The Collaborative Sale

by Keith M Eades

  The difference is due to the leadership, sales management, and coaching they've received. The key to achieving consistent sales results is effective and systematic coaching along with both internal and external motivation.

  Sales managers can help their teams accelerate the time to results by systematic coaching and by embracing and mastering collaborative selling methods. Unfortunately, not all sales managers really know what it means to be an effective coach and mentor. Most simply dispense advice to their sellers based on what they would have done, or how they used to handle different situations when they were sellers.

  Some of this advice might be good, but as Buyer 2.0 behavior becomes the norm, some formerly effective ways of engaging with buyers may no longer work very well. In fact, they may be based on old assumptions that are now dead wrong.

  The best sales managers are those who coach sellers against an agreed-upon standard of excellence. They understand that their role is not simply to recant how they used to sell, but rather to help sellers see how they can meet or exceed the standard by executing the right behaviors, at the right times, with the right people. The principles of The Collaborative Sale are the standards of sales behavior required to engage successfully with Buyer 2.0.

  If you are a sales manager, coaching consistency is vital to the successful development of your sellers. It is also what sellers want from their managers. By using the principles of The Collaborative Sale as consistent standards of sales excellence, managers can coach more effectively, and sellers will understand better what they need to do to perform well. Consistent coaching, continuous learning, and regular reinforcement are the keys to effective sales leadership and improved sales team results.

  Sales Management Cadence

  Coaching consistency begins with establishing commonly understood sales processes, and then a regular cadence for inspection of sales activity and results. This cadence will vary according to each company's standards for business reporting. For many of our clients, first-line sales managers conduct a weekly inspection of seller performance, but for those with shorter average selling times, this review might be daily or even more frequent.

  Regardless of the frequency established for routine inspection and review, effective sales management includes a systematic and consistent cycle of inspection and coaching, as shown in Figure 8.1.

  Figure 8.1 Sales Management Inspection and Coaching Cycle

  Systematic Inspection

  In the inspect phase, sales managers first analyze their teams' pipeline content and quality. Are they sufficient to attain individual and team sales goals? Are opportunities progressing as expected, or are any of them stalled? Are there enough new opportunities entering the pipeline? The findings of these lines of inquiry determine if there are any exceptional cases that require deeper review, and if any coaching must take place at the opportunity or selling skills level, or both. The manager can then schedule appropriate follow-up reviews with sellers, and can update the business system of record, ideally a customer relationship management (CRM) platform.

  The shape of a seller's sales pipeline is an indicator of collaborative selling skill issues. If there is an insufficient number or value of opportunities in the pipeline to achieve sales goals, then that is an indication that the seller may not be executing the Micro-Marketer persona effectively. The seller may need help with targeting, messaging, and nurturing conversations with Buyer 2.0, or may not be recognizing potential opportunities as they emerge from those conversations. Sellers may not be using social media effectively to reach potential buyers. They may lack the situational fluency to understand how to help targeted buyers with problems or potential opportunities, and may be in need of further training and education.

  If opportunities in the pipeline are stalling in the middle stages of a sales process, then the seller is probably not executing the Visualizer persona effectively. He or she may need help in executing consultative sales conversations to create, enhance, or reengineer buyers' visions.

  If opportunities in the pipeline appear to be stalling in later stages, then the seller is probably not executing the Value Driver persona well. Sellers may need help in collaborating with buyers to build compelling estimates of value for the envisioned solution. They may be forgetting some aspect of a Collaboration Plan that would help the buyer to mitigate the perception of risk, and make it easier to go forward with the purchase decision.

  Sales managers can quickly inspect the quality of opportunities in the pipeline by observing the verifiable outcomes for each stage in a buyer-aligned sales process. For example, if a seller says that the buyer has agreed to a mutually determined vision of a solution, but there is no verifiable outcome, then something is amiss. By assessing the opportunities in the pipeline, managers can better project what they are likely to attain in the future—in both the short term and the long term. As a result, forecasts of future revenue can be much more accurate, since they are then based on objective, observable buyer behavior, instead of subjective estimates.

  Management by exception is made possible by the use of objective, verifiable outcomes, defined in buyer-aligned dynamic sales processes. Any opportunity that complies with the standards of The Collaborative Sale—that is, it is progressing according to expectations, with good-quality, verifiable outcomes from buyers—is simply noted for future review. No deeper inspection is required of opportunities that are in compliance with agreed-upon standards. However, any opportunity that does not fully comply with agreed-upon standards is easily identified for deeper examination and specific coaching.

  Coaching

  Just like collaborating with buyers, sales coaching is about aligning with sellers to come to a mutually agreed vision of a better future state—one in which the seller is successful. To enable this alignment, a consistent standard for coaching conversations helps both the manager and the seller to engage in a productive discussion and come to that vision together.

