You can use the online calendar to post your organization's events.  We will even allow the posting of events which compete with NetSuds and MedSuds events.  The calendars are free to use for both tracking events and for posting your own events.

Non-Minnesota companies conducting events in Minnesota will not be allowed to post events for free, even if they are teaming up with a Minnesota company.  Non-Minnesota companies or organizations should contact matt@netsuds.com to discuss the fees associated with posting such events. 

6.0   NetSuds CEO Roundtable - Next Roundtables starting in January 2005

NetSuds is opening up another group of CEO Roundtables in January 2005.  If you are tech or medtech CEO and want to join us, (the first session is free), contact matt@netsuds.com.  A synopsis of the CEO Roundtable can be found at www.netsuds.com/ceo/  It is repeated here as well.

NetSuds CEO Roundtable

Membership  Only CEOs of tech and medtech companies are allowed to join the NetSuds CEO Roundtable.  If you are a VP, CxO or President, you are not welcome unless you also hold the CEO title.  Perhaps we will start a CFO, CTO or COO Roundtable but until then, we are only interested in the top dog, the CEO.  If you are interested in becoming a member, contact matt@netsuds.com.  Membership is not automatic.  There must be an available spot open in the roundtable.  You must have employees.  Your company must be incorporated.  Your company must be a tech (communications, IT, software, Internet) or medtech (medtech, biotech, life sciences) company.  You must pay a yearly fee of $1500 in advance.  You may not send substitutes to the Roundtable. 

Roles  Unlike the days of knights, kings and Camelot, there is no king of the NetSuds CEO Roundtable; only a facilitator; Matt Noah, CEO of NetSuds.com, Inc.  Knights are replaced by CEOs and the table won't be quite round.

Schedule  The Roundtable will meet 10 times per calendar year on the last Tuesday of every month.  Each meeting lasts 2.0 hours starting at 7 am.  A facility convenient to the majority of Roundtable members is used.  A continental breakfast is served.
 

7.0   VoIP Update

I recently had the opportunity to attend the VON - Voice On the Net - conference in Boston - www.von.com.  The conference was held in October.  AT&T was the major sponsor and featured their innovative VoIP solution - CallVantage.  The highlight for the conference was meeting FCC Chairman Michael Powell.  His speech before the general assembly - a few thousand attendees - was magnificent.  It could have been delivered by a wild-eyed entrepreneur with a million dollar VC backer.  It was stripped of the regular bureaucrat-speak and replaced by enthusiasm and optimism not normally displayed by an attorney; especially one from the ranks of telecom regulation.  In Chairman Powell's world, the FCC is ready to put an end to the State PUCs meddling in VoIP and unify the nation around a hands-off national policy favoring innovation and entrepreneurism.  His comments were fortified by grilling from reporters in a private press conference shortly after his keynote speech at VON.

The exhibit hall at VON was filled to capacity with vendors displaying SIP systems, embedded firmware, IP-PBXes, gateways carrying bearer and signaling traffic, service providers, mobile-to-IP software vendors, WiFi-VoIP, gadgets and various products and services.

Vonage has blazed a trail which has led to the mainstreaming of consumer VoIP.  With Vonage, one can pick-up a hardware+software package at BestBuy, get signed up for a monthly service plan and be up and running with VoBroadband in less than an hour.  The knock-offs are quickly following the lead of Vonage but for many it will be too late.  With over $100M in venture capital raised, Vonage CEO Jeff Citron is about to rack up his 3rd home run in the start-up space. www.vonage.com.

Not to be outdone, Skype - www.skype.com - has revolutionized VoIP with an innovation of its own.  Download the peer-to-peer Skype software and you can be up and running VoIP in minutes from your PC - for free.  Don't know anyone with a Skype "phone number"?  Don't worry, you can dial a "30-year-old female marketing manager in Atlanta who likes salmon steaks mesquite grilled" without knowing her number.  That's right - profile dialing.  Don't think it will catch on?  Then you must be over 50.  Don't think there is a business model?  Then you must be a venture capitalist too used to saying "no".

The death of the PBX has been heralded on the same page as the birth of the IP-PBX.  Same goes for Centrex.  Sure, some PBXes are still being bought and sold ... but not for too much longer.  IP-PBXes with their inherent flexibility are the wave of the future.

VoIP is not quite turn-key for the enterprise unless you talk to a Cisco or other major vendor.  You will incur integration surprises, problems and challenges.  The unfortunate characteristic of VoIP is that on a basic level, it is a technology replacement for TDM voice.  At its core, voice is voice.  At its periphery, it is an enabling technology which frees the user from a single vendor calling the shots.  Third-party applications and innovative solutions are driving the market adoption of VoIP.

