Advice for Sales Leaders: Simplify the Message on Prospecting
Posted by Ned Miller on Mon, Apr 11, 2011 @ 05:59 PM
The Philadelphia Eagles sat out their 45th straight Super Bowl in February. And, like many teams in the off-season, they have made changes in their coaching staff, starting with their defensive coordinator.
Now for those of you who could care less about professional football or who marvel at the appointment of an offensive line coach to lead the Eagles’ defense, stay with me for a few more seconds. The interesting thing for sales leaders is that the new coaching staff believes it has to simplify the defensive scheme in 2011. “We’re trying to cut some things back and make it easier for the guys to understand what we want them to do,” said cornerbacks coach Johnnie Lynn.
Top coaches are good at simplifying things. They are skilled communicators who realize that success often hinges on their ability to explain things in terms that make sense to everybody.
In my experience the best messages are clear, concise, and consistent. Wells Fargo, which has long highlighted the importance of cross-selling as a driver of profitability, uses the phrase “Eight is great.” Bankers throughout the company know by heart that this is one of the keys to the bank's success. It is short, it is easy to remember, and my guess is that it does keep people on track.
The messages that your sales team needs to hear from you should be equally pithy and memorable. Say your bankers are struggling with prospecting. In this environment they can often come up with a litany of reasons why prospecting is difficult. “I'm too busy.” “We’d just turn them down.” “There's no demand for loans.” “They're happy with their current bank.”
Setting aside for a minute the possibility that some or all of these are true, you still need to let people know that prospecting is a critical sales behavior. How can you deliver that message?
Certainly, you can take advantage of your weekly meetings. If you want to drive home the importance of acquiring new clients, some portion of your meeting should include a discussion of prospecting. In addition, your weekly sales reports should also differentiate between calls on customers and prospects. Discussions of pipeline opportunities should do the same.
The power of your messages regarding prospecting can be amplified by other members of your organization. For example, if the bank CEO or the head of commercial banking uses the same terms and phrases in conversations with all team members, your message is likely to stick.
So my advice is to spend some time brainstorming with other sales leaders what specific messages your team needs to hear today. Boil them down to three or four that you want to use over the course of the next 3 to 6 months.
And remember that you may have to repeat yourself a lot. And keep it simple: that’s what professional football coaches need to do to make sure that their teams remember what they need to at crunch time.
For a copy of our article on 7 Tips for Coaching Prospecting go to http://www.mzbierlyconsulting.com/coaching-the-prospecting-process-tips-for-sales-managers.
Interested in more on coaching? Check out our archived webinars at http://mzbielryconsulting.webex.com or visit our blog for more articles on sales leadership at http://www.mzbierlyconsulting.com/bank-sales-corner-blog.