  After completing the diagnosis of a seller's pipeline and opportunities, a sales manager should then prepare in advance for the coaching conversation with a seller. The key points of the intended conversation should include:

  G—Specific gaps identified between pipeline value, selling skills, or specific opportunity issues and collaborative selling behavior standards and expectations

  R—Possible reasons for identified gaps

  A—Actions needed to close the identified gaps

  F—Follow-up steps and timing

  This approach, illustrated in Figure 8.2 and abbreviated as GRAF, is the basis of every good sales coaching conversation. It is a straightforward discussion based on observed facts and objective standards. It is designed to empower sellers—not to criticize them—with clear actions for improvement toward absolute mastery of collaborative selling and, more important, toward improved performance and the rewards that go with it.

  Figure 8.2 The GRAF Coaching Model

  Coaching to Win Opportunities

  Sales managers can be an invaluable resource for helping sellers figure out how to win sales opportunities—or more importantly, when to qualify out. The decision to walk away from an opportunity is difficult for most sellers. The reason that sellers are reluctant to walk away from unqualified business is simple: they usually don't have enough opportunities in their current pipelines.

  One way to determine if further engagement with a potential buyer is warranted is to use objective criteria for assessing the sales opportunity. We call these criteria the Sales Success Formula, and it consists of six components:

  The components of the formula are:

  P—Pain (problem, critical business issue, or potential missed opportunity). Do we know what buyer pains(s) we are solving? Has the buyer admitted that there is a problem, critical business issue, or potential missed opportunity that needs to be addressed?

  P—Power (people with influence or authority). Do we know the people in the buyer organization with influence and authority, related to this opportun
ity? Can we gain access to them? Can we influence their thinking? Do they support a mutually determined vision that includes our solution?

  V—Vision. Do all of the stakeholders agree on a vision of a solution? Can we provide unique or highly differentiated aspects of the vision?

  V—Value. Have we quantified the value of the problem, critical business issue, or potential missed opportunity? Have we quantified the value of the proposed solution? Does the buyer agree that there is enough value in our solution to take action?

  C—Collaborate. Have we and the buyer agreed on a mutual plan for action—a Collaboration Plan? Is the buyer collaborating with us? Are we engaged actively with the buyer to help progress toward a purchase decision, in a way that minimizes or mitigates the buyer's risk?

  C—Compelling reason to act. Is there a time-bound event that is driving the purchase decision, beyond which bad things may happen? Are these potentially negative implications of delay acknowledged by the buyer?

  In applying this formula, assign one of the following values to each criterion:

  + = All answers are known for this criterion, and they are favorable to us.

  ? = Answers are currently unknown for this criterion.

  – = At least some answers are known for this criterion, and they are unfavorable to us.

  If all criteria in the formula are positive, then the chances of winning the sale are very high. If there are any unknown factors, then the outcome is still indefinite, and your activity should focus on understanding the true nature of any uncertain criteria. If any criteria are negative, then the chances of winning the sale go virtually to zero; unless you can realistically change the value of those criteria, then you should consider qualifying out of that opportunity.

  When we conduct opportunity reviews with clients, we are often surprised by how often sellers ignore aspects of this formula. It is a helpful tool for determining the strength of the sales effort in each opportunity, and for identifying specific actions that are needed in order to improve the certainty of winning—or for qualifying out.

  There should be no shame in deciding to walk away from an unlikely sales opportunity. We sometimes tell our clients to think of sales opportunities as playing a poker game with multiple rounds of betting in each hand. The winner of every hand of poker is the one who either has the winning cards or is the last player remaining after all others have folded. But who comes in second place? The answer we usually get is “Nobody,” but that is not really correct. The player who comes in second is the one who folded first, because that player bet the least on a bad hand. If that player looked at his or her initial cards and deduced objectively that the odds of winning were low, the player made a wise choice in folding first.

  Unfortunately, too many sellers do not do this. If they find a potential sales opportunity, many continue to invest their time and company resources in hopes of winning, without ever really taking an objective measure of the chances of doing so. A sales manager using the Sales Success Formula can keep them honest, and can coach sellers to make a correct decision about when they should wisely withdraw.

  Coaching Is Leverage

  In major sports, coaches don't play the game—the players do. It should be the same for sellers. Unfortunately, it is far too common to see sales managers jumping into opportunities and taking charge, rather than allowing sellers to learn from doing and from coaching.

  Sales managers who parachute into developing sales opportunities to close disempower their sales team, and therefore make it very difficult to engage collaboratively with Buyer 2.0. Further, one sales manager cannot be everywhere at once. The only way to maximize the performance of the entire team is to enable every seller to execute consistently to the standards of The Collaborative Sale.

