1. Keys to Success for Sales Teams
Think, Say, Do, Review
The key to successful performance and production within any high volume sales
team is to have parallelism between what we Think, Say and Do. It's about
integrity. But also it’s about memory, planning and organization. Keeping those
elements in sync can only be accomplished by the application of a Review
process -- self -management/supported by a Customer Relations Management
database (CRM) designed to monitor adherence to and implementation of what
we decide we must Think, Say and Do to achieve our goals and objectives.
Think - This is the process by which we evaluate the work at hand and
determine strategies for achieving sales targets.
Once roles have been defined, it is very much the responsibility of the individual
to execute their part of the plan. A good day means a good month, means a good
quarter and a good year. But developing the strategy for group success means
detailed planning, clear lines of authority and responsibility, utilizing data to
develop untapped veins of opportunity. Thinking is what we do when we consider
the way we implement the action plan that flows from this analysis. And, it is what
we do in response to failed strategies or inadequate results in the past, IE:
learning from mistakes. Thinking is the thread that runs throughout the continuum
between setting a goal, establishing the optimum work process, executing that
process toward achievement of targets, and reviewing our achievements.
Say - Saying is what we report by way of written lists/spreadsheets/emails and
what we literally say about what we will do to achieve organizational objectives.
This is the commitment we make to shoulder our burden of the action plan. This
is the spoken contract we make with ourselves, the team and the organization to
complete our tasks on schedule. This is about integrity! When what we say
we're going to do and what we do are in sync... we've got integrity! Accepting
your daily work assignments is about Yes or No. It’s never about maybe.
Do - Doing is just that: Action. It is the actual work of executing sales strategies,
and, most importantly, achieving them. In our work, this is the day-to-day effort
we invest into each of our accounts, be they leads, new prospects or defaults or
delinquencies on existing problem accounts. It is both the calls and contacts and
the quality of those calls and contacts. It is the clarity and completeness of the
documentation of that effort. This is where the "action" is! It's like keeping a
promise... putting into action what you "said" was important...what you said you
would do! It is doing what you said you would do, leaving some room for
improvisation and creativity.
Review - Review is the accountability piece of the process. It is when we
measure what was thought, said and done against the standard of the goals we

2. set for ourselves or those set for us by others. This is a concrete accounting of
sales closed, tasks completed, contacts made and documented, territory or
accounts worked, etc. The primary Review is typically embodied in your CRM
Dashboard. It should reflect in real time key metrics which once achieved drive
the intended results. But if you prepare reports summarizing your own activities,
the Spreadsheet is a building block of this process. The Review (self monitoring)
must, of course, quantify progress toward specified goals such as calls, contacts,
revenue and collections. When sales Teams collectively develop and execute an
Action Plan, for a given period, that places special emphasis on objectives not
otherwise measured on the dashboard… such as: the identification of neglected
verticals, or handling deflections on cold calls, or other priorities Reports need to
be generated by management to illuminate these objectives and added to the
Dashboard. But whether it’s a donut Chart on a CRM Dashboard showing our
‘effectiveness’, or a Revenue object showing our progress toward a Revenue
goal--- The Review is the moment of truth, when we hold a mirror up to ourselves
and face facts. Whether good news or bad - how we act on this information will
determine whether we succeed or whether we fail. Each of us will fall short over
time on this or that. But the purpose of the Review is to scope out causes of
problems and shortfalls so we can fix them, not to hold one another up to ridicule.
You should welcome information that will allow you to achieve better outcomes!
Here's How it Works:
• While no amount of effort (Do) will make a bad plan of action (Think) succeed,
if we do what we say we are going to do (Say) and conduct an honest self
evaluation of our results (Review), we will discover how the plan proved
inadequate to the challenge (goal). We make changes and do better
tomorrow, next week, next month.
• If we have a great plan (Think) and neglect to analyze the results (Review),
we will never uncover the fact that what we said we would do (Say) was only
partially put into practice (Do). If we achieve good results, but fail to analyze
our work process, priorities and practices, we might conclude our good results
vindicate a plan we actually deviated from. If we achieve poor results, a fair
non-judgmental Review will uncover where we fell short. Without daily, weekly
and monthly evaluation, both success and failure become a mystery,
attributable to luck or misfortune. Plan for the achievement of specific tasks
and go out and do them.
• If we have a good plan (Think), say all the right things about our role and
responsibilities (Say), but fail in some way to implement the plan (Do), a
simple analysis (Review) will quickly reveal there was a problem with
execution. The problem is objectified and can be worked through to correct it
tomorrow, next week, or next month.

