Will or Skill, That Is The Question

What’s causing you or your team to miss targets, will or skill?

How do we address these? Let’s start by looking at Skill.

Skill

To address the skill issue we start by looking at the output. We understand our KPI’s and look for deficiencies.

- How many calls, emails, videos Linkedin messages have we sent? We call this our output.

- How many decision makers have we spoken to?

- How many presentations/demonstrations/test drives have we achieved?

- How many appointments/test drives have we achieved?

- What is my closing rate?

Now we need to understand our numbers

- What percentage of people am I speaking to from my output?

If this number is lower than the average we will look at our messaging and how we are engaging with our customers.

- What percentage of presentations/demonstrations/test drives is being achieved from my conversations with decision makers?

If this number is low, we will look at:

Our helicopter pitch.

Our rapport building.

Our appointment setting skills.

Our value selling skills.

- Understanding our closing rate.

I remember when I first started out in sales. People would talk about good sales people as closers. As if it was as simple as that.

There are so many facets that go into “being a good closer” that the term “closer” is pretty much obsolete.

You can be the best closer in the world, but if your customer doesn’t like you you’re going to struggle to hit your numbers.

You can be the best rapport builder in the world, but if you don't present your product well enough you’re going to struggle to hit your numbers.

You can be the best at presenting your product, but if your discovery is not effectively done, (you guessed it) you’re going to struggle to hit your numbers.

Alas, there is a skill to progressing a deal to the closed stage. If our closing number is lower than the average we need to dive in here to understand why.

Now we get to the complex part:

Will

Here we reflect.

Are we as AE’s/Sales Execs turning up in the best frame of mind. What are we doing to make an impact on our numbers? Are we being our best selves?

We can examine our KPI’s till the cows come home but if we haven’t got the will to sell, we’re never going to achieve our numbers.

As Sales Leaders we have to ask: is our style of management allowing our teams to operate at their best? Are we creating the right culture that allows our teams to flourish?

As Leaders, our job is to understand the person we are leading. So often we hear the term “lead with empathy,” but what does that mean?

Simply put, it means being aware of your teams feelings, and understanding their needs.

Spend time getting to know your team, to really get to know them. If the performance drops you can say “what’s going on? It’s not like you to not hit your numbers.” You can challenge them.

If you’ve put in the groundwork they will usually open up.

There are bad apples that despite your efforts will never hit their numbers. They will resist all attempts to build the relationship with you. We will inevitably come across these people too. I am going to use a phrase from an old manager of mine and it perfectly sums up what we need to do here: manage them up, or manage them out.

If someone is resisting all attempts to help them and is not allowing you to get through, you will have to move them on. Whilst it is not a nice part of the job, it is a crucial part. Unfortunately, the longer you leave the bad apple in the barrel, the more the other apples will rot. We lead with empathy, but we hold our teams to a standard.

In conclusion - understanding “will” is about understanding the individual and what makes them tick. Understanding their needs. Building relationships and having their back.