  Motivation

  Why is motivation a key part of sales leadership? Aren't sellers supposed to be naturally motivated? Aren't their personal strengths supposed to include characteristics such as being driven, competitive, focused, dominant, and friendly? Why does a person like this need motivation?

  In psychology, motivation is generally described as something that causes people to act. If someone is hungry, motivation is what drives them to get something to eat. This example seems very basic, and it is; after all, eating is a physical need similar to sleeping, resting, or even sex.

  Motivation is more than what drives us to meet our physical needs; it is also the inner drive within us that causes us to act in a certain way or to do certain things that we are not required to do. It's why some people get up early, exercise, and run for an hour even if they don't have to. It's what drives some people to succeed whereas others fail even with the same parents, intelligence levels, and upbringing. A wise man (Keith's father) used to say when he saw a person doing something really special that they didn't have to do but simply wanted to do it, “Son, I don't know what drives that person, but whatever it is, find a way to bottle it up and we can make a fortune.”

  As parents, teachers, employers, or coaches, we have all seen people around us who are motivated to achieve and still others who are not. We have all experienced very talented and exceptionally intelligent people who are not motivated. So what can we do?

  First, we must understand the true nature of motivation, which can be divided into two types: intrinsic (internal) motivation and extrinsic (external) motivation.

  Intrinsic motivation is generally regarded as motivation that comes from or originates from the satisfaction or enjoyment of doing something—a job, a task, or something you like to do. It is also associated with the drive within the individual rather than relying on external pressures or a desire for reward. Sellers who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to engage on their own as well as work to improve their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

  Extrinsic motivation generally refers to motivation that comes from the desire to attain an outcome, and it generally comes from outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards (e.g., money, prizes, and promotions) for demonstrating the desired behavior, and the possibility of punishment for noncompliant behavior.

  If you play golf for the competition to win a trophy, it's considered extrinsic motivation. If you play golf because you enjoy the friendship and camaraderie of your friends while playing, it's considered intrinsic motivation. If a seller spends extra time doing research on a customer's problem because the seller loves knowledge, it's intrinsic motivation. If sellers do research only because they can't win the business without it, or they do the research only because their boss said, “You won't have a job anymore if you don't do this research,” that's extrinsic motivation.

  The reason for including this discussion in this chapter is to get sales leaders, sales managers, and sales coaches to think about motivation from a multidimensional perspective. Too often, we fall into the trap of thinking the key to driving sales results is through rewards and incentives. This isn't always the case. No doubt rewards can drive short-term performance, but in order to sustain long-term sales performance, sales managers and coaches must focus on the intrinsic motivators, not only on external motivators. You want to find a way to tap into the extra gear that drives performance.

  The outcome of external motivation is often a short-term performance gain, quickly followed by a drop in motivation when the reward is achieved or the threat is gone. In contrast, if a sales manager or coach can tap into the seller's needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy as defined by Self-Determination Theory (SDT),1 then the result is internal motivation. These are key ingredients to motivation that will lead to sustained performance over time.

  What is Self-Determination Theory all about? SDT was initially developed by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, and has been elaborated and refined by scholars from many countries. Deci and Ryan are professors in the Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology at the University of Rochester, New York, where they direct a pre- and postdoctoral training program focused on SDT.

  T
o quote from the SDT website:

  People are centrally concerned with motivation—how to move themselves or others to act. Everywhere, parents, teachers, coaches, and managers struggle with how to motivate those that they mentor, and individuals struggle to find energy, mobilize effort, and persist at the tasks of life and work. People are often moved by external factors such as reward systems, grades, evaluations, or the opinions they fear others might have of them. Yet just as frequently, people are motivated from within, by interests, curiosity, care, or abiding values. These intrinsic motivations are not necessarily externally rewarded or supported, but nonetheless they can sustain passions, creativity, and sustained efforts. The interplay between the extrinsic forces acting on persons and the intrinsic motives and needs inherent in human nature is the territory of Self-Determination Theory.2

  Focus on Intrinsic Motivation

  Since the outcome of external motivation is often a short-term performance gain, quickly followed by a drop, the obvious question is: what else should we be doing? According to SDT, the answer is to satisfy the seller's need for intrinsic motivation, including competence, relatedness, and autonomy.

  Competence. People need to feel valuable based on their experience and knowledge, including the mastery of tasks or skills. Situational fluency is the foundational competency required to facilitate the Collaborative Sale. When sales managers and coaches help sellers develop and utilize situational fluency, they are inherently supporting this aspect of intrinsic motivation.

  Relatedness or connection. People need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to other people. This includes collaboration with colleagues, coworkers, and customers. The philosophy and the tools of The Collaborative Sale support this aspect of intrinsic motivation as well. Collaboration is the cornerstone of the approach.