3. • A great plan of action (Think) developed with the thoughtful input of engaged
and energized Sales Representatives (Say) that is characterized by the
application of effective effort (Do) may reveal the template for success that
you’re looking for. But this will only happen when the work is monitored and
measured (Review). NOTE- Since, sometimes, externals such as the
business cycle, regional natural disasters or seasonal factors may derail a
great plan, well executed; the Review will uncover the impact of externals. If
something is working, keep doing it. If it stops working, do something else.
Rule the strategy, don't be ruled by it!
By breaking down the process into Think, Say, Do and Review you can
better understand the results you are getting.
Elements of Successful Planning
Think
Know what is available to be sold today. Clarity of Opportunity is essential for
success. You find the meat and potatoes of your daily work in whatever CRM
database you are using. Whether you do inside or outside sales, managing next
steps on your accounts is fundamental. This is where you find your Prospects,
and Leads (Incomplete Prospects). Familiarize yourself with what is assigned to
you and how to see your work. You may work from an account view displaying
Open Tasks scheduled for TODAY. You may re-sort the View periodically to
“see” your work in a different way… such as by Account Age to key in on the
freshest opportunities or by Sales Value from Hi to Lo to focus on dollar value, or
you may sort by City or State in order to work geographically. A typical View for
telemarketers is the NEXT STEPS View. Most work by Next Steps and/or
scheduled Tasks. For outside sales people the primary source of opportunities
TODAY may be the Route or Territory Zone Report. You pull down your daily
itinerary from the report. It features all the files for which you are responsible with
a date certain when you will take the next step on the file determined by your
published/shared Route (also in CRM in the group Calendar). The point is to
have an organized approach to the work for which you are responsible.
Remember to prioritize your work by, Importance, by Value and most importantly
by who is sending a Buying signal! Make what you do fulfill the Action Plan.
1- Know what accounts you are responsible for
2- Clarify territory boundaries between you and another outside Sales Rep
3- Use Reports or sorted Views to recognize Hi Value opportunities,
4- Target High Value Sales for High Effort.
5- Allow for flexibility and for creativity to impact and improve outcomes
6- Work your Hot List on your CRM Dashboard. Keep it updated.
7- Make it a point to call difficult accounts first. You are always freshest at the
start of your work day.

4. When you are the Account Owner on a particular lead or prospect, the
organization is looking to you to close the sale. Remember, if a particular Report
or Dashboard object is keyed just to New Prospect statuses, none of the files
under your responsibility with other statuses will show here (Renewals, Check
Helds, Held Contracts, etc.). The point is, clarity of opportunity is essential. You
cannot sell what you cannot see. Save Reports in an Excel Spreadsheet, from
time to time, and print them periodically, in case of system or power outages. By
keeping a printed list of assignments with phone numbers and contact names
handy you can work through interruptions and stay on goal. Carry a print-out with
you in the field or have it hand if you work from an office or call center. If you
experience a technical problem with your computer or experience a temporary
outage or lack of access, so long as the phones are working, you can be
working!
Ways to Think about Your Work
As a sales person you must combine strong, persistent Phone Pressure with in
person effort. One without the other is a formula for failure. Most field sales
people who average 3-4 in person Contacts a day and 4 phone contacts a day
will achieve the required results. Scrimp on these standards and you put your
revenue objectives at risk. Some who do call center sales may dial the phone
100 to 200 times a day and reach about one third or those they dial. However, to
achieve these averages, there will be days when you vastly exceed the daily
standard and days when you will fall short. That’s just the nature of the job.
Access your itinerary in your computer on the fly during the day, or consider
carrying a print out of Accounts as a call list with you when working the field, to
keep up the phone pressure during brief stops where you may not have an
internet connection. That way you can stay on top of your calls. If you work from
Tasks, each day you should be able to go to your CRM Dashboard or Home
Page and find a list of prioritized Tasks scheduled for the geographic territory you
have planned to work that week. Not all sales people work from tasks, some
work from an Itinerary and Tasks, some just an itinerary. Do what works for you.
If you work from an office or call center consider using a “Next Step View” and
where you can find your daily work assignments. Your approach should always
be about closing the sale, but if you are the first voice the prospective customer
will hear, you want to emphasize the value proposition for this particular client
and therefore emphasize information and education. This will not happen without
you making it happen. The content of your call and the approach you take should
be determined by account history and age of prospect. Database administration
and Next Steps management is a necessary part of the job. Use “off prime time”
hours to manage your territory, set up itineraries or reschedule Next Step tasks.
Elements of Successful Team Participation

