Top-performing sales teams use these strategies to advance their success. The foundation of that success is Sales Force Automation. In countless cases, powerful Sales Force Automation tools have helped turn Underperforming teams into highly successful ones. It's the fact that these tools give teams a transparent view of their sales pipeline. In doing so, they are strengthening their ability to achieve greater overall performance. Sales Force Automation tools were once reserved for very large companies with millions to spend on software. Today, the best Sales Force Automation vendors offer affordable, powerful alternatives-ones that have been designed specifically for small and midsize businesses.
Just what is Sales Force Automation? Commonly abbreviated SFA, it's a powerful software strategy that streamlines sales-force management tasks into a cohesive whole. Using SFA, sales teams can see everything that's going on with each sales prospect-from the first contact with your company through to becoming a customer. SFA helps sales teams save time, increase capacity and maximize productivity. Will the following strategies help your team achieve greater sales success? We think so-and we're confident you'll agree.
Go for e-Sales
Make your team more effective by automating the tedious aspects of selling. Far too often, time is wasted setting up repetitive emails, tasks and appointments. Imagine instead a world in which each time a new lead is created a welcome email goes out, a task is created for a sales rep to call a prospect, and a follow-up email with a brochure is sent a few days later-all automatically. The right SFA tool lets you create an entire set of activities that can be triggered to run automatically, saving your reps countless hours of boredom each week.
Go for e-Practices
Standardize your most successful sales practices across your entire sales organization. Look for a Sales Force Automation solution that offers a built-in sales checklist to guide reps through the sales process modeled after the process used by your most successful sales people. This capability increases the chances that reps will bring in business more routinely.
Go for e-Direction
Eliminate lead sources that don't produce revenue. A powerful Sales Force Automation solution can identify where good, bad and mediocre leads come from. This helps you strengthen your investment with productive sources and stop wasting money on sources that don't bring in business.
Go for Mobile
In a competitive environment, sales reps can't afford to be disconnected from prospects. Look for vendors that offer a mobile SFA solution. This will give your team instant access to all sales information on their mobile phones. They can work deals even when away from their computer.
Go for e- Competition
Successful sales executives know that "time kills deals." Sales Force Automation immediately routes leads from any source to the sales rep best suited to close the deal. It can also be set up to ensure that no single rep has too many or too few leads to work on. As a result, leads stay warm, increasing the odds a deal will materialize with you instead of a competitor.
Managers to e-Managers
Some sales reps prefer to sell cheaper products because, frankly, they find it easier. The right Sales Force Automation solution can help by giving managers visibility into product quotations so they never have to wait to correct sales rep behavior. In addition, the most powerful SFA solutions include a sales knowledge base that you can load with valuable tips for up-selling and cross-selling.
e-Business
Businesses and consumers shop online, so you gain revenue by maximizing the lead-generation potential of your Web site. Sales Force Automation generally includes "Web forms" that Web site visitors can fill out. These can be automatically routed to the most appropriate sales representative. The sales rep is able to see immediately both the prospect's contact information and interests, and follow up quickly while the prospect is showing interest.
e-Mail
Place your business in the most positive light by giving your team standardized email templates that offer a clean, professional look, with a personalized touch. Plus save your reps the time and trouble of crafting them.

