Black Sales Journal

I know that I seem to spend a lot of time and effort getting someone to re-boot their sales career, without as much regard for those individuals who are doing well, and just needing to fine-tune some of their efforts.  During this post we will spend some time talking about some activities that will help you to sharpen your skills.

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You may want to ”sharpen your saw” for a variety of reasons.  Among these reasons could be:

• To make more money
• Exceed sales goals
• To increase your effectiveness and efficiency
• To get a promotion or better job

There are things you can to that will affect these areas.  If you are doing well, and want to consider these while there is not serious survival pressure.

The activities that a sales professional does can be common and some are based on particular situations.  There are activities that are done everyday, and there are those that are done as a reaction.  The good part about sharpening skills is that you move away from survival techniques and move to the items that make you more effective.

9 Items to Help You Tune it up

I know that you have heard these items somewhere before.  I hope the explanations will hope you understand why you need to consider them.

Here are some items that I would suggest:

• Seek out a mentor
• Mentor someone
• Get up to date on technology
• Examine your goal setting
• Institute a networking plan
• Attend a sales seminar
• Improve your knowledge – Take a class
• Join a group or association with common interest
• Get a sales coach

Seek out a mentor – You have heard this one from me before, and I cannot emphasize it enough.  I have done two posts about it, and the interesting part is that most Black sales professionals do not do it.  I will note that the mentor need to be accomplished, rather than of a particular race or creed.  It is always good to have someone that shares some of the same challenges in cold calling and organizational interaction.   If you want to see more, check out Black Sales Journal 1/27 Do You Need A Mentor, Probably Two, and Black Sales Journal 7/18 When Mentoring Goes Wrong.  Remember, mentoring can be formal and informal in terms of the arrangements.  Make sure that you arrange it so you can get what you need out of the relationship.

Mentor someone - Nothing helps you re-examine the most important areas of sales professionalism like when you are teaching it to others.  Whether it is the finer points of prospecting or the timing of a close, you think about it harder when you have to teach it to others.  You may refer to Black Sales Journal 3/28 Being A Mentor on this important topic.  You will be giving back, but also re-examining your sales base in the process.

Get up to date on technology – This is a good one to examine.  Increasing your mastery on your system at work is just as important as some of the actual face-to-face work you will be doing.  If you are on Sales Genie or SalesForce.com, you may need to bring yourself up to date to be most efficient.  These programs have good functionality, and your ability to shorten use times depends on your mastery, so get good at it.

Examine and change your goal setting – Stretch yourself on your goals and internalize them.  You all know what stretching means, now I will quickly say that internalizing them means that you will substitute them for the goals that you were given for the year or period.  The new number then is “your” number, and it is taken for granted that your new number is more ambitious.

Institute a networking plan – I will point to Black Sales Journal 2/21, Networking for the Black Sales Professional for this valuable suggestion.  The strength of networking is that prospecting can be less tedious.  They know why you are at the function (chamber meeting, business function etc.) and they know you are going to “touch” them at some point.  It is expected at this function, so your comfort level is high.  The good thing is that this is where your elevator pitch (Black Sales Journal 8/12, Know Your Elevator Pitch) comes in handy.  If all goes well, someone in there is in need of a widget, whether they know it or not.

Attend a sales seminar – There are many that believe sales seminars are a waste of time.  There are some that are worse than others, yet I believe that if you come out of it motivated, and believe in the boundless ability to make money, then it cannot be a total waste of time.  I went to a Zig Ziglar event one time, and he delivered a lot of platitudes, yet there were some sound messages delivered as well.  Note – If you pick up one kernel that develops you, you have been successful.

Improve your knowledge; take a class or course – It does not even have to yield a certificate, let alone a degree, but a course that strengthens you technically can yield strong benefits.  Knowing more about your product, marketplace, or the sales process is a plus and an excellent way to sharpen skills.

Join a group or association – This one is a solid way to network as well as capture an audience for your skills.  Joining a group or association is an excellent way to develop contacts, show expertise, and gather the backing that you need to be considered a true expert.

Get a sales coach – I saved this one for last because it may cost money.  A sales coach is a solid way to get someone to evaluate your sales style and help you improve your weak areas.  Do you have a problem probing, supporting, or probing?  If you sales manager is not giving you constructive comments, you may need someone to help.  Coaches are not free, yet depending on the resources that you have at your disposal starting with your sales manager this might be necessary.  Try your manager first, then a mentor next.  If that does not give it to you, consider a sales coach.  Sales coaching can be on-line, personal, or for teams of sales professionals.

Be Honest With Yourself

The most important thing is to be honest about what you really need help on.  If you are just low in spirits and need some uplift, consider attending the sales seminar.  If you are in need of someone to bounce things off of seek a mentor.  I think you get the drill.

If you career is not sputtering, this is really for you.  If you don’t need to do some emergency triage to stay in your position, you can strengthen areas that others are forced to ignore.  Pick one, and make yourself more complete with the objective of continuous improvement.

