by Alan Rigg

If you want to improve sales performance (either your own sales performance or your sales team's performance) start by taking a close look at WHAT you (or your salespeople) do and HOW you (or your salespeople) do it.

When we examine past performance a common tendency is to look only for fault. What did I do wrong? What did I do that wasn't good enough? What can I do better?

It is certainly important to take a critical look at our past activities from time to time so we can learn from what we have done. In particular, it is important to identify "mistakes" and find the lessons in them. If we don't learn the lessons, we are likely to repeat the mistakes until we do learn the lessons.

With that said, it is equally important to identify and celebrate our successes. What did I do right? Where have I made improvements? How can I build on these positives to bring us closer and closer to achieving our ideal outcomes?

When you examine your (or your sales team's) past performance, my suggestion is that you invest just as much time and effort in identifying what you (or they) did right as you do in identifying what you (or they) did wrong. Celebrate your successes! Feel and express gratitude for the good things that came your way! Bask in the glow of your accomplishments!

When you do examine what you (or the members of your sales team) did "wrong," don't beat yourself (or them) up. Instead, take a dispassionate view and re-examine what you (or they) did and the outcomes you (or they) created. Focus on identifying the lessons that are there to be learned. Then identify the positive actions you (or they) can take to avoid repeating your (or their) past mistakes. Use these experiences as the foundation for positive actions that will steer you down the path toward your desired end results.

Now let's get more granular about how to improve your own sales performance (if you are a salesperson) or your sales team's performance (if you are a business owner, executive or manager).

How to Improve Your Own Sales Performance

To improve your own sales performance I suggest that you begin by identifying your strengths and weaknesses in the complex process called "selling." I find it helpful to deconstruct the sales process into very small, finite pieces and then ask, "How effective am I in each of the following areas?" Some of the areas you may want to explore include:

• Understanding the business problems that my company's products and services can solve
• Understanding the impacts these business problems have on my prospects' and customers' businesses
• Quantifying the impacts these business problems have on my prospects' and customers' businesses
• Identifying target prospect organizations
• Identifying key decision makers within prospect organizations
• Developing and consistently following an effective prospecting plan
• Developing and delivering an effective elevator pitch
• Convincing gatekeepers to put me in direct contact with decision makers
• Developing and delivering compelling messages (ideally messages that include quantified impacts) that will grab decision makers' attention and motivate them to schedule "discovery" conversations
• Thoroughly qualifying opportunities
• Gathering information that will help me create a context for price discussions
• Writing effective selling proposals
• Delivering demonstrations and presentations designed to help me close sales
• Closing sales
• Building and managing ongoing customer relationships
• Maximizing penetration (i.e. selling my company's entire portfolio of products and services) in each and every customer account
• Consistently asking for referrals from customers, prospects, and anyone that expresses an interest in what I do

This is not intended to be a completely comprehensive list, but it should provide a useful starting point.

Be completely honest with yourself as you consider the question, "How effective am I in each area?" If you are not confident that your answers are on target, discuss them with your sales manager and/or your sales peers. Just make sure that whomever you choose to include in the discussion is someone that will give you straight answers.

If you identify areas where you can improve, the next step will be to develop strategies for how you will improve. What actions can you take to improve your performance in specific areas? Who can help you improve your performance in those areas?

How to Improve Your Sales Team's Performance

You can use the same information listed above to begin your analysis of the effectiveness of each individual member of your company's sales team. However, as a business owner, executive or manager, the key question you need to answer is, "How effective is (salesperson name) in each of the following areas?"

Because you will be answering this question for multiple individuals and multiple sales competencies, it may take some time. But, I think you will agree that it will be time well spent!

As a business owner, executive or manager, there are additional questions you could benefit from considering. Examples include:

• How effectively do we train our salespeople to find and qualify opportunities for each of our products and services?
• How good a job do we do of identifying the business problems each product or service can solve and the impacts of these business problems?
• Have we quantified the value we provide to our customers?
• Have we leveraged this information to provide our salespeople with short stories and longer case studies to help them grab the attention of, and build credibility with, new prospects?
• Have we identified clear accountabilities for our salespeople and explained these accountabilities to them?
• Have we helped our salespeople develop and practice compelling elevator pitches and prospecting messages?
• Have we provided our salespeople with tools to help them consistently do a thorough and effective job of sales opportunity qualification?
• Do we inspect the quantity and quality of our salespeople's activities on a frequent and consistent basis?
• Do we inspect the opportunities in each salesperson's pipeline frequently and consistently to ensure that each opportunity is valid, that it has been thoroughly and accurately qualified, and that it is moving through the sales cycle as quickly as possible?
• Have we developed and implemented an effective sales recruiting process?
• Do the salespeople we hire consistently develop into top performers or solid middle performers?
• Is our sales compensation plan motivating our salespeople to do what we want them to do?

Once again, if you identify areas where you, your company or your sales team can improve, the next step will be to develop strategies for how the improvement will be accomplished. What actions can you take to improve your salespeople's performance in specific areas? What actions can they take? Who can help you improve sales performance in these areas?

The choice of how you proceed is entirely up to you. I hope the information provided in this article has given you some helpful food for thought!

©2009 Alan Rigg

About the Author

Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of "How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Team Performance", and the companion book, "How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling." His 80/20 Selling System™ helps business owners, executives and managers end the frustration of 80/20 sales team performance, where 20% of salespeople produce 80% of sales. For more information and more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020sales.com.

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