Welcome to the Sales Journal

The Mission
Mission: The Sales Journal is on a mission to provide critical resources in an effort to assist sales professionals, entrepreneurs and business leaders achieve their most ambitious goals.

IMAGE
The Promise
Promise: To act as a strategic partner alongside corporate enterprise clients as they seek to drive new revenue and exceed growth targets.

IMAGE
The Purpose
Purpose: To promote collaboration and professional growth among sales professionals, entrepreneurs and business leaders worldwide through our first-class products and services.

IMAGE

author-Jeffrey Gitomer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it a sales plan or a state of mind that feels support?

All salespeople are given a plan, a quota, or some kind of “numbers” to achieve as a major part of their job requirement.

The key word is “part.” The plan or the quota is a SMALL part of the achievement process.

How the company and leader supports the salesperson and his or her sales effort is another part – the MAJOR part.

The tools, the training, and the encouragement to achieve will determine the salesperson’s ultimate belief, effort, and outcome. (AKA: Results)

Sales leaders will always make value judgments on their salespeople’s ability to produce numbers, but rarely will they step up to bat and self-evaluate their own effort to support and encourage their salespeople.

Sales leaders are quick to judge the capability of their salespeople strictly by the numbers. They get reports to keep accountability high. They get reports to check on activity. They get reports to check the numbers.

CLASSIC EXAMPLE: If the number each salesperson is to achieve requires cold calling as a major part of the sales function, more than 50% will NOT make the grade. They will become discouraged by a 95% or more failure (rejection) rate, be unhappy, feel pressure, most likely lie on their sales report, and ultimately quit (or be fired).

SALES REALITY: Most salespeople resent the fact that they are held accountable for certain numbers that don’t have anything to do with actually making sales. In addition, most salespeople resent the fact that their sales training is focused on the product rather than selling skills.

BIGGER SALES REALITY. Sales is not numbers, it’s a rhythm. Any kind of sales requires you to get into a rhythm, and that rhythm be consistent. It’s not the song, it’s the backbeat. Backbeat provides the glue to music. Bass and drums, not lead guitar or vocals. Consistent beat, not a one-minute solo.

BIGGEST SALES REALITY. In order for salespeople to feel “in the groove,” and get the sales rhythm, there has to be leadership support, and there has to be leadership encouragement.

Leadership has to change the word accountability to the word responsibility. The salesperson is responsible for himself or herself, responsible for their outcomes, and responsible to their boss and their company for productivity.

Once the salesperson becomes a responsible salesperson they are automatically accountable to everyone without ever saying the word “accountable.”

But the boss and the company also have their own responsibility to support that salesperson 150%.

Here are the 7.5 responsibilities sales leadership has to salespeople in order for them to make their numbers happen without ever saying the word “accountability”:

7.5 Internal harmony. Whatever your internal process is, there must be a harmony between sales, accounting, shipping, and any internal administration that deals directly with salespeople and/or customers.   

I’ve just given you the tip of the sales performance iceberg. Most of the iceberg is not visible if the salesperson is fighting market conditions, customers, and competition to gain a competitive and profitable edge.

NON-SECRET FORMULA FOR SALES SUCCESS: Give salespeople encouragement and support and they will give you sales.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of twelve best-selling books including The Sales BibleThe Little Red Book of Selling, and 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling. His books are now available as online courses at www.GitomerVT.com. For information about training and seminars visit www.Gitomer.com or www.GitomerCertifiedAdvisors.com or email Jeffrey personally at  .

©2014 All Rights Reserved. Don’t even think about reproducing this document

without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112

Add comment
  • No comments found
IMAGE A Poltergeist in the Office?
Oct 06, 2014
        Title: A Poltergeist in the Office? Subtitle: How negative energy can destroy an office environment and threaten a company’s culture. Written by Matthew J. Herman (Published Oct. 5, 2014) In spirit of the Halloween... Read More...

IMAGE How do you define success?
Sep 24, 2013
Success is often defined by the eyes of the beholder; however, how an individual defines success is a telling indicator of a person’s inner motivation, character, maturity or lack thereof.  As a teenager and even into my early twenties, I... Read More...

IMAGE The John Elway Sweepstakes: Having the right C-Level relationship puts you ahead of the competition
Sep 16, 2013
        The John Elway Sweepstakes Having the right C-Level relationship puts you ahead of the competition By Matthew Herman You may be asking yourself, what does John Elway have to do with sales, entrepreneurship or business?... Read More...