5. Say
If you share a workspace, use meetings to keep all players on track and on
target. If you are a dispersed organization, use conference calls or Skype calls to
articulate your personal work strategy, challenges you are having or problem
accounts you have encountered. While each Team member must have clear
assignments, ultimately the workflow is subject to some customization. By
keeping your plan exposed to the constructive review of a veteran team member,
team leader or sales manager, your effectiveness will improve over time. If how
you are working is not producing the required results, speak up! Ask questions.
Make meeting count. If you're having problems, share them with your colleagues
in the room or on the call. All of us should be committed to each other’s success.
The only thing worse than failure, is crashing and burning in silence. We have
learned over time that honest, open communication shortens dry spells in
performance. You must submit yourself and your work to the helpful evaluation of
management -- and to the one person who has earned the right to be your
severest critic: YOURSELF!
You likely have or will develop minimum standards of performance in both
"effectiveness" areas and "results" areas.
“Effectiveness standards” have to do with your sales calls. You should measure
CALL TO CONTACT ratios and your CONTACT TO CLOSE ratio. It has to do
with your ability to get decision makers on the phone or in person. CRM can
support this by providing Pick List Options in the Subject Line of Completed
Tasks. That will help you “see” more clearly those instances when despite all
your efforts to get to a decision maker or close the sale when you reach them,
you nonetheless are unable to get a clear decision one way or the other—IE: a
DEFLECTION. As has been said for many decades, it’s not the “Yes” or the “No”,
that’s the problem (yes “Yes” can be a problem) it’s the “Maybe” that kills you!
DEFLECTION events tell you, you cannot do the same thing over and over again
to resolve the file. There must be a change in approach or message. A simple
donut Chart on your CRM Dashboard can help you determine promises, refusals
and deflections.
Your “Results Standards” are measured as Revenue to Goal percentage,
measured weekly, monthly, quarterly. Effectiveness happens where you honestly
document calls, attempted contacts, contacts, emails, faxes, letters etc. It is a
function of getting done what you set out to do, whether that is reaching a
decision maker to close the Sale or breaking through a screen to finally get
through to that decision maker to set an appointment to close the Sale. Results
happen when you make the Sale. It’s always about closing the Sale (Results),
but it’s also about (Effectiveness) Call to Contact, Contact to Close. Set
standards for your work group. Know the standards and meet them. Work your
Leads as you receive them. It will determine your “Results”. CRM should give

6. you real time information as to how you measure up today, this week, last month
etc. And remember: If it’s not in the CRM, it didn’t happen, it doesn’t exist!
Once you’ve developed your effectiveness/results oriented plan of action it will be
up to you to embrace it and drive the outcomes. Speak up. Are you in or out?
How can the plan be improved? Getting engaged at the point when the plan is
developed has the effect of cementing your commitment to the plan once it is
produced. Action Plans are made or broken by how each plays his or her role in
the plan. That person who sits in silence during this process, can be a weak link.
Get everyone on board.
Mean it when you say, "As we agreed, I am going to XYZ territory this week. I
have several New Prospects to work in this area. I sent them all a letter or email
telling them I will be in the area. I have set up six appointments at specific
dates/times. I also have three important delinquencies in this area I plan to work.
They are 1, 2, 3! I have printed out their invoices and plan to see the decision
makers in person. At minimum, I am going to hand deliver their current invoice
and leave a business card. My hottest prospects for sales and/or collections
are... (List those accounts)." Get on record. Be the one who says what he will do
and does what he says!
Such disclosure puts you on the record: You have a plan and will execute it.
Explaining in simple terms how you will achieve your objectives, forces you to
think it through. It allows for feedback the plan. Successful Sales people have a
plan. They come to work. They are doers. They are happy to tell you what that
plan is. It’s not a secret. It’s not a guess. It’s real.
Elements of Successful Execution
Do
At its most elementary, your job is to CALL CUSTOMERS AND CLOSE SALES.
That is DOING the job.
When you are really on your plan, you know it. Constantly alert to how to balance
what you want to accomplish with the time allowed to accomplish it, you find
yourself either on the phone with a customer, in person in front of a customer, or
documenting customer contacts in completed activities in CRM. Keep
administrative distractions to a minimum during the workday. Learn your Sales
Prime Times. They are different for each product and may vary by market or
season. Calls must be placed when you have the highest likelihood of reaching
the prospective customer. If you deal with business to business sales and target
small independent business owners, the lunch hour may be a bad time, if the
owner routinely is out of the office at the noon hour. If you know mornings are
slow, set an appointment for mornings. Then once you have identified sales

7. prime times, use the off prime times for account servicing and paperwork. Catch
your customers when they are in. Do you administrative work when your
customers are not available.
In CRM terms, as you complete a Task (close an activity) review the remaining
work you have planned for the day. If you get behind schedule, re-prioritize the
remaining work, so you don't miss either appointments or calls on Hot List
accounts or follow up calls on accounts where you got a buying signal.
The key to achievement in Sales is to put yourself at the point of the sword,
where everything happens: in front of a customer, or on the phone with a
customer. Email is great. But use your talents on the phone. If you maximize your
time in front of customer, you maximize your results. Never make a call or a
contact just to satisfy a Standard- try to make, and expect to make a sale! When
you find your activities are driven by the goal of achieving "efficiency" standards
instead of achieving "results", YOU LOSE! To win, you must always be doing,
er….closing!
Elements of Successful Performance Monitoring
Review
Time is always in short supply. But don’t short-change your own personal weekly
performance review or the team review. There should be identified categories of
performance that every member of the Team should monitor regarding their own
work and should expect will be monitored by management daily, weekly,
monthly. Find this information on your CRM Dashboards and in other Reports.
Retrospective Review: (looking back to last week, last month)
Completed Sales or Contracts in hand
Percentage to Revenue Goal for the period
Attempted Telephone Contacts (ATCs)
Telephone Contacts (TCs)
(Call to Contact Ratio = ATCs + TC’s / TC’s = expressed as a ratio, like 3 calls to
1 contact…. Or 5 calls to get 1 contact
Attempted In Person Contacts (AIPCs)
In person Contacts (IPCs)
(Call to Contact Ratio = AIPCs + IPCs / IPCs = expressed as a ratio, like 3 in
person visits to make 1 contact with a decision maker…. Or 5 times you walk
through the door to get 1 contact….
During the course of the day, typically for field Sales to get 3 to 4 in person
contacts, they need to walk through 12 to 14 doors. Appointment setting can
improve these numbers.
Contact to Close- this number is the sum of all contact effort required to close
one Sale. It’s an average. So if in the course of a month you make a total of 630

8. calls, of which 190 are contacts (inclusive of some return calls to the same
customers), and you close 25 sales or make 25 collections, your Contact to
Close Ratio is 7.6 to 1. Once you establish your baseline Contact to Close ratio,
you can monitor deviations against that baseline over time. You may be more or
less efficient over time. There may be good reason for that. But if your contact to
close ratio balloons up, find out why and correct the problem. This and other
measures of efficiency and effectiveness should be monitored and feedback
provided to you. So, over time, discover your Contact to Close Ratio. Target it for
improvement. If you are crushing your revenue number and doing it efficiently
and effectively, the ratio will take care of itself.
Leads converted. It may be your job to finish off and convert and generate the
OFFER on Leads distributed to you by in house or outside PROSPECT
QUALIFIERS. Track this.
Collections made- Did you achieve the established goal. What is your percentage
to goal?
Check Helds/Contract Helds – KEEP these to a minimum or they stack up like
cord wood. Bounced checks require follow up with replacement payments.
Problems with paperwork should be resolved immediately.
Other team/organizational assignments
ALL OF THESE METRICS SHOULD BE ON THE TEAM CRM DASHBOARD
Hints on Evaluating Performance (retrospective review):
1- Am I meeting my objectives? This is a yes or no sort of thing. You either DID
what you SAID you would DO or you didn't.
2- Are all activities documented? If you say you spoke with Mr. Jones (the
Owner) and he refused the sale, there should be a contact report in the system
and any appropriate follow up letter sent. Check to make sure you documented a
contact and provided sufficient “sum and substance” about the encounter. Was
there an objection you couldn’t answer? Did he say he would have his operations
person call back with questions? Did he ask for an appointment later in the
month, week etc.? Don’t write a book, but complete a CRM activity that will help
you or others understand what should be the next step on this account.
3- Am I sending follow up emails and letters? At the close of the week, if you
haven't sent or requested or created follow up letters after each contact, do so
now.
4- Did I call all of my HOT LIST accounts? If you declared a file (high rate for
example) to be important going into the week, did you follow through and make a
contact, send/request a letter? Skipping Hi Value Prospects should never
happen.

9. 5- Did I complete all administrative work required? Again, this is a yes or no.
Nothing is more disappointing than to have sales on hold pending completion of
paperwork.
6- Did I meet all organizational requirements?
Periodic one-on-one audit of your activity with Sales Manager:
1-The first thing is Revenue. Meet with your Sales Manager or Team Leader to
discuss where you are on “the number” – that is percentage to revenue goal!
2- Consider selecting a random day during the previous week for a review of all
completed activities. This is an “open book” sort of review—as you both will have
access to your activities in a Report link in CRM. Review each completed task.
Review the date/time stamp on each document. Did you work a full day, or are all
the Activities showing completed in the morning or the afternoon. Look for gaps
in time such as several contacts in the morning then a gap of three hours and six
Activities completed between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. and nothing afterwards. This
would raise a question as to whether you worked an entire day. Maybe there is
an explanation for the time/work gap. An explanation should be volunteered.
3- Review any unconverted Leads that have been assigned to you by Prospect
Qualifiers. Was there a problem with the Lead? Did you convert it and also make
a call and present a value proposition to the customer?
4- Check CRM for assigned collections on delinquent Accounts. Many sales
organizations separate the sales and collection functions. But if you do both track
your collection opportunities. Periodic audits will help put collections on your
radar screen as a matter of routine.
5- Make sure all sales claimed to be in hand the previous week show up this
week on your Sales revenue report. Do not hold business. Put it on the “board.”
Scan the paperwork or otherwise turn it in to administration. REMEMBER- If it's
not booked in CRM, it doesn't exist, it didn’t happen!
6- Consider having a Report for Letter Count and emails sent and check
individual account records to confirm letters are being requested and in fact
being sent. There is no perfect metric for how many letters you should send each
month, each day, each week. But if to make a call and believe a follow up letter is
important, be certain the system is supporting your intent.
7- Call to Contact Ratio. Contact to Close Ratio. If you have a 1 to 1 Call to
Contact Ratio – that’s a problem. No one reaches a decision maker on every call.
If you have a 1 to 1 Contact to Close Ratio- that is not realistic. However, if you
call to contact ratio balloons up to 7 to 1 or 11 to 1, you have a problem.

10. Diagnose such problems. The problem of a high call to contact ratio can result
from "winging it" rather than using strategic calling aimed at finding out WHEN
the decision maker is available—determining what is the Best Time to Call. Or
there may be a lack of appointment setting. It may result from a poorly planned
and poorly executed week.
8- Determine what accounts are in the highest echelon of sales value. Don’t
neglect valuable opportunities. If you neglect the sale, you may lose the sale!
9- If you do field sales, audit your adherence to the defined territory scheduled for
the week. The work performed should bare a direct relationship to the territory
planned to be worked.
10- Focus on REFUSALS and PROMISES. What is the next step on the refusal?
What is the credibility of the promise? Did you take steps to nail down the
promise? Take time to discuss what happened and where the account goes from
here. Consider whether a REFUSAL on a Hot List account should be removed
from the HOT LIST? If you use Prospect Ratings it may need to be downgraded.
Prospective Review: (looking ahead to the coming week, the coming month)
What am I selling? (Product Knowledge) Who are my prospects? (Assigned
Leads) Where will I go and when? (Territory Management)
Are you setting appointments?
What information does your prospect need in hand before you call/visit?
Do you have concrete goals and expectations? Do these goals represent an
increase in the previous period? What will you differently to reasonably expect to
increase your performance?
What is your plan?
When there is a one-to-one correspondence between what we Think, Say
and Do, the Review will recognize this. Rule the Plan, don’t be Ruled by It.