Yes, winning in sales and in sports obviously have a lot in common. However, a recent statistic may provide even greater insight in that you may need to start thinking like a NFL team.
The other day while radio surfing in between driving to some sales coaching appointments I heard an ESPN sports announcer cite a National Football League statistic. This statistic indicated that those teams who scored first and obviously early in the game won 75% of all games. (I attempted to verify this through Google, but was not successful.)
Regardless if this is true or false. Just imagine, for a moment, if your sales conversion rate was 75%. What would that do for your piggy bank?
What this says for sales professionals is that your sales actions must win points early in the game if you truly want to earn the sale. This statistic makes sense given some of the sales statistics within the marketplace suggest one half of leads are never followed up to most earned sales happen between the 5th and 12th contact. (Source: National Sales Executives Association)
So what would happen if you thought of your sales process as a game in which you have only 7 plays? Then upon successful execution of each play, you award yourself a score.
Your first play is attracting the attention of that qualified potential customers (a.k.a. prospect). Sales Coaching Tip: Replace prospect with the phrase qualified potential customer. Now you begin to think of that individual as a real person and not just a means to an end to realize your goal to increase sales.
Give yourself one point for that early effort. Next, you must build the relationship. When this is play is completed, awarded yourself 2 points.
Your next action is fact finding by discovering those known and unknown needs or issues. Upon successful execution of this play, you earn 3 points.
Now is the time for presenting the case play. You must demonstrate the value of your solutions to your potential qualified customer. Execute this play well and add another 4 points to your total score.
Your fifth play is gaining commitment. If you have executed all previous plays flawlessly, then this play is completed fairly quickly. Whether the outcome is a hand shake, a signed contract or a verbal commitment to proceed forward, give yourself 5 points.
The sale is earned, but now you must deliver. Since the buyer has placed her or his faith in you, you are the sales professional are responsible for the successful delivery of the sale. Done well, give yourself another 6 points.
Finally, the seventh play is at hand. You must follow-up and ask for 3 referrals. This play is not well executed by many sales professionals. However, by adopting this marketing activity since the sale is completed, you can begin a new with those 3 referrals and give yourself 7 points in the process.
Yes, sales and thinking like a NFL team have a lot in common. Your challenge is to score first, score often and to deliver a quality engagement if you truly wish to increase sales.

I still remember my first experience as a soccer coach to a team comprised of seven-year-olds. I shudder to think how near I came to losing my sanity and my patience when I had to witness them kicking the ball around like a huge bread-crumb infested with ants. It did feel strange at first to have a group of kids stare at you like an outsider in their domain. But that is what every coach has to overcome. Isn't it?

Coaching is encouraging others to perform well. It is also to successfully manage a mixed lot of top performers, standard performers, not-so-good performers and the laggards, each player bearing a "Handle with Care" label. Their egos are so fragile. Even the underachievers expect to be turned into a roaring success. The whole situation seems like an irony of the saying 'there is no I in team'.

Nevertheless, it does take a grinding determination to become a coach. There are seven steps that a coach can take any day. They are:

1. There are so many options these days as far as team-building tools are concerned. Corporate Team Building has various packages like vacation packages, ice-breakers, office games kept on-going , rope courses, etc. in addition to videos, seminars and books which go to make a team worth belonging to. Some ideas on information on them will follow later.

2. Grasp the main idea behind motivating. You can definitely use it today. Avoid mind-confusing play of words. Decide on three small ways to inspire the team to look forward to the next morning, before you go to bed.

3. Whatever your area of specialization, one can't beat experience when it comes to getting people to put out their best energetic efforts and it is all the more important when you are mixing with your whole team.

4. Remember that a performance can be questioned, but never the ability, intelligence or knowledge. Awareness of what a player goes through to play right will keep you away from the common mistakes of past coaches. I have seen such mistakes of other past coaches aggravate the situation and even build up hostility. You have to set an example on how best to do the job. When you know how badly is the experience at the wrong end, and then perhaps you will be sympathetic about setting out improvement courses.

5. Every coach has to face the worst experience when he has to send the player, even the top performer, to the bench. When you have to deal with such a person, encourage him to see his own follies. An egoistic performer loses his focus even with very small mistakes. It is then that you can correct him or her firmly, but with understanding.

6. Always keep your duties in front of you. You are there to improve them for their benefit. Make them realize this rather than empathizing with them.

7. Last but not the least, trust yourself and the members of your team. Your primary goals are performance and decisions and many are keeping a close watch to see whether they could do a more efficient job. So before sending anyone to the bench, talk to her or him and find out what is bothering them. If it?s something too personal, the best you can do is to offer encouragement to them. A friendly enthusiastic pat on the back would definitely help.

It is very important to be a successful company and being a thorough corporate person myself, I know that we all can partake of that success. You must remember that coaches are employed as guides to help you to put your best foot forward and never to complicate your work. If you use their guidance well, you can prove yourself a credit to them, as well as to yourself.

There is no straightforward answer to the question - "When do you need a coach?" You must have heard a lot about the benefits of life coaching. You must also be willing to improve your life by balancing all the areas. In order to determine whether it is the right time to hire a life coach, you will have to look into an array of factors.

You will be able to choose the right coach for you only if you know what you want accomplish with the help of a coach. It is important for you to be open to advice and constructive criticism. If you lose your temper whenever someone criticizes you, a life coach may not be the best option for you. So, when do you need a coach?

Benefits Of Life Coaching

Following are some of the benefits of life coaching.

• You get more control over your life.

• You get to know your goals and the ways to accomplish those goals.

• You achieve a balanced life. You know how to balance your work, your family life and social life.

• You learn the secret of stress management.

• You understand how to make the best use of your time and effort.

• Life coaching helps you to maximize your potential.

How To Determine The Need For A Life Coach

Following are some of these circumstances when you should consider hiring a life coach for you.

• You think that you lack support in your life.

• You think that things can be much better than what they actually are.

• You think that there is something wrong with you. You have a strong urge to change yourself.

• You think that everybody around you is more successful than you are.

• You feel overwhelmed even with the usual tasks that you do daily.

• You always get into the pressure of completing a task within the deadline. You never meet deadlines - may be because of procrastination or lack of proper planning that you regret later.

• You think you need someone to help you out.

• You think that you do not have a goal to accomplish.

• You think you are just aimlessly wandering around.

• You feel unmotivated to do things that you want to do.

• You have problems like low self-esteem issues.

If you are going through any of the above situations, then you already know when you need a coach. Right now!

Coaching - Identify your strengths and diminish your 'weaknesses' or as I prefer to call it `your areas for development'

How are you going to do this?

One of the first things you can do is sit down on your own and tease out your understanding of who you are. What I mean by this is, in terms of identifying your strengths, you could look at what you are good at, look at what you are motivated by, look at what you are passionate about. Examine, for yourself, what you would do for free (if you could and still live a great life).

So here's the deal - I want you to complete these statements (and where appropriate make as long a list as you can - you are then able to have lots of choice)....

I am good at, and enjoy ...

The thing I am most passionate about in my life is...

My nearest and dearest tell me I am good at...

I am motivated by...

I feel excited by...

The thing I would do for free is...

When I was a child I was really excited, motivated, passionate about...

My current hobbies are...

My manager tells me I am good at...

Now what about those areas that you need to develop?

It's good to be aware in this area also, because in that way you have an opportunity to enhance your skill set and knowledge base etc.

The areas I am least efficient in (and know I need to get better at) are...

The benefits I will get from developing the above are...

I will build this skill set and knowledge base in the following ways...

Commitments

These are actions you are committing to in order to take your life to the next level in the next year.

I am committed to doing...

I am committed to being...

Once you decide to work with a professional life or career coach, the next step is to find the right coach for you. Where do you start? What do you ask? And how will you know when you find the right one?

When you find the coach that is right for you, your path suddenly becomes an adventure. With insightful questions and perceptive observations, a coach can guide you through inspiring moments and groundbreaking realizations. Without a doubt, a coach can change your world.

So how do you find "your" coach? What's the fastest, easiest way to make a great match? How do you get from Point A ("I need a great coach") to Point B ("I'm working with the most amazing coach")?

To get started, do your research. Read about coaching on the Web and in the press. Talk with those you trust and ask for referrals. Ask friends and family members about their own experiences with coaches. And every step of the way, listen to your intuition. What sounds attractive? What resonates with you, or turns you off? These are clues to the kind of person you want to work with.

Today, many coaches profile their services on the Internet and offer some information about their background and experience. Some include a photo of themselves. As you explore and absorb this information, pay attention to how you feel. Listen to your heart as well as your head. Does this person resonate with you? Could you open up with this person?

Most coaches will give a free introductory session, so use this time to explore how the two of you relate. Ultimately, you're looking for a coach who will really work to understand you, acknowledge your accomplishments, and support your growth. This is going to be someone who can (and will!) show you how to stretch in new ways. Why? Because you can!

It is important to select and interview at least three coaches before making your decision. Before you conduct these interviews, take some time to get clear on the following points:

What do you want to use your coach for?

Does it matter whether it is a male or female coach?

What background would you like your coach to have?

What do you expect from your coach?

What about you would be helpful for the coach to know in working with you?
During the interview, be sure to address the following points:

Tell me about your coaching practice/business.

How long have you been coaching?

Describe the characteristics of clients who relate best with you.

What is your specialty or niche?

Tell me about your background and experience. How does that relate to my goals?

If I selected you to be my coach, what would we start working on first?
The coach you select will be your own personal guide to the life you really want to live, so stay with the process until you find someone you genuinely feel excited to work with. When you do, then you'll know - you've found the coach for you.

