Moe Revenue

Teflon-Coated Leadership

Our recession economy for the past several years has been a challenge for many companies but the survival process has created leaner profiles with generally better clarity regarding core business fundamentals. One area that has not advanced as far as it could under these conditions is sales leadership. Companies still want to blame the sales department/reps for missed performance objectives without taking any ownership – aka  Teflon-coated leadership.

Failure is a two way street in that both management (the company) and the employee did not accomplish the objectives. Employee failures are always well documented but few leadership teams take the time to understand where and how they failed too. The typical sales leadership failures we see on a continuing basis are:

1. Setting growth goals to challenge hunters but hiring farmers to deliver the numbers. This never works so the company starts viewing the sales staff as independent contractors and retools the commission plan to performance levels no one in the history of the company has ever achieved. The underlying attitude is – if we don’t get what we want, we won’t pay them anything!

2. Not using objective screening tools to understand if applicants have the skills, aptitudes and motivations to do the job. Typical final selections are best described as beauty contests based on references, resumes and recruiting relationships build during the interview process.

3. No definition or accountability regarding a consistent go to market sales process thus allowing everyone to do their own thing. The chaos that results is only amplified in terms of gross forecast inaccuracies.

These leadership failures are all fixable – CRO’s have to own their role and do it.

Black & White TV vs. HD Color – Which Do You Want?

This question is not about the history of television technology – it is about the technology available to assess new hire candidates today. In my first CRO role decades ago, we relied mostly on resume information, candidate interview style and references – what I now consider as black and white television-type data. I used this model and my hiring success was best described as a work in progress. Interviews ended up being more of a beauty contest in terms of who we liked best vs. who was the best candidate for the job.

Now, fast forward a couple decades and consider the opportunity to assess candidate aptitudes, motivations, communication style and selling skills as part of identifying the better qualified applicants before you make an interview investment. This is the equivalent of replacing the black and white television process with high definition color in terms of seeing the real applicant.

What amazes me today is the number of companies continuing to use the old black and white television process for making critical hires. Once you see high definition color data, life as a CRO is a much more enjoyable role. If you want to try high definition color – just contact us – the first applicant assessment will be complimentary if you mention this blog post.

The 80/20 Survival Rule for CRO’s

Our decades of working with Chief Revenue Officers has confirmed one data point that is at the core of all revenue performance issues so we will call it the 80/20 survival rule.

80% of the challenges in meeting revenue objectives originate in two areas:

1. Not knowing or being able to explain your Differentiating Value (DV) in the prospect’s world. DV is the cornerstone of your entire go-to-market process so trying to sell without it is equivalent to trying to build a house without first constructing the foundation.

2. Hiring the wrong sales people. Understanding the hunter and farmer roles in any revenue system is critical for staffing your go-to-market platform. Both roles are equally important for success and need to be clearly defined in the revenue plan before staffing selections are made. We continually see organizations hire candidates they like rather than the talent they need.

Both issues are fixable – give us a call if you would like some guidance on how to proceed. This is the 80/20 profile of our business so there isn’t much we haven’t already seen.

CRO Leadership Matrix

The CRO role – like all executive roles – is a combination of coaching, accountability, motivation and staffing. All too often CRO’s get busy with prospects, customers, and new market opportunities such that the consistency and effectiveness in their leadership role gets set aside. To avoid that mistake, we use a leadership activity matrix in our coaching programs to keep CRO’s on track. This matrix is now available in the Downloads section of our website for those who want to track their own leadership performance.

New Book Edition – Chief Revenue Officer!

I admit to being more than tardy since my last post but the major distraction has been finishing a new edition of the book. Briefly, our reviewers felt the content was more about the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) leadership role in B2B organizations and recommended repositioning the publication for that market segment.  Thus the name change and new cover became part of this edition. It is in stock and available through both our C.R.O Store and Amazon.com. The cover price remains at $19.95.

My best wishes to all of you for a safe and Happy Holiday Season.

Revenue Robots

Part of our Differentiating Value is to help companies identify and hire the right talent for their staffing plan. One consistent leadership error involves hiring a business development “hunter” and not providing an effective on-boarding program. Yes, these candidates are typically very independent in their sales efforts but they are not revenue robots. They still need CRO leadership to guide their successful launch in your business.

Effective CRO’s typically invest 10-20% of their time with new hire talent – more at the front end dealing with performance metrics like new contacts per week, new qualified opportunities per the 4 Aces, etc. It is not a situation where new hunters can’t figure out management’s expectations – they will just launch faster with focused CRO leadership.

Some Levity for Your Day

Cold is a relative thing ya know….

At 65 degrees, Arizonans turn on the heat. People in Minnesota plant gardens.
At 60, Californians shiver uncontrollably. People in Minnesota sunbathe.
At 50, Italian & English cars won’t start. People in Minnesota drive with the windows down..
At 40, Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats. People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt.
At 35, New York landlords finally turn up the heat. People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it gets cold.
At 20, People in Miami all die. Minnesotans close their windows.
At 0, Californians fly away to Mexico . People in Minnesota get out their winter coats.
At 10 below zero, Hollywood disintegrates. The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door to door.
At 20 below, Washington DC runs out of hot air. (Ya think? Nah.). People in Minnesota let their dogs sleep indoors.
At 30 below, Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. Minnesotans get upset because they can’t start the snowmobile.
At 40 below, ALL atomic motion stops. People in Minnesota start saying…"Cold enough for ya, eh?"
At 50 below, hell freezes over. Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late.

Top 10 Signs You Are Not Interviewing a Hunter

The top 10 indications you are not interviewing a sales ‘hunter’ (aka business development) when the applicant:

1. Cannot describe a successful sales campaign against a larger competitor in a major new account.

2. Wants to know if the base compensation is upgraded annually.

3. Wants to know more about the benefits program and PTO (paid time off).

4. Asks if travel is required and if overnight stays qualify for comp time off.

5. Expect marketing to provide all the leads.

6. Wants to be measured on proposal quality and number of quoted issued.

7. Wants to know how often s/he has to make quota.

8. Specifically confirms the workday is 8-5.

9. Believes top sales performers are just lucky.

10. Wants to know if quotas can negotiated.

And a bonus 2 for you:

1. Believes quotes are the best way to qualify a new opportunity.

2. Believes quality, service and support are the only ways to grow revenue.

The Key Concept for All Selling

A quick description of Differentiating Value can be heard in this short video interview I did recently with Jeff Fritz for his Accelerator Blog.  There is no more important concept – it is the foundation of all successful selling.  Please take a moment to watch the interview.

Core of Most Business Challenges

One of our clients sent over a quote by Red Adair, a global expert (and Texas legend) in extinguishing oil well fires:

“If you think it is expensive to hire a professional to do the job wait until you hire an amateur.”

That about sums up what goes on in many companies today when it comes to staffing decisions. It doesn’t mean you have to pay the most but it does mean you have to know the template of skills, talents, motivations and behaviors that are critical for success in each position so you can separate amateurs from professionals before you make a hiring decision. If your team doesn’t have the time to do the template and the separation process, give us a call. Without the right people, success if just a virtual concept.