I know that the participants would enjoy you attending, so please come. And by all means, broadcast this to your friends and colleagues that would benefit.

In summary, I promise the content will always be relevant, on message and definitely linked to revenues.

Los Angeles, CA - - June 2, 2009 - - Mark L. Friedman, executive vice president of the Sales Lead Management Association (SLMA) today announced the results of the 2008, 3rd Annual Sales Lead Management Study conducted by the Velos Group and the Association.

Survey specifics established that 55.5% percent of companies do not qualify sales inquires before they distribute inquires to their sales channel (last year’s 2007 study showed 68.8% were not qualifying inquiries). 62.5 % still do not track ROI and 87.4% were not very happy with the current Sales Force Automation (SFA) /Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

Executive Director, James W. Obermayer said, "Sales lead management is more than buying software and expecting it to take the responsibility of increasing sales and sales productivity. The 2008 survey results, much like the 2007 study, suggests that many companies continue to struggle with this fundamental business process"

In addition, 27.1% of those surveyed have no formal forecasting process. Of those who do, Microsoft Excel®* still leads (23.8 percent) as the primary tool for compiling the forecasts. Complete study results are available from the Sales Lead Management Association (membership required, sign-up is free).

Of those using a CRM system SalesForce has 17% of the users with ACT by Sage, Sage SalesLogix and MS CRM following with less than double digits.

The study group consisted of 140 companies from the membership and visitors to the Sales Lead Management Association over 12 months. The online study was conducted using Zoomerang.

About Mark L. Friedman

Mark L. Friedman, SLMA’s executive vice president of the SLMA also founded the Velos Group, an inquiry management and lead generation firm. Friedman is a well-known speaker on the topics of sales lead management, CRM applications, and lead generation topics. He is also a partner in Southern California’s largest executive consulting group, Cerius Interim Executive Solutions. Friedman is co-author of the recently released book, Find Lost Revenue, Solutions Press, 2009 which is available from Amazon.

Sales Lead Management Association

The SLMA has the mission of helping companies become more successful in the critical business process of Managing Sales Leads.

　* Excel® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the US

In my interim sales management and consulting assignments I have found 53 reasons why sales commonly falter in most companies. I am publishing them over the coming weeks in installments; this is the fourth. If you can’t wait to see the "rest of the story," take advantage of the offer at the bottom of our home page for the full list.

1. Do you know the customers buying process? How does your customer buy? What are their steps? How many "touches" do they require to be comfortable enough to sign the PO? Do your sales processes match their steps? Are you in sync or out of sync with their processes to buy your product? Map out the customers buying process and get your salespeople in line with their needs.

2. Do you have defined steps to the sale for your products? How many touches and steps does it take to make the sale? Are your steps different from the customers buying process? You have to know the customer steps in order to control the sales process (steps).

3. Open sales territories? Open territories can silently kill sales force productivity. If you have 50 salespeople (600 months of sales time) and you turn over 10 territories a year and lose an average of six months per territory you have lost 60 months of selling time, not to mention the ramp up time to get sales productivity back to normal. Plug the hole with creative hiring, maybe a recruiter to reduce risk and time and recapture three months back into the sales productivity column.

4. Who is in charge of sales management, the company president? You have to grow up and put a professional sales manager in charge of the salespeople. Salespeople need care and attention. Inside salespeople need more care and attention than outside salespeople. Both groups need a daily dose of coaching. If you have a part-time sales manager you'll get part time results. No one would expect Phil Jackson, the famous basketball coach, to get the results he has obtained by doing his job part-time.

5. Comfort level? Sooner or later salespeople will reach a comfort level. Make them uncomfortable. Set stretch sales quotas, reduce the territory size, make the comfortably sleepy salespeople uncomfortable. I didn't say kill their momentum, just make them stretch. You can set goals from the top down, or from the bottom up. By bottom up I mean getting the salespeople to set their own goals. It works every time.

7. Weed the garden or accepting meritocracy! Change is difficult. It is time-consuming to replace salespeople. Are you ready for the round of interviews, training and coaching and traveling to get the best? Are you too lazy to hire the best and the brightest? Are you weeding the garden? Time to start. 

