Right now there’s a sales manager assuming that their comp plan is doing their job for them. They’re failing.

I know you want to be easy to work for. I know you don’t want to be a micromanager, but that isn’t a permission slip for being uninvolved.

Clients complain to me all the time about how their team isn’t winning enough new business. They’re hitting their numbers, they just aren’t winning enough new accounts.

I ask what the comp plan looks like…

“Well…”

When I get these complaints, I immediately stand up for the sellers. They’re not lazy, and they’re not subordinate. When it comes to what you want them to do and what you’re actually paying them to do, which path do you expect they’re going to choose?

Sales leaders are not providing direction or doing enough to simplify the processes. In short, they’re not creating a conducive selling environment.

Playbooks, scripts, and call plans are all valuable. They still need relevant context.

There need to be people in your organization who are setting examples for how to use these tools effectively, and preferably in more than one way. Sales reps, especially those with less experience, need to see these plans in action in such a way that they can see themselves using them.

Weak salespeople will tell you they don’t have time to prospect because they have too many other things to do. There are accounts to manage and clients to keep happy. You wouldn’t want them to lose hard-earned business would you? The CRM needs to be updated and there’s a team meeting coming up in just over an hour. The list goes on.

Prospecting can be simple if you’ll only let it.

Ignore the distractions. Remember the fundamentals still work and have worked forever.

Prospecting is not an improvisational exercise simply repeated over and over. It’s a well-orchestrated campaign with a beginning and a logical conclusion. If you’re not approaching it this way, you’re setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment.

Can you realistically spend the majority of your time at work doing your job?

There is a lot of prep work that goes into the prospecting process. You need to know whom you’re trying to reach, how you’re going to get a hold of them, how to organize your data, and plan your approach. It’s startling to me how many companies I work with leave it up to their reps to do all this work on their own.

Today’s episode is a replay from the archives of the Deeper Thought podcast.

I sat down with Andy Racic to discuss whether or not prospecting is all about luck. Andy starts by writing about how his mom would pay him for finding four-leaf clovers the yard when he was a kid.

Prospecting is not a one-time event. At the very least, it’s a campaign; while the very best insist it’s a lifestyle.

For a lot of sellers, the expectation is that you're supposed to pick up the phone, deliver the perfect message at the perfect time to the perfect person, and make a sale.

In Season 3 of the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast, I’m going to help you rethink your prospecting.

I’m going to simplify the concept for you so that it’s less intimidating, and give you some specific strategies and tactics that you can put into play immediately.

I’m going to start by identifying the 8 most common reasons that trained and motivated teams aren’t creating more opportunities, and I’m going to tell you how you can fix them.

Here’s a simple way to tackle this exercise because it’s critical to your sales process.

Is the cost objection to make you go away… or is there something else?

There are some real lessons salespeople can learn from this blend of chops, finesse, and attack. 

You won’t be as successful as you could be if you try to sell like someone else. 

Taking on a new sales role often feels like drinking from a firehose. Use these tips to think differently.

What it really means to take ownership, and four ways you can start, now.

Don’t equate the lack of a yes with a no. You’re projecting rejection.

A few quick things to prevent breaks in your process, and a deeper a deeper look at why prospects go dark.

These lessons from top sales professionals may help you find the balance you’re looking for.