2018 is here!  If you are like many sales professionals, you may need to change something…right now! Save your job and preserve your income! Focus high, or not at all! Here are some ways how you can be in the 20%! So many have used this compilation to change their status.

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If you are in sales you have most likely heard about the following phrase:

“80% of your production comes from 20% of your sales force”

You may also have heard this phrase:

“20% of your sales activities will generate 80% of your sales results”

I am quite sure that you have heard both of these.  More importantly you should figure out a way to make both of statements work for you.

Before we start examining that, we would like to recognize Vilfredo Pareto (1848 – 1923) of Italy who started this all in 1906.  He used it initially to explain the fact that 80% of the wealth of his country was in the hands of 20% of the population, also known as the rich.  This is called Pareto’s Principle and you may also hear of it as the ’80-20 Rule’.  It is used in everything from sales, to sports, to personal relationships, and of course wealth.

I have found this principal to be correct for the most part and that is why I’d like to take some time to examine it. Stated simply, a small number of are responsible for a large percentage of the effect.  Most examples use a figure of 20 to 80 or 20:80.

It is exact?  Of course not, but it simple and easy to understand that the relationship between what we put in, and what we get out, is not balanced.

Be the Best!

Successful Black sales professionals stand out.  If you are able to perform at a level that makes you a valuable asset to your employer, you are to be commended, as the ‘environmental’ resistance (general economics, racial preference, and racial prejudice) that you encounter is omnipresent.

Being successful is not enough as your objective is to be the best, and that designation does not recognize race.  To be the best, you need to be in the top 20%.  If you are making money that is fine as well, but overall you still need to be in the top 20%.

Strategies to make it there are important.  Remember, whether you are struggling, or currently successful, if you want to change the result, you must change your behavior!

Here are a few activities that will help vault you to the top:

• Become an expert (BSJ 6-27 More on Being an Expert – An Edge for the Black Sales Professional)
• Find prospects through a seminar (BSJ 3-24 – Finding Prospects through a Seminar and BSJ 12-19 – Increase Your Prospect Base)
• Improve and increase your networking (BSJ 2/21- Networking for the Black Sales Professional and BSJ 12-19 Increase Your Prospect Base)
• Ask your best customers for referrals (BSJ 12-10 Increase Your Prospect Base)
• Increase your customer retention (BSJ 5 Random Acts to Lock Down Your Customers)
• Try some new prospecting angles (BSJ 11/28- Tune-Up Your Cold Calling and Phone Etiquette and BSJ 2-10 – 9 Prospecting Tips for the Black Sales Professional.
• Network effectively (BSJ 2-21- Networking for the Black Sales Professional)

Read them and select one or two (or several) and give them a try.

Increase your Effectiveness

The second phrase at the beginning of this document illustrates the 80:20 rule of the Pareto Principle by indicating as stated earlier that what we put into something might not be what we eventually get out.  Put primary priority on the items that increase your effectiveness. Recognize that your efforts need to favor those activities that “make a significant difference”.

Author and self-effectiveness guru Steven Covey urges us to “Put first things first”.  Indicating that you should undertake your activities on the basis of importance rather than urgency.

This would mean that you would spend working hours doing some of your important prospecting, and move your expense account (something I was terrible at) preparation to the evening.  It would mean that you would spend valuable time doing customer problem solving first, relationship building next, then the various and sundry activities that are urgent, but not important.

Below I’ve listed some good suggestions with links to past BSJ posts that will make a difference in moving into or staying in the 20%.

• Be Responsive! (BSJ 1-16 – Responsiveness – The Objective of the Sales Professional)
• Know your compensation system (BSJ  11-16 Know How You Get Paid – Its About That Paper)
• Plan Effectively- Construct a Good Sales Plan (BSJ 11-10 – Solidify Your Sales Plan)
• Communicate and listen effectively (BSJ 11/7 – Make Communications a Strength and BSJ 4-14- Are You Listening to Your Customers?)
• Deepening Customer Relationships (BSJ 1/11 – Deepening Customer Relationships Revisited
• Be your customer’s consultant (BSJ 6/6 – Consultative Selling- An Asset for the Black Sales Professional)
• Be your customer’s expert (BSJ 6/27, More on Being an Expert)

There is a lot of information here, yet the most important part of the process is to recognize the importance of changing something.  If you want to change the results, you must change your behavior.  Remember, ‘you can lie about the numbers, but the numbers don’t lie.’