8. Testing salespeople for sales skills before you hire them? There are sales aptitude tests that will help you reduce your hiring risk for new salespeople. Use them for every new hire. Trust the tests when they tell you a person isn't right for your products or marketplace.

9. Have you introduced new products at mid-year and added to their quota without taking any products away? It will take them time to figure out if they want to sell the new product and if they do, sales will begin to decline on other products in the line. Very few salespeople can substantially increase sales for new products and retain the sales quantities sold for their other products; while they are trying to figure it all out, sales slump.   There are only so many sales hours in a day. 

10. Are the new products working? Did you introduce a product that didn't work (momentum killer)? Nothing like having salespeople spend valuable time selling something that doesn't work and then they have to spent time servicing a client, answering questions, taking a product back, etc. It steals valuable sales hours from products that work.

In my interim sales management and consulting assignments I have found 53 reasons why sales commonly falter in most companies. I will be publishing them over the coming five weeks in installments; this is the third installment. If you can’t wait to see the "rest of the story," take advantage of the offer at the bottom of our home page for the full list.

1. Are the right salespeople selling for you? Do you have a "commodity product" salesperson selling on price and delivery for a long-term "consultative" sale? Even worse, do you have the reverse? Test the salesperson to match the personality or sales skills you need to the type of product you have to sell. Be especially vigilant in your hiring process. If your product has an average sales price of $1000 and the sales cycle is 60 days or less, you should avoid a salesperson that has a history of selling high ticket items with a sales cycles of 6 months to a year; the reverse is also true.

2. Are the salespeople properly trained? Have they had product training? Retraining? More importantly have your salespeople attended actual sales training classes based on their abilities? Have you tested them to see where they need help? Salespeople are like athletes, they need constant training which includes how to over-come objections, relationship building, telephone sales skills, product training, over-coming price as an objection, etc.

3. Has the inside sales group had the same sales training as the outside representatives? From sales skill training to product training, too many inside salespeople are ignored and not treated on an equal basis with outside representatives. And yet we know that the inside salesperson has more rejection, must sell without the benefit of seeing a buyer body language, etc. Inside salespeople need as much if not more continuous training than outside salespeople.

4. Are sales territories properly aligned? Is there the same sales potential in each territory? The same number of potential customers? Have you set up the territories based on geographic barriers, drive time, etc?

5. Are there activity quotas that contribute to goal attainment? Activity quotas are habits and actions that you have found that when repeated often enough will lead to a predictable sales outcome. For instance, number of cold calls per day, number of live appointments per week, enumber of proposals, etc.

6. Risking too much with hockey stick sales performance? Hockey stick performers deliver sales in the last week or two of a quarter. If a majority of the salespeople do this you have 50% of more of your sales coming in during this last two weeks. This puts pressure on shipping and creates undue risk if the performers don't perform. Pay bonuses monthly for making quota and stop this risky practice.

7. Tracking the sales pipeline? Do you know the ratio of proposals or outstanding quotes in the pipeline to closed sales? Do top performers have a bigger pipe? Do you factor the pipeline dollars to be able to predict the future sales? Get away from spreadsheets and run to that CRM system you bought last year but never got around to setting up the forecasting reports.

8. Are district and regional sales managers risking as much as the salespeople? Is the sales incentive plan for sales management mirrored to the plan for the salespeople? The closer you get management aligned with salespeople the better and more consistent your results will be. The sales manager must have monthly and quarterly goals just like the salespeople.

9. Are the sales coaches (regional and district sales managers) spending enough time with their salespeople? Are the coaches shouting from the sidelines or are they in the field listening and coaching salespeople to excel?

10. Where are the salespeople spending their time? Have you measured hour by hour where salespeople are spending their time? Is it in the office, behind a windshield, on service problems, on the telephone, in meetings, on in front of new prospects? Make changes to increase the face-to-face selling time.

In my interim sales management and consulting assignments I have found 53 reasons why sales commonly falter in most companies. I will be publishing them over the coming five weeks in installments; this is the second. If you can’t wait to see the "rest of the story," take advantage of the offer at the bottom of our home page for the full list.

