The Vision Council
Moderator: Amber Robinson
12-17-2014/9:49 am CT
Confirmation # 458485011
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THE VISION COUNCIL
Moderator: Amber Robinson
December 17, 2014
9:49 am CT
Mike Karlsrud: Awesome. Good morning everybody, welcome to The Vision Council’s free membership program called On The Road Sales Coach. My name is Mike Karlsrud I’m the owner of the Karlsrud Company. We have a sales and marketing organization development training company. And, I welcome you all to the final On the Road Sales Coach program for 2014.
Before we get started I want to assure you that all of our lines have been muted.And, at the end of this conversation with Tim and I feel free to hit Star 6 to unmute to join the conversationBut, to ensure that we maximize out time together I have to ask that you keep a few conference call tips and adequate things in mind. First of all if you’re driving, please use a hands free device or pull off the road. I know this is, On the Road Sales Coach.But we want you to be safe if you are on the roads. So, please do that. Be respectful of the person speaking and interject when there’s a break or when I ask for input, so that we are keeping the dialogue going. When sharing a comment or question please identify yourself by name and where you’re from. Keep your comments brief and no digressing or soapboxing -- as I love to say -- that’s our job to soapbox.
This training program was designed to help you share ideas and tactics that will possible impact professionally and personal development. So, no negative comments regarding companies management, competitor’setcetera. We just want to make sure that this is all about you.And, our focus from the very beginning with On the Road Sales Coach has been about you and you’re personal develop as a professional sales person.
So, today we’re joined again by Mr. Tim Roberts who hails from Indianapolis, Indiana. Tim is the Founder of Principal of Trustpointe an Indianapolis based sales leadership management training and consulting company. I’ve known Tim for a few years now and I frankly I’ve found him to be one of the most knowledgeable folks I know in the world of sales.Not only is Tim a master of technique but also understanding the psychology of selling and buying which today is a key success, or key element in successful selling. You can find (Tim’s) full bio on The Vision Council’s Web site as well as my own for additional information. And, welcome Tim to On the Road Sales Coach for the last time in 2014.
Tim Roberts: Love to be here, love hanging out with sales dudes and dudettes.
Mike Karlsrud: Yes, that’s us.
Today we’re going to be talking about what best in class sales people do differently. Specifically we’re going to talk about deep seeded belief in managing the one thing we can control -- and that’s the behavior -- the actual behaviors that we do every single day. Some might call it habits, but we’d like to call it behaviors.
They manage their sales behaviors knowing that the numbers will follow. So, they’re not chasingthe number per say, they’re managing behavior. And, if it’s good behavior the results will follow. And, also best in class goal setters and that’s because they chance their own goals not the company’s given quota number. Great managers of sales people know that people do things for their reasons not yours. So, if you’re a manager keep that in mind that we really want to make this focused on rep because that’s what gets them out of bed every day.
In this session we’ll help you start building the recipe or cookbook and that’s the title of today’s program, Building Your Cookbook For Success. In a fashion that’s quite like anything you’ve ever heard.
Today we’re going to talk about creating your own cookbook for success. And, if you think about it a cookbook is filled with recipes that if followed to the “T” will lead to success. And, much like in cooking we are sales professionals need a recipe to follow for success.
Tim I’m going to frame today’s conversation into three areas; why do we need a cookbook full of recipes and frankly why do we need a cookbook that might have different recipes for different situations in sell. Second, what are the key ingredients that we find in these recipes that are in our cookbook and finally, how do we make it or because we talking about a cookbook, how do we bake it happen? At the end of the day we want people to walk away from this program with two or three things that they sit back and say this is what I’ve got to do from here on in.
Why do we need a cookbook?
Tim Roberts: Well you and I have laughed and talked and joked about this a gazillion times before Mike. Here’s the line, you either have a plan or you’re a part of somebody else’s. I have as, you know, I spend 11 hours a day, five days a week with sales people and I have for the last 17 years.
And, I always continue to be amazed at the number of, otherwise great human beings that having given their professional life up to somebody else. They actually become a hostage to somebody else’s dreams or goals. The number of sales people that all of a sudden hit 55 or 60 years old and they say, “You know gosh the boss is retiring today I’ve helped him or her get where they want to be and get what they want. What have I done from myself?”