Examples of local companies on the VoIP bandwagon include SpanLink, Unimax and Phenomenal Networks.

8.0   Coaching for Dollars

by NetSudser Danita Bye, danita@sgsinc.com, 612.267.3320

“If your team is playing at 75% or less, only a great coach can reach into them for that other 25%.”
– Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Packers coach

Coaching – from sports to sales – is recognized as one of a sales manager’s most important activities along with recruiting, motivating and assigning accountability. In order to help people capitalize on their strengths and overcome personal obstacles to attain their next level of expertise, a coach must focus on high ROI skills and beliefs, implement a strong selling system, understand the hand you’ve been dealt, and track metrics.

This article examines deterrents to coaching and de-mystifies the process by providing ideas and tools that help create a coaching culture for generating a high ROI. In Rethinking the Sales Force, Neil Rackham and John deVincentis note, “Studies of high-performance consultative sales forces consistently show that systematic high-quality coaching is the most important single tool for developing performance.”

When to Coach

High-performance sales managers crave high-performance sales people. But when should you put on your coach’s hat? While the vast majority of sales people need some form of coaching, a sales person is sending a strong signal when he/she:

• always asks for “special” low pricing
• lacks motivation and drive
• lacks confidence and has difficulty recovering from rejection
• accepts stalls and put-offs
• does not prospect consistently
• can’t sell at high margins

Of course these are just a few examples from an extensive list. But even if you notice only a few of these signals, keep in mind that increased product commoditization makes sales people a critical point of differentiation, your company’s competitive edge. Now sales coaching takes on the utmost importance.

Why Not Coach?

Considering the positive results derived from effective coaching, why does coaching often get overlooked?

Lack of experience

Many managers don’t know how to coach in a consultative-selling environment. First of all, they may not have been coached in it or they were successful in transactional sales. Consultative selling is very different, requiring sales management involvement beyond hiring sales people who “know it all.” In today’s sales world, where change is fast and furious and sales people are expected to be strategically and tactically on board, sales managers must learn how to coach their consultative salespeople.

Lack of training

Many sales managers are promoted because they were naturally talented, top sales performers. Sales management skills, however, must be learned. Without appropriate training in how to coach, sales managers play the “white knight” rescuing the deal. They simply can’t see themselves as a developer of sales people who consistently outperform their manager. Or, they are frustrated by their rep’s inability to produce the results they are accustomed to generating themselves.

Lack of understanding

Sales managers who assume their coaching is done when they point out to their rep areas for improvement have an overly simplistic view of this skill. They don’t understand that the process for delivering long-term behavior change must include an awareness of the skill gap, knowledge, application, reinforcement and accountability.

At a recent national conference, I asked the question, “Why don’t you invest time in coaching your sales people?” Their responses demonstrated a general lack of understanding about the coaching process, skills and potential ROI:

• I don’t like listening to their complaining.
• I’m busy taking care of my own accounts.
• They’ll come to me when they need my help.
• That rep is so stuck in his ways, he’ll never change.
• I’m too busy going to management meetings.
• I don’t know where to begin.
• I’m so busy with day-to-day management.

Creating a Coaching Culture

Here are some practical ideas for developing a coaching culture:

Focus on high ROI skills and beliefs

How does a sales manager know where to focus their coaching effort to maximize performance? Start with an assessment tool that provides objective information about the selling beliefs of the sales person. This information is a reliable source for determining how to best coach the rep to maximize results. Without this type of information, you may have your eye on the wrong ball.

One sales manager I worked with felt that his sales people always needed help in the closing process and spent all of his coaching time on this step. In reality, his sales people were having difficulty with the discovery phase, believing it was impolite to ask questions. Without answers to the right questions, outstanding closing skills and tactics are useless!

As a sales manager, Objective Management Group’s sales evaluation helped me identify beliefs that were sabotaging the salesperson’s efforts. I focused my coaching on those areas that would address these beliefs.

For example, I had a rep who frequently said, “They don’t have the money in their budget.” Through extensive research, OMG has determined that there are a number of beliefs that are not helpful in the consultative sales process:

• I should have the best price.
• It’s impolite to talk about money.
• If there isn’t enough money in their budget. I can’t get more.

Since a discomfort talking about money can negatively impact sales results by up to 24%, I decided that my coaching and training efforts needed to focus on these beliefs systems. Until my rep could talk comfortably and confidently about money and budgets, this objection would haunt him forever!

Quick Coach is a CD full of helpful ideas on how to start coaching. I use it to access coaching suggestions for a rep’s identified roadblock. The program offers positive affirmations, recommended books on coaching, and training and coaching resources.

