by Alan Rigg

When I talk to business owners, executives and managers whose sales teams display "80/20" performance (where just 20% of salespeople produce 80% of sales), in many cases what I find is one of the primary causes of this performance disparity is their sales management philosophy.

Basically what they do is hire salespeople and turn them loose. They figure (and I'm paraphrasing here), "They're salespeople - they should know what to do!"

These managers are right…10% to 20% of the time

My experience has been that 10% to 20% of salespeople are talented enough and sharp enough to figure out for themselves how to succeed in their sales position. This includes:

• Asking questions to determine which business problems their companies can solve
• Asking questions to identify the impacts of these problems
• Using this information to create effective elevator pitches and prospecting messages
• Learning how to qualify opportunities for their company's entire portfolio of products and services
• Leveraging expert resources to help them turn opportunities into sales
• And so forth

If just 10% to 20% of salespeople can figure all of this out for themselves, is it any surprise that there is an "80/20 rule" in sales team performance?

The overlooked opportunity

According to research that I reference on the MySalesTest.com website, approximately 55% of salespeople should NOT be in sales. They simply don't have the talents required to succeed.

If 55% of salespeople SHOULDN'T be in sales, this means that 45% of salespeople SHOULD be in sales. If 10% to 20% of salespeople are talented and sharp enough to figure out how to succeed without any assistance, this means another 25% to 35% of salespeople COULD be successful... but only if they are provided with the proper tools, training and reinforcement. If management doesn't provide the necessary tools, training and reinforcement, these salespeople are likely to fail.

NOTE: Click here for more information on the importance of repetition and reinforcement in the sales training process.

Creating a predictable, repeatable sales process

My approach to helping companies build and manage top-performing sales teams encourages management to treat sales as a predictable, repeatable process. This means that all of a company's salespeople are expected to sell in a similar fashion. Sure, there is latitude for salespeople to customize aspects of the sales process to fit their own personalities. However, there are also activities that every salesperson is expected to perform in a substantially similar manner.

One way to help salespeople become familiar with your company's well-defined sales process, plus reinforce any training you provide, is to supply your salespeople with a thorough, properly designed Sales Guide.

What kinds of information should a Sales Guide include?

A great place to start would be answering the following questions:

1. How would you describe your Ideal Customer? Components of your description could include industry, geography, company size, business unit or function, job title, personality traits, situation/need, etc.
2. What are your target markets?
3. What specific business problems do companies in these target markets have that your company can solve?
4. What are the impacts of these business problems? (A great training tool is short stories that demonstrate business problem impacts.)
5. Can you quantify the impacts of these business problems?
6. What types of activities should be included in a salesperson's prospecting plan?
7. What quantity of each activity should a salesperson perform on a weekly basis?
8. What messages should salespeople use when prospecting and networking? In other words, how will they grab the attention of target prospects and get them to agree to schedule discovery conversations?
9. What questions should salespeople ask during discovery conversations to determine whether prospects have any of the types of business problems your company can solve?
10. If prospects have some of the business problems your company can solve, what questions can salespeople ask to quantify the impacts of these problems?
11. What questions should salespeople ask to determine whether prospects are worthy of the time and resource investments required to manage sales cycles?

The focus of the above questions is providing salespeople with information that will help them identify and qualify opportunities. This is the most critical information new salespeople need to learn in order for them to become productive quickly. (For more information on how to design training tools to help salespeople rapidly learn how to find and qualify opportunities, click here.)

Finding and properly qualifying new opportunities is also what most companies want most from their salespeople. If salespeople can find and thoroughly qualify opportunities, there are usually ample (expert) resources available to help them turn those opportunities into sales.

Should a properly designed Sales Guide include information about other steps in the sales process?

Yes, it should. It is desirable for your Sales Guide to provide information that makes it as easy as possible for your salespeople to successfully execute EVERY step of the sales process. However, the initial focus should be preparing your salespeople to find and qualify opportunities. If you can successfully accomplish this one goal, you can rapidly convert "80/20" sales team performance into a much more attractive ratio!

©2010 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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