1. Sales territories turning over? If your salespeople are resigning you have to find out why and stop it cold. Every time a salesperson leaves a territory there are sales lost for six to nine months because the area is uncovered. Productivity in the area leaks away with barely a thought given to it. Keep a bullpen of salespeople that are ready to fill in sales territories or use a recruiter. Fill the territory as fast as possible.

2. Have you set realistic quotas? Is the sales incentive bar set too high? If you have set sales quotas too high (usually visible if less than 70% are making quota), you have to tell the quota-setting president (it usually comes from this office) that quotas are set too high and are not motivating; they are performance killers. Setting stretch quotas (10% to 15% higher than what you really need) is a prudent tactic, but goals that are 30% to 50% higher than the previous year are often unrealistic and demoralizing.

3. Salespeople making quota? If too many territories are not making quota, ask the salespeople why? I know that's a bit obvious but try it anyway.

4. Sales incentive systems too complicated? Ask 10 salespeople how they get paid and if they know how much they'll make by selling your products you're probably doing OK. If they can't explain your incentive compensation plan, you don't have one. If they have to excuse themselves to get a calculator (yes it has happened to me several times), you don’t have an incentive plan.

5. Reporting on quota achievement? If a salesperson doesn't know where they stand on quota achievement, how will they know if they are ahead or behind. Report their performance achievements monthly if not more often.

6. Monthly, quarterly and yearly quotas? If you don't have monthly, quarterly and yearly sales quotas you aren't running a sales organization with salespeople, you've got a group that will hide behind the group when sales fail to deliver. Set monthly and quarterly achievement quotas and watch sales increase within three months.

7. Fiction between sales and marketing? It's supposed to be a team, these marketing and sales folks. If there is anger and frustration between the groups, if their goals are not the same, either get them working on the same team or fire the department heads so you can form new teams.

8. Check with inquirers that are less than six months old. When a group of leads are six months old, 56% of the prospects are still in the market. Go back to them. Love them and nurture them. Bring them to life. Odds are, only 25% have heard from a salesperson.

9. Getting salespeople in front of the prospects faster than your competitors? Because 10% to 15% of the sales from inquiries are made within three months you're losing sales if the salespeople are slow about getting in front of the prospects. Get your salespeople in the door first and let them set the table for others to follow. If salespeople aren't in front if their prospects soon enough, you can lose 25% of the sales potential because you're too slow. In sales you are quick or you are dead!

10. Salespeople getting enough appointments? Teach them how to make appointments or get a specialized company to do it for you. Appointments have a phenomenal closing rate. Get appointments; go to the bank.

In my interim sales management and consulting assignments I have found 53 reasons why sales commonly falter in most companies. I will be publishing them over the coming five weeks in installments; this is the first. If you can’t wait to see the "rest of the story," take advantage of the offer at the bottom of our home page for the full list.

1. Killed your momentum? If sales go into a slump, look to your company's actions and find out what your company did or did not do three to six months ago. There are common momentum killing mistakes that can ruin your forward thrust but typically don’t show up as sales slowdowns for several months. One or a string of these and you have a recipe for disaster. Common momentum stoppers: changes in sales incentive plans, territory reorganizations, senior management changes, premature product deaths, and promotional programs eliminated to redirect money to the bottom line (talk about an oxymoron). Knowing what you did to kill the momentum is the first step in recovery.

2. Mid-year coach replacement? Did you make significant changes in sales management? Changing the coaching staff (especially sales management) in mid season isn't the best way to motivate a team. If you made the mistake, or had no choice in making it, get the new manager in front of every salesperson so that they know who the new coach is and what he or she stands for in their life. Of course, if the sales manager is the problem, changing the coach can invigorate the team.

3. Advertising blackout? Did the company stop lead generating activities about three months before the slump? If so, crank up the promotional machine to pull yourself out of the dive. When you stop lead generating activities you send yourself into a sales lead blackout and you're spiraling downward. Unfortunately it will take from three to six months to repopulate the pipeline, but you have to start somewhere. Start generating inquiries and leads (qualified inquiries).

