3 Big, Impactful Ideas for Your Next Sales Conference Part III: Sales or Service – Which to Use?

3 Big, Impactful Ideas for Your Next Sales Conference Part III: Sales or Service – Which to Use?

In the last blog post, I shared the second AHA! Moment from a recent Sales Conference in Atlanta. We were walloped by an ice storm while I was there that created these beautiful ice-covered trees in the sunshine. Just like these trees, the sales reps were tough, resilient, and beautiful in their commitment to get past an unexpectedly bad year last year (due to manufacturing issues, not demand) to fully engage, and to use what we taught them to easily achieve their sales budgets this year.

In our 3rd AHA! Moment, we brought together everything they’d learned about their Who’s Who and the Customer Experience on the first day to create their Sales/Service Plans for the year. The Sales/Service Plan speaks to the challenge of knowing that ½ of any marketing budget is wasted… but not knowing which half.

The Who’s Who exercise identified:

Who their most valuable customers were, who needed to be retained. In many cases, these are their biggest customers and their most profitable, they’re fanatically loyal, and they’re doing as much business with the company as they can. They DON’T need more “sales pitches” – they need a higher level of service, whether its providing better and more consistent deliver schedules, a dedicated customer service representative who gets to know them, executive attention from the highly customer-focused CEO, or a voice in what new products should be introduced. The reps created a menu of ways to serve them better, and planned out the year in value-add ways that giving them another golf shirt or taking them for lunch could never create.
Who their marginally profitable customers were, the “ramp up” dealers with low-hanging fruit just ripe to be plucked: In this case, the reps identified which of those dealers could be doing more volume… and put ramp up plans in place to help train and support them to make it happen, and set a new goal to move them up into the retain space where they’d get the highest caliber of service. In some cases, they couldn’t do more volume, but they could do better business – selling a better mix of products, being more efficient with their order entry, understanding the product lines better so that they could be more creative as a dealer in offering solutions to the end-buyer. Once again, the reps created their plan, ensuring that a previously under-utilized training resource is going to be very busy helping to create more value for this high-potential group.
Who their unprofitable dealers were who needed to be restored to breakeven or better. The reps were initially very nervous that the company would close or “fire” these dealers, but as they saw the restore strategy was all about understanding where the causes were, whether on the dealer side or the company side, they got excited about addressing them. We took them through a 2×3 grid where they could map their dealers to the cause and solution. In 5 out of those 6 cases, it comes down to a supportive conversation. In only 1 of those scenarios is there a requirement to terminate the relationship. These reps knew which dealers were a constant thorn in their side… and they learned that it wasn’t always the customer’s fault that that was the case. Once again, they felt empowered to be part of the solution, and empowered to do a better job of working with their dealers to make everyone more successful.

The Staple Yourself to the Experience workshop identified ways to build competitive advantage in every interaction, and the icing on the cake was when the reps embedded experiential elements into their sales plans, to further enhance their relationships with their dealers.

Full Accountability. Aligned Investment. Commitment to Results. A Better Use of Resources. A Clear Roadmap to Success. The Sales Service Planning process is so powerful because it aligns the investments made by the company, the reps, and the dealers with the value of the business and the growth potential that’s not always evident unless you have a comprehensive process like this.

Fun, Frolic, and Financial ROI

The meeting started on the first day with the CEO doing a happy dance at the end of his “last year had challenges, here’s why this year will be great” as James Brown’s I Feel Good played on YouTube behind him. That set the stage for a fun and productive event. The reps got right into the swing of things, spontaneously forming a conga line at the end of the second day to come up and thank the team while Kool and The Gang’s Celebration played on You Tube on the big screen! It was fun. It was motivating. It was impactful. The entire organization is poised for success this year and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Resource: Pick up a copy of my book, Profit In Plain Sight and read about the value of Sales/Service Plans to create your own AHA! Moment. If you’d like me to speak at your next Sales Meeting or Annual Conference, simply reach out to Speaking@AnneCGraham.com or go to Book a Keynote for more information.

Question: What’s the best way you’ve ever found to have your sales team step up to doing a detailed sales plan with specific customer outcomes beyond just revenues?