You’ve heard it – you don’t know Jack. You can’t really measure what I do. This is different from manufacturing numbers, usual metrics, bean counters, etc., so it just can’t be measured. I welcome comments like this when working with key leaders in organizations. My standard reply goes like this, “So I guess when you’re no longer here we won’t see any measurable loss, right?” This will usually refocus the conversation and help clarify what can be measured, and specifically, what can be measured early – before the sales numbers are recorded. This gives you a chance to correct direction before the end of your 13-week race™.
Sales teams often shy away from sales metrics and measures, yet, ‘I need help with sales’ is a constant cry of company leaders as they hit revenue growth ceilings. “Sales” is often on the agenda for client meetings, and deals closed (stalled or flat) and sales leadership are consistent items. My experience is that companies need three things regarding selling: sales, sales management, and company culture.
Those three needs lead me to look for an expert… someone that has proven that he can sell (and lead sales teams) while creating a culture of getting results. These criteria led me directly to Jack Daly, the author of Hyper Sales Growth. Jack brings 30+ years of field proven experience ranging from working at CPA firm Arthur Andersen to becoming the CEO of multiple companies. Jack has built six companies into national firms, two of which he subsequently sold to the Wall Street firms of Solomon Brothers and First Boston. In 1985, Jack started a mortgage company with 3 colleagues and led the company through robust growth in its initial 18 months growing to 750 employees and 22 offices nationwide with the first 3 years’ profits hitting $42 million.
I prepared a few questions for Jack, and you’ll find his proven, winning ideas and answers below.
- What is the difference between a good salesperson and a great salesperson?
One difference is this: GRIT. Fifty percent or more of success in sales has nothing to do with product, price, service, strategy, or tactics. Fifty percent of success has to do with getting up in the morning and saying, “God bless the competition, I’m going to kick their butt.” I can teach someone all the other fundamentals, but I have never been able to figure out how to teach somebody to get up in the morning and want to chew raw meat off the bone. But, if you give me that guy, we can take them all the way to the end zone. So I believe a great salesperson must have grit.
There are two additional attributes that are significant. One is systems and processes - the best are canned. Great sales people figure out what works, and they consistently follow those systems and processes. Take a person with grit and add the correct systems and processes, and they are simply unstoppable. The second additional attribute is that great sales people come prepared. They don’t wing it.
- When it comes to grit, are you born with grit? Do you develop grit because of your life circumstances?
- Jack, you mentioned systems and processes. Tell us more about that.
- So, it’s not all about getting product in their face because today a lot of sales is content marketing, educating your client, and providing information to solve their problems.
- Jack, talk about corporate culture and how important that is. What is the correlation between culture and thriving sales?
- In your book, Hyper Sales Growth, you mention the role of a Sales Manager. Share some thoughts on the sales manager position.
It’s a very simple process for me. No matter how good I am at sales, there are only so many calls I can make, only so many calls I can take, and so many sales I can write up. And so sales is an important function, but it’s limited to the individual. But what would it be like if I hired 10 people, put them in that right culture we talked about, and train them on the things I know? No matter what, those 10 people will outperform me. And if I changed it from 10 to 20, or from 20 to 100 people, there is no chance for a single salesperson to compete with that number. So the key to hyper growth in your company is to grow your sales force in quantity and quality.
It would be impossible to learn all that Jack knows in one article, so, Jack has agreed to share more in future blogs. Be watching for more of his insights and experience in sales. Meanwhile, now you do know Jack, so go sell.
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