4. Changed the incentive compensation? Has management has made changes to the incentive compensation plan? Move the food dish and salespeople will wander about trying to figure out how they will make a living. You should only make incentive compensation changes at the beginning of the year. If you made this mistake, go to the salespeople and make sure all of them know how they will be compensated. Explain why you made the changes. If they need a calculator to figure it out, you have made another mistake.

5. Senior management shuffle? Have there been significant changes in senior management, e.g., the president of the company? Sometimes changing the ultimate coach for the company will cause a downward blip in sales. Don’t make this sort of change in management without explaining it in detail to the salespeople. After all, they are the revenue creators for your company and they must feel good about the company’s future and leadership. This isn't something you can avoid, but you can mitigate it.

6. Lost sales reports? Find out why you are losing sales; make lost sales reports mandatory. OK, so maybe you don't have lost sales reports, then start. It's never too late to find out why you're losing more than you're wining.

7. Old proposals? Go back to every proposal (or a statistically significant sample) that you have made in the last six months and interview them to find out why sales are down. Why didn't they buy from your company? Was it price, the salespeople, delivery, features? Find out and fix it.

8. Why are you winning? Find out why you won the sales you won. Interview people that have bought from you in the last year and try to find out the dominant reasons for your sales success. Do more of the right things. Don’t assume you know the answer. Ask others.

9. Sales lead follow-up less than 75%? Look at the follow-up of sales leads over the last three to four months. Is there a problem? If you are not getting at least a 75% reported follow-up and disposition of sales inquiries, you have a problem. Follow-up has to be mandatory. If salespeople are only following up 25%, you are leaving 75% of the sales on the table for your competitors. The reason to set the bar at 75% is that typically 25% of the inquiries are being worked and are not yet into to the sales stages.

10. Resellers playing you for a fool? Is your channel using your leads to sell another company's products? Do a mystery buyer program by calling your independent sales channel and see who they recommend for your products. Fire those that don't recommend you.

In my job at Sales Leakage Consulting I help many companies find key executives to fill marketing and sales roles. Which means I review resumes. If I see one more resume that says the person likes to work with people or has a goal of learning new things I will throw-up. When I read a resume I want to see butt-kicking performance. My clients want to know what you can do for them and can you prove you have done it for others. I like to see resumes that says something like the following:

I am a Marketer That Grows Companies

In my last position I revamped the web site in 45 days, created a new marketing plan that drove sales and helped the salespeople make quota. My company went from 200 inquires a month to 2,000. My efforts in organic search put my company in the number one position in three months. We went from a lead conversion of 10% to 18% within 90 days. The salespeople in my company loved my programs. I can do the same for you. See me on Myspace at XXXXXXXXX, Linkedin at XXXXXXXX my own web site at XXXXXXXX. Call me at (111) 272 2222, email at jkjks@ljsldkjf.com I have strong irrefutable references.

Director of Marketing Needs Aggressive Company

I am an action oriented seasoned director of marketing that creates markets, drives quota attainment, builds marketing teams, and knows how to measure campaign ROI. In my last job I reduced our marketing expenses by measuring ROI and driving sales up 20% within 180 days. Using the web I created an on-line store, brought on a CRM system that actually worked and was liked by salespeople. My marketing department worked as a team with engineering rather than have a perpetual running battle with them. I can do the same for you with visible results in 90 days and sales results within 120. Call me at (878) 999 9999, email at: jkjsdf@jljsfd.com Go to Linkedin and see who I really am and what I can do for your company.

Create Resumes that Sell!

If you want a job, a real job, start posting resumes that sell. If you are a company that needs "A" players, ask those who look promising to give you a one paragraph statement of butt-kicking performance. Let’s face it, we chose people based on two criteria: competency and likeability. Competency is in the resume and with weak chronologically based resumes finding "A" players is a time-consuming, expensive crap-shoot. Create a resume that screams performance and what you have done for others.

Know Why Sales Are Down? 53 Questions To Help You Dig To The Bottom Of The Sales Panic!

Email Jim: jobermayer@salesleakage.com

Call: 714-998-1737