I’m sitting here at the dealer show in Vegas for one of the manufacturers we represent. Two of my friends are sitting with me and I’m listening to each of them talk about moving their businesses into the future. Although the products that the manufacturer is showing are interesting, all of us feel there’s nothing really new here. Sure, there are new models, a few new strategic partners, but what we’re looking for is help in growing our business.
Each of us has multiple manufacturers that we work with, mostly to be competitive. But we all agree that most of the manufacturers aren’t putting forth anything that will actually help us. They seem to believe that all that’s required to be a great success partner is to come to us on their monthly visit with a new purchase program: A new way that we can buy more hardware and get a free widescreen whiteboard or more discount points on our supply purchases. But what we really need is help in growing our business, not help driving deeper into debt on a purchase plan.
It’s good to talk with my fellow dealers and I guess the biggest relief is that I’m not alone in the way I feel. Each of us has similar issues or problems. Some of our companies are larger than others, but we all share the same challenges for growth and consistent opportunity. Finding senior sales talent seems to be the biggest issue we all face. I also see that we all go to market in a similar fashion, with the same territory structure and comp plans.
Just now one of the manufacturers’ reps walked up to our table as we were eating and asked us as a group, “What kind of promotion strategies would be most helpful?” He explained that they were extremely serious and that while we were at the show he wanted to hear from us regarding ways that they could help. After he walked away, we all started trying to identify those programs, either from the past or current ones from other manufacturers, any which were most effective. As each of us thought about it, we all agreed that what we’d prefer is not more discount, but a program to find net new business.
The challenges we’re all facing are significant and it doesn’t matter how big or small our market is, each of our businesses is suffering from the lack of a healthy inbound flow of new opportunities. If the manufacturers actually wanted to help us that’s what they’d do: find us new opportunities! It’s easy to blame the economy and how unsure business is right now. We’re seeing some client buying-decisions drawn out longer than ever before. It’s happening to everyone. Yet we all agree, now is the time to retool in order to get a jump on our competitors.
Johnny, a dealer friend for over 10 years, admits that he is a little weary and tired of handling everything and has decided to hire a VP of sales. He wants a REAL sales leader, someone who can take the reins and drive solid results, while he runs the business. He spoke about the enormous amount of time, money and effort he’s spent trying to find the right candidate. Over the last year-and-a-half he’s engaged three candidates. Not one of them was perfect for the job.
I asked him, what was he looking for exactly? He wants someone who would come into the company and take over the sales department without having to change everything. That seems a bit odd, because someone with real experience will most likely put their own touch on the business. If his Sales VP has to “work within his current culture and vision,” doing everything the same way, well, I don’t know if they’ll launch any new growth practices. I wouldn’t want Johnny riding me every day for sales results while being stuck in his view of how it’s done.
A sales leader should adopt the company’s culture and vision, but should also be allowed to bring their own energy, expertise and capabilities. If you’ve hired the right sales leader, giving them a little room to strut their stuff is important. Johnny’s real problem seems to be that he doesn’t want to let go of the part of the business that he loves. Truth be told, Johnny is probably a better sales leader than a manager of his own company. Nonetheless, it looks like Johnny is taking as long to make that decision as some of our clients are in making their renewal decision. Wouldn’t you like to be one of the candidates on the other side of his story? So it’s been a year-and-a-half and no forward movement. Hmm.
Roger is another friend of many years in this group, and he says he’s lucky because he has a great sales leader but thinks that his company has hit a wall trying to sell MPS and that he probably needs to create a completely new sister company to sell it. Even though various people have recommended over the years that he change his commission plan, he’s not made any changes because he thinks MPS is nothing more than just a big hardware and maintenance deal, and he’s already set up for all of that. Yet, he isn’t selling MPS! When I asked him, “What seems to be the issue?” He said, “I’m really not sure, possibly I’ve made it so easy to make a living with the hardware reps, that they just don’t want to sell MPS. I’ve got to find a way to move more MPS because I’m falling behind my competitors.”
As for me, I am just perplexed as to how to get my reps into new accounts AND at the decision maker level. I have spent money on training for C-Level appointment setting, general and basic sales training and have sent my reps to all of the manufacturers’ training. I just can’t seem to hire or retain reps that can get there. A few years back, I engaged an HR consultant and she told me that if our sales process required reps to set C-Level appointments then my job description and profile needed to state that as a mandatory requirement. If it were mandatory, then I should only consider candidates with a proven ability to set C-Level appointments. I told her I understood her suggestion, but that it would probably require me to raise our base and who can afford that? While I was still feeling really good about that response, she asked me to show her my internal onboarding, training and nurturing program. Man, talk about hitting me right between the eyes! As soon as I get a chance, I’m going to revise my entire sales rep hiring process so that the people we interview will match these requirements. I hope I can afford it.
In the industry, everyone would consider my friends and me to be successful dealers. The fact is, we’re all beyond the stressful days of building our business, and most of us have been comfortable for a while. Maybe that’s our problem! When I look across the industry, what I see mostly is slowly shrinking comfortable businesses with people running them who are, for one reason or another, not executing like they once did.
All three of the dealers described above have been sitting on significant decisions for a long time. Delaying necessary change can be extremely harmful to your business. This week I sat down with a dealer who said, “I need more inbound MPS opportunity.” He said, “We do an okay job but we simply need more!” I asked him what he thought the problem was and he said, “My guys are good, once they get in front of a prospect [heard that a million, trillion times] but our problem is getting enough new opportunity consistently in the door.” So I asked him where his business development team was. He said, “I don’t have one.” Ding, ding, ding, ding!
It’s time we stop relying on others to give us our direction. If Johnny really wanted to hire a sales leader, in a year-and-a-half he would have found one. Roger, like many dealers, really doesn’t want to revise his comp plan and that’s why he loses his good reps to the competition. As for my own example: If reps can’t seem to get to the C-Level, they’re just missing practice and focus. Those skills only develop if they’re exercised. It takes leadership and lots of practice to reach the C-Level, but it can be done. And along the way you also have to make sure that the reps don’t starve to death while you drive that focus.
No business is bullet proof. You can’t let your business fall behind by failing to act on important decisions. It’s not the manufacturer’s job to create a go-to market strategy for your company. If you’re setting business objectives and making timely decisions, you’ll create the best possible environment to protect your competitive advantage and internal momentum. Keep your business headed towards success by identifying the biggest concerns you have and then deal with them. Include any issue that if not addressed will cause your business to fall behind; let nothing go unsaid or ignored. Then set your decisions into motion. You and your sales reps will all be the better for it!