So, when I think about why we need a cookbook, it’s because I know that people do things for their reason not somebody else’s. I know that sales people without a cookbook, without a battle plan, without a recipe for their own success. They’re just very vulnerable to everybody else’s plans. And, that makes a sales life unbearable. Why do we need a cookbook? Don’t be a hostage to somebody else. Create your own vision, your own future. When you first told me that statement which was if you either have a plan or you’re going to be a part of somebody else’s. I tell you what there’s nothing more poignantthan that, particularly because each of us -- even though we work for a company we -- have our own individual goals. And, we have our own individual motivations for wanting to do what we do every single day.Isn’t that a great place to start, is to maybe look at our own, you know, what you want to accomplish is kind of almost like the title of your cookbook.
Mike Karlsrud: Sure, you want to start with your “why.”
Tim Roberts: You know, when I think of cookbook I mean an intricate part of cookbook is having your own goal setting plan, there’s kind of three areas that builds success. You know, how you take care of your own attitude, what you believe about, you know, yourself, your company, your market. And, then there’s got to be a formula for developing really good sales techniques.
But, the big one is, you know, if there’s attitude and techniques the other part of it has to be what behaviors do we do. And, it kind of starts off with all right what-- let’s think about Mike let’s think about Q1 of 2015. Why don’t we name our cookbook, kind of name our strategy? If we can put a name to strategies that makes us more deliberate in our actions.And, the best class sales people that I know -- if all of them to a person -- are deliberate in everything they do. They do plan consist daily behavior. They have themes that they live by. They carry their goals around in their pocket. So, let’s talk about this big one, naming it. If everybody on the line had to think about what’s their theme for next year. If you’re going to design your own cookbook, and by the way it really ought to be like a two inch, three ring binder. I refer to them as TMP’s, territory management plan and you’re goals are in our TMP. What would you name your goals for first of all big picture 2015, and secondly for Q1. Mike can I just give them one quick example of how they might name their goals for Q1?
Mike Karlsrud: Yes, sure.
Tim Roberts: I teach this a lot. A simple title of a goal for Q1 a theme is say, Q1 46, or Q1 37, or Q1 96. Now what do those numbers mean. You know, for your cookbook to be successful, you have to do prospecting strategies, a mix of prospecting behaviors. And, you got to identify them. One of them might be cold calling, one might be walk-ins, one might be referrals, or one might be networking events.So, when I say Q1 37, or Q1 53, you know, what I’m saying? Set aside each week no matter what, nothing can get in the way of it. A customer can’t call you up and say, come help me, come service this, come be my free employee. Nothing can get in the way of your 43 minutes of say dials on the phone.So, Q1 43 might be, no matter what I’m going to do 43 minutes of dials a week. Or, I’m going to do 96 minutes, there’s a lot of companies that say I want you to make 40 dials a day, or a 100 dials a day, or even 10 dials a day. That won’t get the job done because people do things for their reasons not yours. Don’t say I’m going to do an hour a day or two hours a day. You know darn well you won’t. But, if you give a name to it, a weird number 37, 46, 96, whatever it is.And, thenMike and I are going to talk about why you would do that a little later. And, have an overall name for the theme for the year.
Mike Karlsrud: I think it’s so important when because it is personalized, and it’s yours all of a sudden.It becomes a sense of pride and a sense of accomplishment, a sense of ownership of what we are going to deliver. And, as I kind of started out in our conversation today -- I think it’s so true Tim and you pointed out to me -- and I began to absorb it and understand it, that it is our own motivation and our own things that motivate us.That actually allows us to accomplish what we accomplish in our professional lives as opposed to what someone else has assigned to us.
It gets back to behaviors equals results and are we doing the right behaviors. And, more importantly are we even focusing on the right behaviors. And, then hopefully and with good skill, the results will definitely come our way. Second of all we got a name for this cookbook, and we kind of have an idea and plan, we have our goals and this is what we’re going to call it and this is how we’re going to put it in our own mind so that we everyday want to get up and do it.
The next thing that we have is inside this cookbook when we open it up is a whole bunch of recipes. And, these recipes are usually filled with not only instructions but maybe a picture that we use in our own mind and say this is what success looks like. In addition, it’s also filled with ingredients. So, what kind of key ingredients do you think that we could be looking at to help us manifest our goals in this great cookbook that we just created?
