Geoffrey James of the bNET Sales Machine writes about such an outline in a recent post. The pyramid of sales standards, as he calls it, outlines selling standards from the ground up. This set of standards works particularly well because of the pyramid structure, where each layer relies on the foundation, or layers, below it. As a sales rep, it is paramount to have a solid foundation of sales activities and skills, such as making the right number of calls, managing prospects in an organized manner, etc. Having a weak foundation, or not handling the basics well, will cause your whole pyramid (your selling strategy and effectiveness as a sales rep) to crumble. In fact, you might not even reach the top of the pyramid (repeat business and ultimately being profitable) if you do not have a sturdy foundation of the essential sales skills.

James calls the second layer of the pyramid ‘Sales Skills’, or your skills in terms of how you handle the call, how you deal with prospects, and how and when you followup. While it is key to be organized and thoughtful in creating a solid foundation of sales activity, a large amount of effort is needed to improve you’re on the call and followup skills. Along with lots of practice, being prepared for the call is essential. If you take the time to do the research on your prospect’s company, you will be much better off when you actually make the call. Research will lead you to a better understanding of your prospect’s needs and how your solution can fill them. You also might find a news alert that gives you an opening: a new executive hire at your prospect’s company, or the company being given a large amount of funding, etc. Finding the right news event cannot only give you an advantage but can sometimes result in an easy sale. News may be hard to come by all the time, but the research will always pay off on some level.

However it is certain that you can better manage prospects and sales calls if you’re getting the latest and greatest updates about them all the time- whether it be from social networks, browsing the web etc. There are in fact platforms out there that can aggregate all this “hot” information for you, eliminating the majority of the time you spend researching so you can have more time to focus on closing the sale and improving the top levels of your “sales pyramid”. You can check out one of these platforms here.

To illustrate Dan’s thesis, let’s look at one of his examples: An MIT study. The study conducted by MIT used 3 levels of monetary incentive for people doing a variety of tasks. When it came to physical tasks, the results were predictable; the higher the level of incentive for the person, the better the person performed. This was also true for any task which was a basic “if I do this, then I get that” carrot and stick model. However when it came to any tasks that were even rudimentarily conceptual, it was found that the higher the incentive was for the individual, the worse the individual tended to perform.

Why might this be? As counter-intuitive as this may sound, Dan actually gives us a very reasonable answer as to why this is. If you give a person enough of an incentive, say a wad of cash, they will immediately be focused on the task at hand and trying hard to figure out the solution. When the answer to the problem is straightforward and logical, this is great. But when a bit of creativity is required to attain the solution, being extremely focused on the problem and trying to think through it as logically as possible is probably the wrong approach. As Dan puts it, a large incentive like this “is the enemy of creative problem solving… because your not picking up on the lateral signals.” Going back to the carrot and stick analogy, you can completely focus on the carrot but not see the other things around you, be it a pot of gold (other great idea) or an 18-wheeler speeding at you (other pitfalls).

How does this have any application to sales you might ask? Well if you think about it, you can apply this to your sales reps and especially to those mid level performers. The monetary incentive has always been there for them, but they continue to perform around an average level. They are either less motivated or not as adept at selling as the other reps. If it is a question of motivation, obviously money is not working. If it is a question of skill, well then should we not try and motivate them to learn and become better at what they do? Maybe a different method of incentive will allow them to see sales solutions more clearly.

Dan sites three factors that lead to better personal performance and engagement:

• Autonomy, or our desire to be self directed.
• Mastery, or our desire to get better at what we do.
• Purpose, which can be the best motivator of all. We as people are both purpose maximizers as well as profit maximizers. While money is all well and good, if you can provide a person with a sense of purpose, it may motivate them a whole lot more than a bonus or commission ever could.

