5 Ways to Stop “Heat Loss” in Your Sales Process
Last summer I was doing some research for a speech I was giving about the role of technology in the “flavor experience.” I was fascinated by the latest advancements in commercial cooktops. With the old way of cooking, you light a gas burner and place the pot or pan on the flame to heat the contents. In the new way of cooking, vessels are heated via magnetic induction. Not only can you achieve rapid increases in temperature, but there is virtually zero “heat loss” and more “thermal efficiency.” It turns out when you use an open gas flame, 70-80% of the usable heat is lost into the environment. Only 20-30% of the heat makes it to the pot or pan.
Ever since I’ve learned this, I’ve been relating this phenomenon to “heat loss” in the context of selling. Just stop and think for a moment how much energy is wasted by the average sales team: by pursuing low value customers, by failing to keep track of every last detail, and from poor follow up. What if the same “heat loss” percentages that apply to conventional cooktops also applied to conventional sales teams? That got me thinking about the importance of identifying (and then drastically reducing) the “leaks.”
If you want a 1-to-1 return on your time, money and energy, (zero heat loss), you need to first identify the specific areas where heat loss is occurring. Here are five of the most common ways to stop value leakage in your organization and maximize the high cost of having a sales team.
1) Stop treating all customers as if they had the same value to your organization.
Failure to embrace the 80/20 rule may be the single biggest source of heat loss for a sales organization. You must put in the time and research to identify the most attractive and responsive accounts. Focus the majority of your time and energy where it will make the biggest impact to your organization. Identifying the best prospects should never be a matter of opinion or “gut feel.” The DATA will tell you where to aim so aim precisely!
2) Set specific goals and have a system by which to measure progress against them.
One of our firm’s strategic partners is GreatVines, a CRM provider with over 10,000 sales users. Tim Jones the Co-Founder likes to ask, “What 3 strategic initiatives must we execute to ultimately achieve our goals?” Tim goes on to say you need KPI’s that are true leading indicators (as opposed to lagging indicators). Eliminate heat loss by making sure your goals and key measurements are perfectly aligned with your business objectives.
3) Track every last detail of ALL conversations, activities, events, and commitments- with your mobile device.
Let me be 100% clear about something. It is 2016. If you are not using a cloud-based CRM system in your organization, you are experiencing major heat loss! Maybe youare currently keeping track of details but how are you doing it? In Excel spreadsheets? In Outlook? God forbid, on a legal pad? Even if you’re diligent about it, it’s impossible to share that information across your entire organization. Meanwhile, your competitors are doing all of this seamlessly – with their cell phones and tablets. We live in a world where nothing should ever fall through the cracks. Zero heat loss. Feel free to join the rest of us at any time.
4) Systematize collaboration across your organization.
Ask yourself this question and give yourself an honest answer: “Is teamwork elevated to an exalted status at my company or is it seen by most as a hindrance to productivity?” Do people share info & resources or hoard it? Great gobs of heat loss occur every day because companies have neither the culture nor the technology to collaborate across functional lines. I challenge you to take 1 hour of your day to research two things: a) why so many companies utilize popular collaboration apps like Slack, Base Camp, and Chatter and b) the benefits of having a cloud-based CRM system. The ultimate goal here is to pursue and retain the best customers faster and with greater ease – with zero heat loss!
5) Don’t step over a dollar to pick up a dime.
One of my favorite sayings is “You can’t save your way to prosperity.” I see many companies paying the equivalent of $100 per hour to a top tier sales pro and then asking him or her to do $20 per hour administrative work. Much heat loss is experienced when salespeople do not have adequate tools and support to do their jobs. I’m not talking so much of admin support people as I am providing your sales team with the latest technology tools (and the training in how to use them effectively). These tools not only cut down dramatically on the amount of time spent on administrative tasks but they provide rich, actionable data to everyone in the organization. Why should a salesperson spend an hour preparing reports and updates to his manager or his marketing team when the info can easily be only a few mouse clicks away? Is CRM expensive? “Expensive” is a relative term and the only way to answer the question is to ask a another question: what is the return on capital invested?
I hope this post has caused you to think more deeply about ways to identify “heat loss” in your sales organization. Identifying them and taking steps to reduce them is a very cost effective way to do more with less. There’s an old Vaudeville joke about a guy who goes to the doctor complaining about a sharp pain in his eye every time he drinks coffee. The doctor replies, “Take the spoon out of the cup.” Start looking for the spoons in your organization.