Tim Roberts: Well here’s the big question that everybody has to ask all the time, and I know please I apologize some of you are veterans, you’re so darn good at this, it’s ridiculous.You’re powerful goal setters, your love attractions you’re really strong. I apologize but the reason you’re on the phone is because you’re winners and you already want to play at a big level.But, for those of you who might be starting out are a little frustrated with what happened to you in 2014. The big question sales people always have to ask themselves in my mind is where does my business come from? Where did I get it and how did I get it? And, when I ask sales people Mike they often say things like, “Well they just really liked me. Or I really persevered, I called ten years on one guy and they finally just gave me the business.”Well that’s not really a plan. You got to know in your cookbook what is my recipe for success. So, some of the ingredients might be-- and Mike you know me, I’m a metric guy, I believe and it’s a word you use really well all the time. You talk about scorecard.Professional athletes, man they’ve got like baseball card in the paper every day of the week. They’re all their stats are there for all the world to see. Sales people don’t usually have to come up with those stats.But, I use a cookbook and I have a set form of what I use. And, in the right column of it is something I call my daily tracking assessment. And, some of the ingredients in my tracking, what I,Tim Roberts want to track.I track my dials. I track the referrals that I give. I track the referrals that I get. I track free talks. I track speeches. I track the behaviors that are most comfortable for me.
The ingredients in my cookbook -- my recipe for success -- are the things that work toward my energy, my best use of energy. Folks let me ask how many of you hate cold call dial with all of our heart and soul. Okay most people do, there’s a handful of people that say, I love it I could do it all day long. That’s great. But for 98% of you that’s not true.Most of you have to track dials. You have to track your walk-ins, you have to track the appointments that you booked. You have to track the face-to-face meetings that you have and what went on in those meetings. You have to track those referrals.You have to track what’s going to happen in the future. You have to track what’s been sold. You have to track closed files.Look at I rattled off some things there, folks what do you track, what do you measure, what works to your energy the best and that has to go in to a cookbook, pen to paper.
Mike Karlsrud: I got to tell you Tim what’s buzzing through my head as a regional manager is people only respect what you inspect. And, I really like the idea if you’re not tracking any of this stuff then what are you going to inspect yourself?And, it has I think great implication back to our own personal behaviors which is, if I hold myself accountable with these particular behaviors because I’m tracking it. Well then I know whether or not I’m going to be wining or loosing at the end of the day.And, I like and I really want you to explore this with me a little bit further. We mentioned earlier today in conversation about getting new business. And, there’s only one or two strategies that you got for wining new business. One of them was to protect and the other one was to plunder. Can you expand a little bit more about that?
Tim Roberts: Yes, there’s a couple different ways I can think of that. There’s a lot of sales people that haven’t developed really strong behavioral patterns. And, by that Mike I mean planned consistent daily behavior.And, so once again they don’t know how to get-- they don’t know how they get their business and stuff like that. And, it makes me always think about the book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.I’m wondering out there how many folks have ever read Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, it was written by Verne Harnish.And, he talks about how pivotal it is to work on our priorities, to work on your data, and to work on your rhythm.And, so when the very best think about what do I do with my strategy this year. All the amateurs are thinking the first thing I got to do is I got to give lots of love to my customers, do lots of servicing. And, what they’re really saying is Tim I’m in protect mode. I have to protect what I have.
It’s not really true the very best, they know they have strong relationships. They understand how trust works, and they have built trusted advisor relationships. Theweak crowd is protecting. The strong crowd is plundering.Hopefully Mike you’ll invite me into part of this conversation later. I’ll talk to everybody about the very best sales I guy I know. And, his strategy has always been I’m going to plunder, I’m going to outwit, out last, and out play any of my competition. And, he can, and he can prove it because his strongest belief is I’m here to plunder I’m not here to protect.
Mike Karlsrud: Well what I like about this and the reason I wanted you to go down that road is because when we’re talking about these ingredients, these metrics, thesething I measure for myself. It is going to be so darn important to really clarify that.Because if you’re strategy has been or if you think your strategy in 2015 is going to be to protect, that’s going to be a whole different set of behaviors. If you’re strategies is it in 2015 plunder the competition that’s going to be a different set of behaviors.
Tim RobertsBoy yes, well done. Thanks very much you do this show by yourself next time brother.
Mike Karlsrud: I can’t do it by myself otherwise I got nobody to play with.
Tim Roberts: I hope everybody heard that though. Mike is talking very strategically there, what he was saying, was get clear on what you’re strategy is. And, if you’re on default to protect, you know you’re really vulnerable. It was just really well said Mike thanks.