fulfillment

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Salesperson Success: A Clear Picture of What It Looks Like

Posted on by Jason Kanigan

Salesperson success provided as a clear picture to sales staff is what’s missing in most organizations. What the poor salesperson normally gets is this:

  • No targets
  • No coaching
  • No managerial involvement
  • No feedback loop
  • Just a “Here’s your desk, your phone, your computer, the product manuals and the price list… off you go!”

I’ve seen it for over 20 years.

A salesperson is not like a cactus—you can’t simply put them in a corner, feed them leads like water from time to time, and expect them to succeed.

However, as a salesperson it will be most helpful for you to understand you’re running a mini business-within-a-business. You have the same issues as any founder, and you need the same systems working for you.

cactus without leads picture of salesperson success

Photo by Taryn Elliott from Pexels

The Systems of Salesperson Success

The place for you to begin is developing a revenue target.

Whether you know it or not, even if you’re on straight salary, you have a money target. This target must be met every month and it well exceeds what you are paid. Even if your employer hasn’t really thought about it...which is dangerous. And if you have a commission portion of your income, this is even more important.

Thus, to have a chance to achieve and exceed this target, you need to know your numbers.

You also need to be supported by the same four systems every business needs.

The first system is lead generation.

The second system is qualification.

The third system is conversion.

And the fourth system is fulfillment.

As a salesperson, just like a founder because you’re running your own mini business-within-a-business, you need to pay attention to these four systems.

The Four Systems Salespeople Need To Handle

Consider: how many leads need to come into your view so that you have a chance of success... which means hitting your revenue target?

Do you know?

Does the company provide you with that number of leads?

Or is it insufficient flow, and you need to figure out a way to drive leads on your own? (This is not such a bad situation as it may seem, since at least one other key system is taken care of for you: fulfillment. As long as the capacity is available and your employer is competent, you do not have to worry about delivery of the result your offer promises. This is a great relief and one reason to not start your own business.)

Is it clear how to separate those people the organization would prefer as customers from those who they would rather not get into a relationship with?

Is the process of turning some qualified prospects into buyers written down and understood? Is it put into practice the way it is documented?

And can you trust that the orders you take will be delivered upon in a high quality and timely manner? (As an example, I once took an order in the construction industry based on a specific delivery date requirement. I had gone to the production manager and asked to ensure this date was possible. Weeks later when the date came and went, I was the one who received the angry blast from the disappointed customer who was now badly delayed by our failure. The production manager shrugged when confronted. I quit soon afterwards as I could no longer trust their fulfillment system.)

Clarity On The Picture Is Key for Winning As a Salesperson

Getting clarity on and belief in these four systems is critical to your picture of salesperson success. You will hold this picture up as the standard by which to guide your actions.

Don’t have enough leads coming in from the company to hit your revenue target? Now you know you need to do something to get them.

Unsure how to qualify good prospects from bad? Now you know you need to do some information interviews inside your company to find out.

Struggling with converting qualified prospects into customers? Now you know you need some sales training and coaching.

Taking orders without being certain your employer can fulfill them in a timely and high quality fashion? Better get that taken care of.

Imagine the sense of personal power you’ll have when you absolutely know these four systems are handled. Every month, right on schedule, the right number of leads enters your funnel. You or your automated system (hint) filters them so the majority of your effort—remember the 80/20 Rule—goes into speaking with qualified prospects and converting some into buyers. You do this in full confidence and harmony with the fulfillment departments of your employer, who you trust to deliver a great experience and outcome for the buyer.

This is the picture of what salesperson success looks like, and the four systems that combined are the engine to support it.

>> Click here to book a consultation with Jason Kanigan <<

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How Will You Go Into 2021 As A New Business Owner?

Posted on by Jason Kanigan

Blind or with Vision?

The new business owner often flies blind.

You see this in the questions. "What's working?" "What tool should I use?" "How do I do this?"

These are the wrong questions.

Oh, it's likely that someone will be nice enough to offer you a suggestion in answer. But even if you apply what they say, it probably won't work for you as a new business owner.

Q: "What's working?"
A: They probably spent a lot of time and effort focusing on making their recommendation work. But you think the thing is going to make you money right out of the box. Nope. You'll give up fast and never get there.

Q: "What tool should I use?"
A: Not relevant to your situation. A fit for theirs, perhaps. And they spent the time getting through the learning curve, which I'll call syntax. You won't. Your eyes will cross seeing the thing on the screen, and you'll leave.

Q: "How do I do this?" (eg. How do I use the forum?)
A: Its an experiential thing. You have to invest time and develop your 'ear'. Discernment. My market is not your market. Your market is not their market. Those other, more experienced business owners, have skills, interests and opportunities you do not: what works for them probably won't work for you.

new business owner focus clarity idea picture

What To Expect As A New Business Owner

So what should you be doing as a newbie, then? As we go into 2021, what perspective will best serve you?

1. Be in it for the long haul.

Expect that this is going to be a journey. You are going to have to develop several different skills and learn many things. There are no magic bullets or push button wonders. This is a job like any other, and you are going to have to learn how to do it.

2. Focus on an audience.

Your audience. Who are these people? Know them in detail. What do they want? What do they hate? What do they watch?

If you don't know, or what you offer is 'for everyone', you're sunk.

And most importantly: where are they? Where is your audience, where can you find them? You need to encounter them somewhere, and then work to bring them from there to your own turf.

If you don't understand what I mean... consider the possibility that your audience is on Facebook, in a large group. You have to get your target audience members out of there. Otherwise, you'll eventually (or sooner rather than later) get banned by the group owner. So your job is to make an initial connection in a non-sleazy way, and then interest them into connecting with you personally... and from there, get onto your email list so you can continue to market to them.

3. Have a picture of your business.

So many newbies go blank when they think about a picture of their business. If you can't imagine it, or can't draw it, it doesn't exist. You don't have anything.

A business, every business, has only three main pieces. Draw these out. Fill them in for your situation. Expect that it will take a little time to get clarity on these things (see point #1), but have doing so as a target.

Traffic

Conversion

Fulfillment.

Key Focus Points For You When You're New In Business

Just those three things. If you spend the first few months of 2021 focused on figuring out and being able to clearly draw a picture of your business with those three things, I guarantee you'll be much better off than if you just try to float through and magically get somewhere.

Who's your audience? Where do they come from? That's Traffic.

How will you turn some of your audience into Buyers? That's Conversion.

Conversion can be a sales letter, a video sales letter (VSL), a sales conversation on Zoom or by phone, or any other thing that helps turn an audience member into a buyer.

How do you deliver the result you've promised? That's Fulfillment.

For some people, this is a downloadable .zip file.

For others, it's a membership site.

Some do it by personal or group coaching.

Others go away and design or copywrite or do some other task that has a deliverable at the end.

If you don't have clarity on these, and a resulting picture of your business, you're in deep trouble. You won't know how to focus, and on to what. Everything will seem of equal importance to you, and that is the kiss of death my friend.

If you're planning to be an affiliate marketer, consider the picture:

Traffic is your problem. That's what you're bringing to the table. Where's the audience?

Conversion is the sales letter of your Clickbank seller you've affliated with. Probably a good idea to warm the audience up with an email sequence prior to sending them to that sales page, but there's the main Conversion tool.

Fulfillment is their problem. That's the thing you affiliated with to offer. Up to you to vett that this seller provides what they say they'll provide.

Note that Conversion and Fulfillment are not enough. They are not a business. Yet we see people every day who have set up a Clickfunnels account and page, or got approved for an affliate offer, and think they have a business. No. They have next to nothing. The AUDIENCE (Traffic) is key and that's why I've stressed it here.

Keep these three things in mind, keep striving to learn more and get greater clarity on them, and you'll build a great business going into 2021.

It's not about "what's working"--because what works for you is something you'll figure out as you go, and it'll be a combination just for you.

It's not about "what tools should I use"--because what's relevant to them is probably not relevant to you. And there are no magic bullets.

It's not about "how do you do this"--because, again, you're going to have to figure out your own way. There's no such thing as a Business In A Box. The map is definitely NOT the territory. Get your mucking boots on and get into the marsh yourself. You can't go there by only looking at the map.

Get started on developing that picture. Questions?

>> Jason Kanigan is a business strategist and process improvement expert. Book a time to consult with him here <<

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Got Your 2020 Money Plan?

Posted on by Jason Kanigan

Your Money Plan is important.

But if you're a small business owner, it's likely you don't have it.

As the end of the year approaches, coaches start talking about planning out the next twelve months. Smart business owners take them up on this offer... and yet if I had to put a number to it I'll bet about 5% actually do the work.

The rest sit back.

They have various reasons for doing so.

After all, the holidays are coming up. They can do the work in January. (But of course they never will.)

Or they get trapped in The How: HOW will this money come in? A revenue plan is just fantasy, as far as they're concerned.

Those are two of the big reasons small business owners do nothing. They continue to drift.

money plan puzzle revenue plan business owner planning decision making choices

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Why Create Your Money Plan

I've seen a lot of people and companies drift.

Some are comfortable.

Some are so uncomfortable they can't imagine how figuring out a money plan will help.

Yet that's the truth: having a revenue plan will help.

It tells you all sorts of things, if you do the work.

Your Money Plan tells you how much you want and need to earn.

It tells you what the minimum price is that you should go to work for.

From that, it tells you the minimum size of problem you should be looking to solve.

It tells you who you should be looking for as a target customer.

It tells you how fast you need to be working.

It gives you all sorts of incredibly valuable information about how your business needs to be set up and run...if you want it to be successful.

So why do so many business owners shrug this planning off?

Why do they believe it's "not for them"?

Two Reasons People Struggle With Their Money Plan

The truth is in two parts.

First, nobody has ever told them about the key factors I just listed for you. The business owners therefore believe this kind of planning is a boring accounting exercise: and who wants to do that besides the accountants?

Second, deep down, they don't believe they're really in control. They think, if they're winning, "I got lucky." That their customers are the result of chance. That it won't last.

And in a weird way, they're right about the second part.

If you don't continually create the outcome you desire, things will fall apart.

But you do have control.

You can control who you speak with...and who you don't.

You can control what size of problem you choose to work on solving.

You can control your activity level and involvement in phases like prospecting, selling and fulfilling orders.

You can control a lot.

Probably a whole lot more than you thought.

So if you're content to stick it out in the comfort zone, abdicate responsibility for the outcome and tell yourself the lie that, "It's all luck"... you're on your own.

But if you're excited about the idea of getting your Money Plan together—and perhaps changing your business much for the better—then we should speak.

>> Jason Kanigan is a business strategist. Book a time with him to speak about your situation...and get some serious answers...by clicking here. <<