Sales Blog with Professional Sales Tips

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The sales profession is increasingly moving toward a more scientific approach. Students of sales are demanding a more objective and scientific orientation to the science of sales. As evidence of that, there are a number of outstanding universities in the US that have top flight programs where you can major in sales.

I’ve noted in past posts (What Colleges Teach you About Sales Careers) that many university environments are not too sales friendly. Fortunately, that is changing, as evidenced by the top quality sales degree programs being offered by the universities listed below.

There are many different choices to consider when it comes to a sales career; no longer can we just say that we want to be in “sales.” Please see As a career salesperson where do you best fit? for more information. Sales degree programs can really help a young person (or even someone with years of sales experience) hone their skills in the type of sales career they want to pursue.

If you have a son or daughter that is interested in a formal sales education, one of the following universities might be a great place to steer them. Of course it’s also never too late to consider a formal sales degree program for yourself or someone in your organization.

The following list of universities offers some of the best sales education degree programs in the US. All of the following are accredited universities where students can major in sales.

Baylor University, Waco, Texas, Internship Required
Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia
University of Akron, Akron, Ohio
University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, Internship Required
William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey

I am very pleased to see that the sales profession is becoming more academic. These university programs provide a career launching point for young people interested in a sales career. They also are an avenue for experienced sales professionals to sharpen their sales skills and earn a degree in the process.

© 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

We all know the Pareto Principle, which broadly states that 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. Countless sales organizations have gotten themselves into deep trouble by mindlessly applying this principle to their sales organizations. I call it the Pareto Protocol.

Sales management thinks something like the following, “We’ve done an analysis and find that 80% of our sales comes from only 20% of our sales force. We need to fire 80% of our salesforce, which will lower our overhead and increase our profits!”

They think that if they can increase the sales of the 20%-super-producers by just 25% they won’t see any decline in revenues, while simultaneously realizing an 80% reduction in their base sales payroll. It sounds too good to be true, because it is.

I’ve seen the results when the Pareto Protocol is applied to sales organizations and it is consistently a disaster. I am fully aware that every sales organization has salespersons that need to find another career, or at the least be encouraged to work for a competitor.

I am also fully aware that every sales organization has its high producing heavy lifters, but to think that they can and will do even more lifting, all the time, is an ill-advised sales strategy.

Before your sales organization is tempted to partially or fully implement the Pareto Protocol, please consider the following:

1. Your top producers are in that position because they are already working at high capacity. Do they really have an additional 25%+ of bandwidth to give you?
2. You have salespeople at differing levels of development. Firing 80% of the sales force will undoubtedly nip many future super stars in the bud.
3. After applying the Pareto Protocol your sales force is now theoretically comprised exclusively of superstars; you’ve unintentionally created headhunter heaven. Be prepared for your superstars to be rapidly and easily gobbled up by your competitors.
4. Sometimes sales management tends to put their heads in the sand and pretend that everyone on the sales force has exactly the same opportunities. Not true. Accounts, products, geography, experience, sales management, etc. are variables that have to be accounted for and leveraged for each salesperson.

There is a normal distribution of sales capabilities within all sales organizations. Please see Sales Managers, Invest in Your Average Performers.

Sales management needs to focus on improving/removing the bottom 15%, improving the middle 70% and rewarding the top 15%. Sales management also has to look at its own skill levels at managing the sales force most effectively, but that’s for another post.

© 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

We’ve all done it. We throw a wrench in things with our prospects and customers by not getting them information on time, ordering and shipping the wrong parts, offending one of the decision makers, making promises that we aren’t able to keep, misquoting prices, etc.

There are a million things we can do to damage customer relationships.

When we find ourselves in situations like this we know to initiate all the standard recovery techniques such as bringing in our sales manager for help, readily admitting our errors, etc.

But what if those things don’t work? What if things are stalled and the customer doesn’t appear to budge or, even worse, appears indifferent?

When we find ourselves in this predicament we have a back door. I call it the Control-Alt-Delete Recovery. We’re all familiar with control-alt-delete; it’s the key sequence we hit when we want to reboot and start from scratch with our Windows computer when all else has failed.

When we initiate a Control-Alt-Delete Recovery with prospects and customers we attempt to initiate a second chance with them. By starting all over they see us differently and many times will be open to reconnecting.

There are three primary components of this strategy:

1. New sales team. We need to bring in a new sales team, both salesperson and sales manager. The prospect or customer needs to see all new faces. Once things start to recover there is a possibility that the original team could be slowly re-introduced.
2. Additional decision makers. Obviously we want to continue the relationship with existing decision makers, but we need to add additional decision makers into the mix to help create a new chemistry.
3. New products and services. Not only do we want to bring in new sales faces and add decision makers but we want to introduce some new products and services as well.

The objective is to create a whole new look for our sales approach so that the customer sees us in a different and favorable light. This strategy will take a degree of boldness and humility but it can help us regain momentum.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

As salespeople we have to manage a million emails and files. We constantly need to find information on customers, products, proposals, presentations, etc. that is found in emails and files scattered throughout our computer.

It’s there somewhere, but we have no idea where to find it or when we created it.

There is an answer and it’s called Google Desktop. It’s free and provides search capabilities that will save you hours of wasted time trying to find information.

I’ve been using it for years and it definitely falls into the, “How did I manage without this?” category. People think I have magical powers of recall, but Google Desktop is doing all the work.

Once you download the program from Google Desktop it will index your emails and files and will instantly retrieve your documents and emails based on search terms. It works exactly like Google’s search engine except it’s searching on your files and emails.

Recently I needed to find a customer presentation from an event that occurred in 2005. I had no idea where to look. Was it attached to an old email somewhere? Was it in an old Word document stored in some folder? I just typed in “presentation, Chicago, 2005″ and it brought up the email with the attached Word document I was looking for in about one second.

In addition to finding emails and documents it will also help you find web pages you’ve viewed and it will even help you retrieve deleted files that you accidentally deleted but now need.

Microsoft’s latest version of Windows (Vista) has this feature built in, but Google beat them to the punch and has a product that is better suited to sales professionals and their needs in my opinion.

Get it on your computer and let me know what you think.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Peggy (not her real name) recently submitted a sales career related question and asked me to answer it.

“I attain my sales goal almost every single month and have done so for many years. I told my boss during an annual review that money doesn’t motivate me that much. He couldn’t believe that anyone in sales would want to be in sales if they felt that way. Am I wrong to feel this way? I love sales, but money is not the main reason.”

Just because many, if not most, sales professionals say they are in it for the money doesn’t necessarily mean they really are. In some sales circles it would be considered politically incorrect to enjoy a sales career for anything other than compensation.

This kind of one-dimensional view of our sales careers can rob us of some of the joys of selling.

Lots of research has been done as to what motivates people at work and, surprisingly, compensation does not come in as number one in most of them. Furthermore, most studies of sales contests indicate that the majority of salespeople prefer tangible awards instead of money.

What motivators are there in a sales career other than money? They include, but are not limited to:

1. Ability to develop significant relationships inside and outside of our company.
2. Outside sales positions provide significant freedom and mobility.
3. Real feeling of accomplishment and contribution, and one that is measurable.
4. Develops personal confidence because we work for a very important department at our company while we simultaneously interface with important decision makers at our customers.

Peggy, I think it’s commendable that you are aware of what does and doesn’t motivate you. Everybody has different motivators and you appear to be tuned into them and obtain your sales budget on a regular basis as a result. I would urge your sales manager not to ruin the soup. Don’t question good results.

Sales can certainly be financially rewarding, but there are many other factors that can make it a fun and rewarding career. Carry on Peggy.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer