I’ve spent quite a few days in the field with clients’ salespeople over the last few months, providing sales training and sales management support. A typical day in the field involves at least a couple of solid sales calls, but I’ve also gone along with salespeople to pick up artwork or originals, drop off samples, pick up paper, drop off bagels, pick up outsourced orders, drop off proofs and deliver finished orders ranging from one small box to 25 heavy cartons. One day, I even went along with a salesperson to pick up his boss’s cat at the vet’s office.
Two questions: Are all of these really selling activities? And if not, why are they happening? The answer, unfortunately, is often poor sales management.
Leadership vs. Management
I have written before about the difference between management and leadership, and expressed the opinion that any idiot can be a manager; that’s just a matter of having the authority to tell people what to do. The most successful managers, though, are leaders as well. They lead by example, and they don’t send conflicting signals. For example: “Don’t waste time. Don’t hang around the shop. Get out there and make more sales calls. But before you do that, go pick up my cat!”
OK, that’s an extreme example, but how about this one: “Don’t waste time. Don’t hang around the shop. You need to increase your sales volume, so get out there and make more sales calls. And also make this delivery and make this pickup.”
It’s bad enough that many salespeople gravitate toward “time-filling” activities. From a management perspective, you have to guard against reinforcing that practice. If you tell a salesperson that making deliveries or running proofs is part of the job, the chances are pretty good that those things will become as important as prospecting and customer development in the salesperson’s mind!
Rule of Thumb
Now, there can be a “selling value” in making deliveries or running proofs. I won’t argue that point, because I too have been in situations where it seemed like a very good idea for a salesperson to handle a particular “support” activity. My general rule of thumb is that if it helps to cement a relationship, it’s a reflection of solid selling strategy.
If it’s not a necessary step in building or cementing a relationship, though, it’s nothing more than a distraction and a waste of selling time. Let’s cut to the chase here. What do you want a salesperson to be doing, making deliveries and performing other “courier” functions, or prospecting and building relationships that will result in a constant flow of new business?