IMAGE Unseen Power: 12 intangible sales skills that will bring your organization to the next level
Jun 2013
The world of sales can be brutally competitive. Companies simply can not survive unless they close a significant number of profitable sales – that’s a given. As a direct result, the demand for great sales professionals has grown to unprecedented... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE Twitter thoughts and Twitter thinking. Tweet and Re-Tweet.
Jun 2013
Most people reading this have never tweeted. (You included?) On the off chance that you have tweeted, my guess is you have less than 5,000 Twitter followers – maybe less than 500.Whatever your situation is there’s no denying that Twitter is a... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE Terrance Gilmore, Fitness Advice from a Former Fat Guy
Jun 2013
My Story: As I sat there, head in hands, tears running between my fingers, a single question repeated in my mind, like the light atop a lighthouse, it spun around and around in my mind. How did I let myself get here? At 27 years old, I should be... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE A misguided post about features and benefit selling
Jun 2013
Last week I was sitting down at the kitchen table responding to several inquiries regarding my book. After roughly 45 minutes, my focus started to drift off course. I began to read random posts from professionals that comprise my LinkedIn network.... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE When you walk in empty headed, you walk out empty handed.
Jun 2013
How much of your presentation is “standard”? Whether you sell a product or service, whether it’s simple or sophisticated, how much (what percentage) of your presentation is the way you usually present it? Void of personalization? Void of... Sign Up to Read More ...

SJ Latest Articles

IMAGE To ensure promptness. By Jeffrey Gitomer
Oct 2014
  To ensure promptness. An old and new tradition. By Jeffrey Gitomer Ever leave a tip? Sure you have. And most of the time, the amount of the tip is based on the perceived service or quality. Sometimes it’s a combination of qualities: food... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE Tough sales issues, and not so tough (but not so easy) answers.
May 2014
                Tough sales issues, and not so tough (but not so easy) answers.   By Jeffrey Gitomer   Thee 3.5 biggest issues facing salespeople today are: 1. Price integrity. 2. Customer loyalty.... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE How to Develop a Powerful B2B Value Proposition By Ian Dainty
May 2014
    How to Develop a Powerful B2B Value Proposition By Ian Dainty   Developing a powerful B2B Value Proposition will differentiate your company from your competition. If you are having trouble differentiating your business from... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE Question and Answer By Dave Kahle
May 2014
  Question and Answer           Clearly, spreading the business around between several vendors is the customer's philosophical approach to purchasing.  He/she probably has arrived at this... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE Can Sales Management Increase Results? Bob Urichuck
Apr 2014
       Can Sales Management Increase Results? By Bob Urichuck Organizations often promote the best salespeople into management whether they desire to be there or not—it is seen as a promotion or reward for the results they... Sign Up to Read More ...

For Entrepreneurs

Starting a Business
Aug 2013
As entrepreneurs, we believe our idea or new business venture is going to work. But then we let our fears come in and rob us of our success. Here are three insights that can help you stay on track... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE Forget diversification. Create new market segments.
Jun 2013
Let’s brainstorm for a moment and consider luxury automobiles. Think about brands such as Mercedes, BMW, AUDI, Cadillac, Lexus, Jaguar and Lincoln. Then you have your super luxury brands, like... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE Attention entrepreneurs who are seeking funding!
Jun 2013
Consider the following before you meet with Angel, Venture, or Private equity investors. I often daydream about the opportunities so many start-up businesses had during the tech boom of the late 90s.... Sign Up to Read More ...

On Leadership

IMAGE Leadership actions that are not an option for leaders.
Sep 2013
Leadership actions that are not an option for leaders. “Where’s the action? Where’s the game?” is a line in the song “Oldest Established” from the immortal Broadway show (and my personal... Sign Up to Read More ...

IMAGE A Quote from John C. Maxwell
Jun 2013
"Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course."- JOHN C. MAXWELL, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Sign Up to Read More ...

Motivational Quote of the Week

IMAGE “Be all that you can be”
Jun 2013
Written Emelio Sebastian We have all heard the Army’s famous commercial slogan, “Be all that you can be…in the Army”. The implication here is that you have not yet become all that you can be,... Sign Up to Read More ...

Matthew-James-Media-Company FINALLOGO-white

 

©The Sales Journal/Matthew James Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Website Powered by VMC Art & Design, LLC