Page 78 - Lighting Magazine October 2019

on the mark
Mark Okun is a Sales Success Consultant for Bravo Business Media and President of MOC Performance Group with over 40 yearsí experience in sales, marketing, and business management within the furniture, lighting, and decorative plumbing industries. He is a monthly contributor to enLIGHTenment Magazine and conducts sales training programs, webinars, workshops and market seminars for retailers, sales representative agencies, and manufacturers. Contact Mark Okun via email at mark@ bravobusinessmedia. com or call 800-425- 5139 ext. 626.
“You can’t manage
what you can’t
(or don’t) measure.”
— Peter Drucker
member in an unfamiliar skill or new habit, invest time to learn and understand the information in question before you can share it. Once you learn something new, it is yours forever, and the lesson becomes another tool in your personal develop- ment tool chest.
accouNtability
This is the linchpin of successful coaching. Both the team member and the sales manager must be accountable to each other to ensure a positive out- come. The team member is responsible for taking action on the agreed-upon skills he/she needs to learn and the tasks to perform. Accountability for the sales manager means they must bring ideas, skills, motivation, and guidance to the session that will help propel the salesperson toward mastery of their profession.
An unwavering commitment to the process demonstrates accountability. No meetings missed, no half-baked plans presented, and no rushing. Each coaching encounter is based on results and supported by the KPI numbers that indicate performance. Sales managers must listen to team members with an intensity to discover the help that they need.
There often is a reluctance to hold salespeople accountable for their performance. The “Nice Guy” management style does not point out issues in a person’s work performance and they don’t identify changes or improvements to a person’s working style. They also don’t discuss the salesperson’s cur- rent percentage of their monthly goal achieved or where they rank as a member of the team. If this sounds like you or if this is a description of a man- ager who works for you, it is a sign of having trouble with being accountable...which leads to having trouble holding others accountable.
motivatioN
Motivation is the last segment of the CAM strategy. The reason Motivation is at the end is because the
success of Coaching and Accountability are de- pendent on the sales manager’s ability to motivate the collective team and the individual.
Motivating the team in a weekly meeting or daily huddle (my favorite) is mandatory for professional sales companies. This required and scheduled get- together is the supporting actor of the one-on-one sessions to be held. This is the time to remind the team of actions and goals each has individually and collectively. It’s time to excite them about trying new techniques, spend time helping each other, and sharing strategies.
Contests, games, and competitions are great ways to motivate a team. Hold creative contests on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Of course, the go-to competition is one based on sales volume, and to tell the truth, this style of the challenge is a demotivator.
Since contests can be used to motivate changes in habits, behaviors, and actions, I suggest holding a contest for the most add-on items sold. This is not about dollars earned as much as it is about creating the habit of providing a client to buy more items. Think of impulse purchases and set up your team to win. Place the target item near where orders are taken to provide the prop needed for the team member to ask the client to buy the item. The habit you want to instill is asking the client to buy more once they have purchased something. With every- thing in place, the law of large numbers is in full effect — and all it requires is that the salesperson introduces the impulse item and ask the client to buy it. The person selling the most targeted items wins!
With contests come incentives to win. One way to acknowledge contest wins or achieved goals that will have a more profound impact and retention is when the reward is not tied exclusively to money. Yes, everyone wants more money, but save those monetary rewards for annual or bi-annual improve- ments. Some of the best prizes for motivating people for quick wins are: free lunch for a week, an extra day off with pay, theater or concert tickets, toys for the employee’s children, passes for the lo- cal amusement park, exclusive use of a preferred parking spot, a night out for two, etc. The only ca- veat is that the incentive should be equal to the challenge. I assure you that if you put any of these suggestions into practice, you will see a reward.
As always, happy selling!  www.enlightenmentmag.com
76 enLIGHTenment Magazine | october 2019