Welcome back to the second part of our review of why some sales people simply don’t perform. Hot on the heels of our first 3 (click here to read about these heinous crimes), here’s the aptly part 2:
No. 4 – A lack of investment in their most important tool
And no, we don’t mean PowerPoint here. While it is indeed a mighty fine tool that a lot of organisations quote as one of their best sales tools, it is not as important as the person using it.
Good sales people know they need to develop their skills to stay at the sharp end of their profession (think about how many self help books and CDs are sold at motorway services every year!).
So waiting for annual budgets to get a day’s Excel training just won’t cut it for the most dynamic a performer. They’ll already be using every means they can to make themselves better.
No. 5 – Fuzzy Focus
The best sales people know when to act and they know how to act.
Poor sales people aren’t even necessarily lazy (although undoubtedly some are) – but they may be working away on a prospect who’s high maintenance with little return.
Learning to judge which are the best customers to spend time on – for both parties involved – is a key skill of the high performer.
No. 6 – What’s the plan, Stan?
And left for the last one is a staggeringly simple one – if you don’t have a plan, you won’t have a clue. Admittedly some people will manage to get away with it for a while but ultimately without a sales plan you’re doomed.- How will you know when your pipeline is running out?
- How do you know that you’ve got more leads than clients converting?
- How can you manage your time effectively if you don’t know what to do?
The questions go on – but the underlying point doesn’t. The best sales people plan and plan well.
So there you go – 6 of the most common problems that we see when working with sales teams. Although in fact most of these are true of sales people through the ages – technology hasn’t really changed it that much other than to make it easier to get away with some of it for longer!
If you can get your sales team to stop doing most of these, you could well be in for some lucrative months ahead.
In many organisations today 
Those who eulogise about awards tend to see the benefit as that of getting very quick credence for their product or service.
Firmly in the other camp we have people who see nothing but an exercise in massaging their own, or their CEO’s, ego. They see it as money thrown away as the resulting trophy does nothing in the eyes of their potential customers.
Secondly, it can be more of a marketing benefit than a real cast iron bid winner (or influencer). Sometimes the flash of an award can get you noticed – but it will be the nuts and bolts of your product and the service you deliver that is more likely to take you over the finish line.
The Labour party has been in government now for nearly twenty years which all is in is some contract. Taking into account some of the recent unhappiness from their customer base, many feel that the chances of a 
I know the idea of turning down work is an anathema to most people and the optimist in all of us always thinks no matter how small there’s always a chance we might get the work…but nowadays your time is too valuable to waste large chunks of it.
1. Time to review your sales collateral