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

Mentoring can be a blessing.  It can also go wrong!  It frankly just depends on  the individuals, and how well the process has been thought.  Take a look a this post and you will see.  Note though, that I am a big proponent of mentoring!  It can change lives

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You may know my sentiments about mentoring from past posts in this journal (Do You Need a Mentor? You may Need Two, Black Sales Journal 1/27 and Being a Mentor, Can You Help Someone Else? Black Sales Journal 3/28).  I believe that if your are an accomplished sales professional you probably need to mentor some up and coming neophyte, and if you are new to sales, you probably need a mentor that can help you understand the sales world you are in, as well as understand the organizational politics and dynamics.  That could mean two separate mentors (one with sales knowledge and one with organizational expertise) or one who has a strong understanding of both.

Having been in both of those situations, I do recognize the fact that life can be easier when you have a mentor.  It would be hard for most sales professionals to dispute that mentoring did not help him or her.  Mentoring, is a role, and not a position, and whether it is formal or informal, it can go wrong.

Formalities?

Most sales mentoring relationships are informal.  They happen when a less experienced sales professional gets help from someone who has “been around the block.”  These relationships happen naturally, and because of that, there are very few “agreements” citing what the rules are.

As a matter of fact, it is because they are informal, and there are no basic rules, that animosity and resentment appear when things go wrong.  No one “evaluates” the effectiveness on a formal basis, and termination happens because the utility just might not be there.  Basically, the two parties move “apart” and seldom have the conversation that “this has been good, yet I need to work on my own now”, or “this is not giving me what I need, but I have appreciated your help.”

What Goes Wrong?

There could be a multitude of things that could go wrong, yet there are a few things that make really make a difference:

• Common Elements - The more the mentor and the mentee have in common regarding work styles and ethics, the more compatibility there will be.  Working similar hours and with like intensity can help to develop mutual respect and even admiration, akin to “looking in a mirror”.  Note, when these elements are opposite or have a wide variance, they can be the ‘wedge’ that breaks up the partnership.  The more common the work elements, the more chance there are for a fruitful mentoring relationship.
• Communication – The bond of a mentoring relationship is communication.  Communication styles differ vastly, so an understanding of communication styles and frequency are very important.  Mentors who are not effective communicators can be problematic, as the mentee may never understand fully the gist of the problem and solution, or the gravity of the issue.  The mentee must communicate openly and frequently regarding questions and issues that need clarification.  If neither of these happens, both sales professionals could be in a situation that they are wasting their time.
• Trust and rapport – Since the majority of these relationships happen informally, the parties have usually chosen each other, or one of the parties has proposed the arrangement.  When this goes wrong, it is a short-lived mentoring relationship.   This means that they must trust each other and have a general affinity toward one another.  The trust issue is large in the arena of sales.  Since prospecting activities as well as sales territories are all in play, the mentor must be able to trust the mentee will respect what he or she is doing to help.  The pilfering of a prospect will change everything if it happens, and so it should, as that is a character issue.  Rapport is important as well because it forms linkages that may develop in to stronger bonds.
• Agreement on goals and objectives – Most sales professionals have enough to do in the course of a day or week than to enter into an arrangement without some agreed upon goals and objectives.  Yogi Berra (yeah, I am quoting Yogi Berra) once said “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.” Know where you are going and have agreement on what will give value to the mentoring relationship and set your sights to get there.  If it is learning how to prospect more effectively then the mentoring activities should be focused there.  If it is becoming accomplished in sales techniques, the focus should go there.  Have a plan in mind, and have the discussions that make it real.

• Agreement on the “end game” – The mentoring arrangement, whether informal or formal will have to end at some point.  It is only right, and gives the mentee an opportunity to help someone who was in the same “boat” as he or she was.  Plan where this terminates as you go along.  Yes, this sounds formal, yet it is more realistic than one of the two parties to the mentoring relationship starting to avoid the other.

When it Goes Right! A Personal Example

As a fledgling sales representative, I searched out another Black sales professional to help me figure out how to get started.  I know that I did not call it mentoring at that time, and neither did he, yet he talked to me about prospecting.  More importantly, he talked to me about prospecting when you are Black in a business world that was not always kind.  In the State of Illinois with over sixty sales professionals of which three were Black (that included me), I needed someone who would help me learn the ropes.

His name was Walter, and he saved me a little time in a lot of my activities by taking that time with me.  I did not always agree with what he said; yet we had rapport and I appreciated him spending that time, as in a world where you don’t get points for spending it helping others, he helped.  Having someone pick up the phone when you had a question is worth its weight in gold.

In truth, you don’t need all of the formalities if the mentoring is informal, but it helps to note the topics and the milestones.

Reach out to others as a veteran and offer to help someone who is in need. Give then a chance to succeed.  If you are a sales professional in need of help, reach out to the veteran’s whom you can learn from, and get some badly needed advice.  Always remember that color is not an issue in mentoring.  Helping someone who has promise is its own reward.  You also learn much about yourself and your own abilities when you help others.

As always, we appreciate you comments.