For sales teams, pounding the 'prevention' could provide the cure

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Sales effectiveness consultant Gilbert Cargill talks about the need for having both "hunters and farmers" on your sales force, the importance of focusing on the right indicators and how to win the battle with the "sales prevention department."

Cargill: Hi! My name is Gil Cargill. I'm a sales effectiveness consultant based in Marina Del Ray, California. I've worked with API over the past year or so now. Working with advertising sales executives to help them develop more effective, productive ways of managing the sales force.

My focus is on developing better sales processes. I've found that most advertising sales forces tend to manage the sales team, the account executives, with lagging indicators as opposed to leading indicators.

I teach how to set up those leading indicators and how to manage the team to those levels with a view to attracting more new business to the organization. Its process, its matrix. It's not magic.

API: What do you mean by the phrase, "Inspect, don't expect "?

Cargill: Well, the manager that expects performance but doesn't inspect to assure that their salesperson is capable of that performance will frequently be disappointed. So, my theme presents 37 different areas of the sales process that a manager should be conversant with and should be capable of inspecting.

This looks at both quantitative and qualitative measurements.

API: What are hunters and farmers? What roles do they play in the sales organization?

Cargill: Hunters are men and women who are genetically disposed to getting new business. They're extremely competitive people. They love to win. They sell new business very well and very proficiently.

A farmer, on the other hand, is more aligned with retaining business. I think a top performing advertising sales force needs a mixture of hunters and farmers.

API: What is an elevator speech? Why is it important?

Cargill: Elevator speech is a 15-30 second long speech that answers the question that inevitably comes up when you meet a new prospect. Which is, "What do you guys do? What's in it for me to listen to you further? "

Most salespeople don't have a prepared speech, so they fumble at this important juncture in their relationship with the customer. If you have one prepared, then you will be smooth and appear to be much more professional. That perception translates into the worth of advertising with your organization.

API: What is the sales prevention department? How can newspaper sales executives get around it?

Cargill: The sales prevention department is my nickname for a phenomenon that I've observed where in there are many non-sales tasks that have been delegated to the sales people. Every one of those tasks subtracts from the amount of selling time available to those sales people.

By reducing the available sales time, we reduce in direct proportion their potential to generate new revenue. I encourage everybody that I work with to examine all of the aspects of the salesperson's tasks to assure that there's nothing getting in their way. Especially from an inside point of view of them producing revenue.

API: What is matrix sales management? How does it apply to newspaper advertising?

Cargill: The matrix sales management is managing by the numbers. If you recall, a moment ago I talked about leading indicators. There are five phases of every new account sale. The first phase I call a target. A second phase is a first meeting. Third phase is the information point where information is being exchanged. Then we go to the decision point, and then ultimately to a close.

We help the managers set thresholds of activity for each of those five phases. Then, manage the account executives to meet or exceed those thresholds.

When you do that, you eliminate much of the management's thrust, which comes about as a result of managing with lagging indicators.

API: What are the biggest challenges facing today's newspaper advertising manager?

Cargill: Today's newspaper advertising manager's biggest challenge is probably finding good talent. I'm concerned that there aren't any schools around today teaching people how to sell as there were back in my day.

I started selling in 1970. At that time, IBM, Xerox, Hewlett Packard, an entire plethora of large account offered a range of full-time sales skills training. Smaller organizations could recruit from those organizations, people who had good selling skills.

Today, that pool of talent doesn't exist. I'm concerned that pretty soon we're going to have to have an ability to recruit, hire, and train good salespeople from ground zero.

API: Of the successful sales departments you've seen, what traits do they have? What are they doing right that you wish more people would do?

Cargill: The best of the best always manage with leading indicators. They manage by the numbers. They attract and retained good people, not through compensation, but by offering a balance of compensation, work expectations, fun, camaraderie, esprit de corps.

The best of the best have segregated account acquisition, new business sales from account maintenance. There really are different personalities and processes for both. The best of the best have enough time available to the managers to allow them to go out in the field and coach.

Those would be the things that come to mind immediately.