{"id":13904,"date":"2015-08-18T09:32:55","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T16:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=13904"},"modified":"2016-09-15T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T16:46:21","slug":"focus-on-results-not-methods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/2015\/08\/focus-on-results-not-methods\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus On Results Not Methods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13905\" src=\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/micromanage-300x217.jpg\" alt=\"micromanage\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" \/>People despise being micro managed yet many in the imaging industry seem to excel at this approach.\u00a0 Why this obvious dichotomy when most managers are fairly intelligent people?\u00a0 My belief is poor training, lack of analysis, and a desire to change things quickly.\u00a0 As a person who makes a living helping companies change, and in my prior life helping business units change, I can assure you that change never happens fast.\u00a0Well let me qualify that statement: Good change never happens fast.<\/p>\n<p>What do I consider examples of micro management?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Telling sales professionals that they have to be out of the office from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.<\/li>\n<li>Setting call blocks<\/li>\n<li>Setting cold call metrics<\/li>\n<li>Setting demo metrics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those four should give you an idea of what I am talking about.\u00a0 Some of you may be thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s what I did and I\u2019m successful.\u201d\u00a0 My first observation is that our industry has burned through millions of sales professionals over the last 10 years, and I don\u2019t think that is an exaggeration.\u00a0 So if you think 1:100 is success I want to play you in a high stakes poker game.\u00a0My second observation is that those that have achieved success have learned how to maneuver around the rules without getting too far astray to attract the attention of their management.\u00a0 Maybe you left the office at 9:00 and went to Starbucks to conduct research, send e-mail, and make calls.\u00a0Maybe you used the call block time to follow-up on customers or prospects you were actively working.\u00a0 You stayed within the boundaries without actually following the direction to the rule.<\/p>\n<p>What a manager should be doing is focusing on results. If a sales professional\u2019s quota is $50,000 per month the manager should have a conversation with the rep regarding what their plan is to achieve that quota.\u00a0 My hope is that the rep would start with their forecast, which indicates how they\u2019ll do in the short-term relative to quota.\u00a0After the forecast I\u2019d look at their 4-18 month pipeline to determine if it supports the continued achievement of quota.\u00a0If it doesn\u2019t I\u2019d hope the rep spoke to me about his business development efforts, which may require getting to a level of detail where we discuss activity.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody is perfect and that\u2019s why we have managers.\u00a0 So during this discussion the manager will be assessing the rep\u2019s approach and providing feedback and suggestions, with a focus to results.\u00a0 Do you really care if \u201crep A\u201d is an early bird, getting to the office at 7:00 a.m. to get through all the \u201cto do\u201d items in his CRM and leaving at 4:00 to ensure he\u2019s there for his children\u2019s activities and\u00a0 \u201crep B\u201d rolls in at 8:30 but stays until 6:30 getting his next day organized and clearing all of his CRM activities?\u00a0 As long as they are both at quota I could care less; if they aren\u2019t at quota I am not going to break my neck jumping to a conclusion that rep B\u2019s issue is that he gets in at 8:30!\u00a0That may have absolutely nothing to do with the results.<\/p>\n<p>The four micro management items I detailed earlier are actually a lack of management.\u00a0It takes no management to throw somebody out of the office or to take attendance for a call block\u2014zero.\u00a0That\u2019s another significant crime with these approaches: We are turning our managers into drones.\u00a0 It takes management to provide real suggestions to a rep whose forecast for the current month is 70 percent of quota and whose pipeline indicates he\u2019s going to remain at that level for the next two months.<\/p>\n<p>Management needs to start with asking the right questions, which for me would start with \u201cWhat are your plans to close the gap in the next 90 days\u201d?\u00a0 My hope would be that he responds, \u201cI am going to look at the prospects I have that are closing in the 4 \u2013 6 month period and try to drag them forward.\u00a0 I realize by doing that I am going to move my problem into future months but I am going to block off an extra three hours throughout each week this month for business development efforts.\u00a0 My goal is to backfill my pipeline at 2X what I drag forward to ensure I stay at quota.\u201d\u00a0 The manager achieved his goal by getting the rep to think vs. prescribing rudimentary activities that may or may not be the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Another example is diagnosing the actual issue with the rep.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say a rep makes 100 calls a day and only gets one appointment a week.\u00a0 Do we tell him to make 200 calls?\u00a0 Not only is that not possible but it completely ignores the real issue, his low appointment to call ratio.\u00a0We could jump to the conclusion that he doesn\u2019t know what to say, and that may be accurate, but it also may be wrong.\u00a0 Maybe he knows exactly what to say and he\u2019s darn good on the call when he gets somebody to answer.\u00a0Maybe he\u2019s calling the wrong person in the company and they simply don\u2019t care about imaging technology so his solid appointment-setting skills are being wasted on somebody who simply isn\u2019t going to meet him because it\u2019s not in their bailiwick.\u00a0The point is it takes analysis not rote prescription to help this rep improve.<\/p>\n<p>As a manager we need to spend the time to develop each member of our team.\u00a0We accomplish that by spending time with them focused to how they achieve their goals and not by dispensing activities that may or may not be beneficial.