Applying this to the world of sales, you can try to encourage your reps to master what they do. Challenge them by pointing out that this is what they do all day every day and they should take pride in it. Explain that even though they might not believe it, the job of a salesman is mostly autonomous, as they are on their own the majority of the time selling a product or service to every prospect and lead that they receive. That being said you and the other salesman are always there to assist them, which can lead into the common sense of purpose. The entire team is working together toward one goal (or one number), and it is the manager’s job to convey this sense of camaraderie and purpose. If you can successfully convey this, you might just find that this team environment provides enough encouragement and creative thinking for each rep to go above and beyond.

 In addition, many managers take the approach that it is better to spend the money on incentives for sales reps and to cut out those that aren’t performing well. While these tactics can sometimes be effective, without any training the majority of sales reps are likely to fall behind. Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power analogizes this to a football coach who cancels practice when the team is winning, and gives would be training dollars out to the best players instead of paying for more practice equipment. Do you think that would make a good coach? I think not.

 While it would be great if most sales managers took it upon themselves to find appropriate training sessions, whitepapers, and even books to promote better selling, it will usually be left to the rep to find opportunities to educate themselves.

 If you’re a sales manager, consider the fact that a well educated and learned sales team will perform better, and in turn make you look better, than a team who is only driven by extra incentives and the fear of getting the axe. If you’re a sales rep, be proactive. Don’t assume that your manager or your company will consistently find seminars for you to attend. Find them yourself and ask your company to pay for it. In addition, learn from your mistakes and from your customers. Every sale and every customer is different, so keep notes on what worked for you and what didn’t so you don’t make the same mistakes with your next prospect. Write down what you learned from each training session as well; as I mentioned before the training will only stay top of mind for so long, so it is crucial to write down the takeaway messages.

 Sales training will only resonate for a few hours and then will fade from memory quickly, and likewise the enthusiasm generated from a training class will dissipate in a few days. While some may use the skills they have learned from a particular training for a few weeks or even a month, people will usually fall back into their old habits without regular training. Find and attend regular sessions to keep yourself fresh; read articles, whitepapers, and books. Write down what you have learned and apply it; you should find yourself exceeding your quarterly goals in no time.

In addition, it is important to make sure sales and marketing teams are aligned and working in harmony. Even if both departments are working full out all the time, it won’t matter if a rift exists between the two. The use of sales technologies and platforms can significantly reduce or even erase this void between sales and marketing groups in some organizations, therefore dramatically increasing productivity.

Are you at the conference? ADP panelist (and OneSource customer) Suzette Godwin Romer discussed how over 2,000 of their sales representatives use OneSource to find relevant, targeted sales opportunities. It’s important for sales people to use their resources to the fullest when it comes to leads – if you understand your prospect’s needs and company as a whole, the prospect will be more receptive to what you are saying.

 Tibor Shanto recently listed a few methods on the Sales Dog Blog. First off, sales reps should become very familiar with their client base. Knowing each client on an almost intimate level can give them a better understanding of where their best efforts are needed. They can then consider getting rid of the bottom feeders: those clients who take up the most time but produce the least revenue and are the most likely to disappear from your client base in near future. These clients are not worth the time; instead reps should be focusing on other leads and their more dedicated and/or profitable existing clients.

 Another thing to do is to segment your client base. If it’s unclear what to segment it by, try first separating by smaller and larger clients. Smaller clients typically have a smaller payoff but also take less time to close, and vice versa for larger ones. Depending on your business, it should become clear the ratio of small to large clients that you should be going after that optimizes your revenue vs. the amount of time you spend selling.

Keep close track of your deals and over time you’ll begin to see some trends developing.  You should be able to tell who your top prospects are based upon the data you have gathered. Keep a database that not only tags each client by segment but also has a record of all of the time and resources you have spent on them. Periodically, you will be able to do a simple analysis of the data which reveal the winners and losers among your prospects.   Go one step further by using a sales intelligence and prospecting tools that will provide even more insights about each of your prospects and help you refine your segmentation process.  It sounds like a lot of effort, but in the end you’ll have each of your leads placed into segments ranking from most desirable to least, allowing you to focus on those that will make the most of your time.

That’s time well spent.