For 2018 change something! Be the best, and always be effective! You can reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.

I recognize that the best sales jobs are still hard to come by.  There are still sales professionals that are changing jobs, and make no doubt about it, they are having to negotiate their salary.  I think these tips will help you whether you new or a veteran.  Good proven techniques for you to benefit from!

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The interview skills that you honed have been superb, and your ability to stay focused during the group interview was exemplary. The list of accomplishments on your resume gave you credibility, and your vision showed well.

Now, you have the pleasure of being selected for the job you coveted. Job one now is to make sure that you get a “deal” that you can live with. Too many sales professionals have avoided the discomfort of negotiating, which should be what you do best, and have settled for something that they later regret.

Salary- Know the Landscape

There is nothing more compelling for a sales professional than getting paid what they are worth. In order for this to happen for you, you need a brief education and awareness of the salary landscape. Getting what you deserve requires this understanding, as it is the basis for your ability to effectively negotiate. This requires some background, some homework, and a little bit of intuition.

The good part is that if you’re currently an employee of the desired company, you most likely have knowledge of their compensation. Also, the databank of information that you have accumulated during your business and sales career, no matter how long it has been, is useful.

One useful yet controversial “tool” that will help to define the landscape is called Glass Door. Many professionals from numerous occupations use this tool, and it is abused by just as many. One of the most common uses is to determine a baseline and as I explain further you will have better understanding of Glass Doors’ worth and veracity. I will provide a link to Glass Door’s site below, but first let me give you some caveats.

Glass Door depends on user/member reporting to build its database of information. Each participant must give up some information on himself or herself before having full access to the information provided by others in this database. It is extremely popular at this time, yet is probably to some degree a good place for “liars poker” as well. With that in mind, I suggest you take it with a “grain of salt.” It does not mean that you can’t use this in your quest for information, but you do need to do it with an understanding of the limitations of the tool.  You can get to Glass Door by using this link, or putting http://www.glassdoor.com in your browser.

Glass Door gives you salary information on a number of different positions, including those involving sales and service. Interestingly enough, that may include sales positions at your current employer, as well as sales positions at your prospective employer. It also factors in your geographic area as well.

This gives you a jumping off point, as you look to understand what sales professionals of like experience and position will make. Keep in mind the Glass Door is not limited to sales.  This tool gives you more information than salary, but…keep it in perspective.

Before we leave this brief discussion on salary expectations and requests we should also recognize that the salary probably should not be your driving issue. You’re driving issue probably should be total compensation, and that should will be driven by the strength or weakness of the sales compensation plan that you are on. You will need a solid review of the plan to get an idea of your earning potential.  You should ask questions liberally, and I would suggest that you see the mechanics of the plan using some real sales situations.

You should get this in the offer letter.

Lock in your “Conditions”

I will simplify this to avoid confusion. Your “conditions” would be anything that is not salary and not employee benefit driven. This will include the following items:

• Territory
• Goal Expectations
• Expense allowance–per diem
• Company Vehicle
• Inherited business
• Inherited prospects
• Issues regarding assistance and support
• Expectations on any legal costs and issues regarding any non-competes or contracts

These items are important as well, and need to be negotiated just like the salary. I call them conditions because they are a condition of the agreement that should be observed by either party.  These are part of the employment agreement and should be discussed and recorded.

Above all, get it in writing.

Lock-in your benefits

This is ultra important, not because it makes the job any less difficult, but because it makes the working conditions palatable.

I would include in that discussion the following items:

Vacation
Personal days
Employee Benefit Issues

You may not be negotiating employee benefit issues as they should be going “by the book”, yet you should get definite clarification on these issues and have a meeting of the minds as you will feel abused if you lose a dispute about these in the future.

Above all, get it in writing as no one wants to hear what you understood to be the deal; they want to see the agreement.  Remember, as you have heard before, it is not what you know; it is what you can prove!

The Power of Commitment

I think that you know my sentiments reducing all agreements to writing.  It is best for both sides.  You should also be prepared to live with it.  You negotiate for a living, and this is the most important negotiation that you are going to be involved with for years to come.

Do your homework, and be knowledgeable.  Close the deal and get to the business of selling.  No one likes surprises!

Next Post will cover the actual salary negotiation.  Knowing the landscape definitely puts you in position.

Good luck and good selling.

We welcome your comments.  You can reach me at Michael.Parker@blacksalesjournal.com.