Introducing more productive ways of thinking can be a coaching challenge. A rep who has a high desire to be successful in sales, the unconditional commitment to do whatever it takes to be successful (as long as it’s ethical and legal and no one gets hurt), and the willingness to take personal responsibility for their success WILL be able to adjust their mindsets once they understand the benefits.

Implement a strong selling system

A strong selling system provides a framework for assessing needs and measuring progress, including:

• clear steps that can be inspected and monitored
• a common language for planning and debriefing a sales calls
• a framework for making joint sales calls

When I initially started working with a high-end IT consulting company, they were convinced that their sales cycle could not be less than 18 months. They agreed that it would be valuable to have a shorter sales cycle, but that it would be impossible to attain. We documented their selling process and optimized it to ensure every interaction with the prospect was maximized. In creating this process, they created a common language for the entire sales organization that ensured more effective pre-call planning, call execution, post-call debriefing. These processes reduced the average sales cycle to 15 months, resulting in improved margins and cash flow for the company.

A strong selling system combined with a skilled sales manager coaching a malleable rep through a focused process will build the rep’s confidence and help him/her begin exploring new ways to be successful, which will ultimately reap personal and bottom-line rewards.

Understand the Hand-You've-Been-Dealt Tool

One of the tools that can help a sales manager determine the best approach is the Hand-You’ve-Been-Dealt quadrant by John Condry of Cornerstones Management, a management consulting firm. Once you determine which quadrant your sales person is in, you can determine the best coaching strategy: Terminate or transfer, train and provide personal goal development, retain and provide growth opportunities, or maintain and monitor performance.

For example, Jim, an office products company president who also wore the sales manager hat, had two sales people who weren’t hitting revenue targets. Jack had been with the company for about nine months and had not hit any quick-start targets. He seemed to always make excuses for his non-performance. “The competition is giving product away; how do you expect me to compete when you don’t give me the negotiating room I need?” and “I don’t get enough technical support. If you want me to sell, I need more support.” After evaluating Jack’s performance, Jim put Jack into the first quadrant with poor attitude and low competence. Jim had three options:

1. Talk to Jack about this excuse-making and taking personal responsibility for results to move him to quadrant two where there would be ROI in training efforts
2. transfer him to another department
3. terminate

Jim had to coach Jack differently than Nancy. Nancy was new to the company. She had a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and was very coachable. However, she lacked product knowledge and selling skills. She had good attitude but poor skills, earning her a spot in quadrant two. The required action to move her to quadrant four was training.

In understanding the hand he was dealt, Jim was able to more clearly identify what action steps were needed.

Track metrics

Another process that sales managers find helpful in determining where to begin coaching is to inspect the sales rep’s metrics and their ratios in each step of the sales process. For example, how many dials does it take to get a conversation with the decision-maker? How many conversations does it take to land an appointment? How many appointments before you present a proposal? What’s the ratio of proposals to sales? And, what’s the value of each sale? Although the sales steps and metrics will vary based on the industry, market and type of sale, by inspecting these metrics on a regular basis, a sales manager can diagnosis areas of constraint and focus coaching on these particular steps of the sales process.

I was working with two reps in a company. In the beginning, their average conversion ratios were as follows:

Although the sales results were similar, by examining these metrics, we could determine skills that needed strengthening. For example, Rep 1 seemed to have excellent stats in moving prospects through the sales process. However, only 10% of his proposals resulted in sales. Was it a problem with the proposal or the qualification process? Evaluating the stats helped me troubleshoot.

Rep 2 had different challenges. Eighty percent of her proposals resulted in business. She had more difficulty getting through the gatekeeper to the decision maker.

By tracking the metrics, I identified coaching needs.

Personal Proof

The following assessments by sales people attest to the power of effective sales coaching:

“Without a personal coach who could help me not only build on my strengths but also help me identify areas I could develop that could help me reach my goals, I never would be able to reach them.”

“It’s so helpful to have an objective person to debrief calls with, someone who can help me identify the roadblocks that seem to block my way repeatedly.”

And finally, Linda Richardson in her book, Sales Coaching, sums up the critical need for effective sales coaching. “Even if an organization has a compelling vision, even it is highly market-oriented, and even if it has sales systems, without developmental coaching as a way of life and feedback as a mainstay of communication, its management and sales people cannot continuously improve and get to the next level fast enough.” 

If you are aware of others who would like to receive the NetSuds Report, ask them to visit http://www.netsuds.net/mail.htm to subscribe or unsubscribe.

Please send your comments and feedback regarding this issue of the NetSuds Report to matt@netsuds.com.

Matt Noah

980 Lake Susan Hills Drive
Chanhassen, MN  55317

612.605.5252
fax:  612.677.3934
matt@netsuds.com

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