feet long. The other leg is about 500 feet long.

Although the Maule airplane the pilot was evidently flying has superior takeoff and landing capabilities for short fields, I always considered this strip among the most challenging I've every seen.

Here is a link to the airstrip from Google Earth: http://twitpic.com/cvgpcc

Re: What I’m Reading Over the Holidays…

Dave Stein — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 20:35:45 -0000

Bryan, I am honored. Thanks.

Re: Café Moxie reopens in Vineyard Haven after four years

Dave Stein — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 17:26:06 -0000

I've been to Moxie twice for lunch, once with my wife and then again with a friend. Moxie serves very good food at a fair price. They have a waitstaff that cares.

We sat at a great seat by the window. The perfect restaurant? Not yet, but hey, give them a chance.

They're coming into the slow season and it's a long one, as we all know. I'll be back, more than once. I want them to have a shot at next season.

Re: Marketing Should Own Telephone Lead Qualification

Dave Stein — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:36:08 -0000

This is an excellent, important post, Derek.

You've made some assertions based on specific evidence from other sources. Too many bloggers offer their own opinion without every really looking outside their own four walls.

I will add a bit on the hiring point.

My research company knows that companies that employ a formal hiring process, profile-based, with structured behavioral interviews are 80% more likely to hire the right sales person. We also know that this process should be used for situations such as you've described above.

The days are long gone when anyone, manager or executive, can hire personnel subjectively, based just on gut feel.

When there are clear roles and responsibilities for a position, determining the skills, personal traits (DNA), and behaviors that will enable successful execution isn't very hard.

Building interview questions to evoke responses which will provide insight into whether a candidate possesses those assets isn't hard to do either.

The hard thing is USING the process and tools once they are built.

Companies that manage to do that put themselves ahead of the competition because their people are just plain better at getting the job done.

Re: To Build a Great Sales Team, You Need a Great Manager

Dave Stein — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:40:20 -0000

This is an important post.

I agree that, "Companies devote substantial energy to recruiting the best sales talent, but when it comes to managers, most simply select their best salespeople for the job." HR Chally suggests that 85% of top salespeople promoted into sales management positions fail within the first year. That's a disaster for the rep (who likely can't or won't assume their former position), and the company who loses both a top salesperson and a sales manager.

We've monitor very carefully, within a number of industries, the skills (and traits) required for successful selling, as well as the skills and traits required for sales managers. Sales people will likely not build or gain the requisite management skills during their tenure carrying a bag. Those would include, on the salespeople and management side (depending on the depth of the sales organization management team): team building, hiring, coaching, conflict resolution, forecasting, compensation and incentive strategies, motivation, and a raft of other skills that are not specific to the sales function. Then, of course, are the customer role capabilities, as you mentioned.

You can see why promoting the best salesrep is almost always the wrong thing to do.

Re: Entrepreneurs' Biggest Sales Mistakes

Dave Stein — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:14:53 -0000

You're on target with your points.

There was a very relevant announcement made today: Enterprise Ireland Announces Record Exports of €15.2bn in 2011. Here is the press release: http://ow.ly/ckSYb

This is big news in Ireland, especially with the situation that Ireland has been in. (And it's relevant to your post.) The funding, support, and programs the Irish goverment has provided companies that export (read: sell outside Ireland) led to this significant achievement. (Read Ireland Knows How to Support Growing Companies here: http://ow.ly/ckUs3

(A bit of context: I've been involved with the Irish Government and the Dublin Institute of Technology's International Selling Programme for ten years. More than 800 CEOs and sales executives have gone through the programmes, most being from small, entrepreneur-run companies. I have a very, very good understanding of how these entrepreneurs think and operate. I've worked with dozens of their companies over the years as a consultant as well.)

Once they graduate, they're ready for prime time, as evidenced by the achievement highlighted above. But before they've been literally schooled in how to build and run a sales function, this is typically what we find, which aligns with your research:

1. Many are forever optimistic and subjective in assessments of selling situations
2. Many underestimate the aggressiveness and competence of U.S.-based salespeople and salespeople from U.S.-based global companies
3. Many aren’t tough enough with sales prospects, e.g. qualification, doing work for free, maintaining margins, etc.
4. Many technology CEOs think they will win as a result of their great products
5. Most have no idea how to hire, manage, or compensate salespeople
6. Some will pursue literally ANY sale
7. Many produce rolling “hockey-stick” sales forecasts, where sales "the next quarter" are predicted to skyrocket.

Even though these are characteristics of Irish entrepreneurs, they closely parellel those of entrepreneurs here in the U.S.

Good job on the post. I hope those entrepreneurs out there are listening....

Re: What's Wrong With Your Sales Training Program

Dave Stein — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:17:26 -0000

Hi Steve,

Thanks for raising this important topic, however there are some representations you've made about "successful" sales training that don't align with my experience.

[For your readers: My independent research firm, ES Research Group, Inc. studies sales training programs and the third-party companies that provide them. We also look at how corporations deliver sales training through their own L&D (Learning and Development) organizations. We've been doing this for more than seven years, performing research on sales training effectiveness for our own use as well as for organizations such as ASTD (American Society for Training and Development).]

For leading sales training companies (small, medium, and global) and industry-leading corporate sales training programs, the days of thick binders, rote memorization, lack of real-world discussions, and all the other sins you mention are long over. Fine sales performance improvement providers such as BayGroup International, Imparta, Mercuri International, RevenueStorm, RainGroup, Richardson, and many others have modern and relevant content as well as modern and relevent delivery and reinforcement methods. They leverage technology, understand and adapt to the diverse learning capabilities of heterogeneous sales teams, and understand that a strategic approach to sales performance improvement is the key to success. That's a winning combination.

Your point on win-loss analysis is right on target. We perform a similar process--in our case, we regularly interview executives at companies where sales training has succeeded and where it has failed.

From that ongoing research, we've learned that although the four areas you highlight can be reasons that sales training fails, those are not the only ones, nor do they necessarily apply to any particular company. You probably have other points in addition to these four. I'd look forward to reading about those in a future post.

The most important point for me to articulate is that sales training should be only one component of an overall strategic approach to sales performance improvement. The biggest reason sales training fails is that it is purchased tactically, as an event--to check a box or fill in a day at an annual sales kickoff meeting. Instead, it should be invested in, as an integrated part of an overall selling methodology which must include process building, tools, integration with other departments, messaging, value articulation, measurement, reinforcement, coaching methods, sales management training, etc. etc.