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Join us in Phoenix on September 15-16 for our next Strategic Sales Management Workshop and get the skills you need to manage successfully and develop a winning sales team. <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.strategydevelopment.com\/salesmanagement\"><em>Click here<\/em><\/a><em> to register.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People despise being micro managed yet many in the imaging industry seem to excel at this approach.\u00a0 Why this obvious dichotomy when most managers are fairly intelligent people?\u00a0 My belief is poor training, lack of analysis, and a desire to change things quickly.\u00a0 As a person who makes a living helping companies change, and in my prior life helping business units change, I can assure you that change never happens fast.\u00a0Well let me qualify that statement: Good change never happens fast. What do I consider examples of micro management? Telling sales professionals that they have to be out of the office from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Setting call blocks Setting cold call metrics Setting demo metrics Those four should give you an idea of what I am talking about.\u00a0 Some of you may be thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s what I did and I\u2019m successful.\u201d\u00a0 My first observation is that our industry has burned through millions of sales professionals over the last 10 years, and I don\u2019t think that is an exaggeration.\u00a0 So if you think 1:100 is success I want to play you in a high stakes poker game.\u00a0My second observation is that those that have achieved success have learned how to maneuver around the rules without getting too far astray to attract the attention of their management.\u00a0 Maybe you left the office at 9:00 and went to Starbucks to conduct research, send e-mail, and make calls.\u00a0Maybe you used the call block time to follow-up on customers or prospects you were actively working.\u00a0 You stayed within the boundaries without actually following the direction to the rule. What a manager should be doing is focusing on results. If a sales professional\u2019s quota is $50,000 per month the manager should have a conversation with the rep regarding what their plan is to achieve that quota.\u00a0 My hope is that the rep would start with their forecast, which indicates how they\u2019ll do in the short-term relative to quota.\u00a0After the forecast I\u2019d look at their 4-18 month pipeline to determine if it supports the continued achievement of quota.\u00a0If it doesn\u2019t I\u2019d hope the rep spoke to me about his business development efforts, which may require getting to a level of detail where we discuss activity. Nobody is perfect and that\u2019s why we have managers.\u00a0 So during this discussion the manager will be assessing the rep\u2019s approach and providing feedback and suggestions, with a focus to results.\u00a0 Do you really care if \u201crep A\u201d is an early bird, getting to the office at 7:00 a.m. to get through all the \u201cto do\u201d items in his CRM and leaving at 4:00 to ensure he\u2019s there for his children\u2019s activities and\u00a0 \u201crep B\u201d rolls in at 8:30 but stays until 6:30 getting his next day organized and clearing all of his CRM activities?\u00a0 As long as they are both at quota I could care less; if they aren\u2019t at quota I am not going to break my neck jumping to a conclusion that rep B\u2019s issue is that he gets in at 8:30!\u00a0That may have absolutely nothing to do with the results. The four micro management items I detailed earlier are actually a lack of management.\u00a0It takes no management to throw somebody out of the office or to take attendance for a call block\u2014zero.\u00a0That\u2019s another significant crime with these approaches: We are turning our managers into drones.\u00a0 It takes management to provide real suggestions to a rep whose forecast for the current month is 70 percent of quota and whose pipeline indicates he\u2019s going to remain at that level for the next two months. Management needs to start with asking the right questions, which for me would start with \u201cWhat are your plans to close the gap in the next 90 days\u201d?\u00a0 My hope would be that he responds, \u201cI am going to look at the prospects I have that are closing in the 4 \u2013 6 month period and try to drag them forward.\u00a0 I realize by doing that I am going to move my problem into future months but I am going to block off an extra three hours throughout each week this month for business development efforts.\u00a0 My goal is to backfill my pipeline at 2X what I drag forward to ensure I stay at quota.\u201d\u00a0 The manager achieved his goal by getting the rep to think vs. prescribing rudimentary activities that may or may not be the issue. Another example is diagnosing the actual issue with the rep.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say a rep makes 100 calls a day and only gets one appointment a week.\u00a0 Do we tell him to make 200 calls?\u00a0 Not only is that not possible but it completely ignores the real issue, his low appointment to call ratio.\u00a0We could jump to the conclusion that he doesn\u2019t know what to say, and that may be accurate, but it also may be wrong.\u00a0 Maybe he knows exactly what to say and he\u2019s darn good on the call when he gets somebody to answer.\u00a0Maybe he\u2019s calling the wrong person in the company and they simply don\u2019t care about imaging technology so his solid appointment-setting skills are being wasted on somebody who simply isn\u2019t going to meet him because it\u2019s not in their bailiwick.\u00a0The point is it takes analysis not rote prescription to help this rep improve. As a manager we need to spend the time to develop each member of our team.\u00a0We accomplish that by spending time with them focused to how they achieve their goals and not by dispensing activities that may or may not be beneficial.\u00a0 Join us in Phoenix on September 15-16 for our next Strategic Sales Management Workshop and get the skills you need to manage successfully and develop a winning sales team. Click here to register.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1638],"tags":[316,339,346],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13906,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13904\/revisions\/13906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}