While many life insurance agents define themselves as life insurance agents, they will not prosper in the coming years because they define themselves too narrowly. Few clients have purchased your product because it was the best or the cheapest. They bought you and were comfortable with you. So although we all say we are in the relationship business, you do not act that way. You continue to sell life insurance rather than leverage the relationship.

Specifically, you have allowed the big securities firms for years to make money from your clients’ investment portfolios, while you have chipped with a variable annuity here and there or the sale of some mutual funds. But you never get the big money because you keep defining yourself as the life agent while the other guy, the stockbroker, gets the investment business (fortunately, the stockbroker has left the insurance business on the table for you to get).

But if you start defining yourself correctly, as the trusted financial advisor (I don’t care that your captive company won’t let you use this title, I am talking about what you call yourself in your head), then you realize that insurance and investments are the same. In both cases, the client gives you a check to improve or protect their financial situation. What’s the difference if the client’s money is going into the general account of the insurance company (a bond portfolio) or you are selling the client a bond mutual fund or a managed bond account. In both cases, the client has given you a check in order to be better off financially.

“But I really don’t know much about investments or the stock market!” you exclaim. You don’t need to. Your job is to capitalize on the relationship and use others to manage the investments.

In fact, to position yourself the best way, I recommend that you do not use mutual funds, but rather, individual managed accounts for your clients. If you sell mutual funds, you have sold your client a ‘Black box product” and he knows it. You are nothing more than a product pusher. If you sell your client an individually managed account, where he gets statements and sees the transactions in his own account, you have sold your client a service. And even though he knows you do not manage the money, he is now engaged with you in the “process” of money management. You now have a client engaged in a continuous relationship, not just another customer.

But if you want to keep peddling insurance and let the Internet take away your term insurance business and let the no-loads take away your mutual fund business, fine.

If you want to get into the money raising/money management business, keep reading

Financial advisors are often speaking from different points of view or contexts from their clients and don’t realize it. Result, no sale.

If you think about most “great debates” such as presidential elections or most macro issues, the difference in opinions often boils down to different points of view (the two parties are looking at different scopes of the problem such as different time horizons). If the points of view were the same, the opinions could be the same by both parties. How does this impact your sales presentations?

Take the example of the client who has an estate tax issue and you recommend harvesting the IRA money now to buy life insurance to pay the future tax. The client thinks this is a little crazy because he has always been taught to defer IRA money and tax sheltered money as long as possible. Here’s how to proceed to get any forward motion in such a conversation.

legitimize his point of view and his knowledge
then explain that his point of view is correct when ONLY income taxes are considered
that when a bigger picture is considered, does it now make sense to pay taxes of say 30%, to save an estate tax of 50%. When a bigger picture is considered (your point of view), the correct decision is different. Show them the numbers on paper; give the evidence.
The issue arises more commonly in down markets when a client calls you about the decline in their portfolio value over the last 3 months. Their point of view is three months. Your point of view is much longer. You won’t get them to change their point of view without illustrating it.

Ask them the size of their portfolio 5 years ago (it’s not relevant if your were the advisor then). Compare that value from 5 years ago to their portfolio size now. They will agree that today’s figure is bigger. Then, you point out, “Your portfolio is down currently and still we see that it’s a lot larger than 5 years ago. So even including this down period, if it grows at this rate, similar down periods included every 5 years, over the next 10 years, you will have $xxx,xxx. Would that be okay?”

So do not just tell them to have a long term view, show it to them by providing some evidence.

Here’s another example. Ever have a client call about something he heard on the radio today or read in the newspaper today? This attachment to one piece of news or one factor is a common psychological error among investors. Some investors will latch on to one fact (employees striking at one of the company’s 16 plants) and they call all worried about their shares in the company.

They think this one variable in important (their point of view), while you realize there are about 10,000 variables that can affect a stock’s price. The best way to handle:

legitimize their concern
put their concern in context, “I would also be concerned if this strike affected more than 2% of their work force. Did you know that this only affects a tiny portion of their workers?”
Provide evidence to support your point of view. “My figuring is that even if that strike would last a month, it would impact the company’s earnings about ½% this year. Since their earnings are expected to grow at 20% this year anyway, can you see that this will not hurt your investment?”
Next time a prospect or client conversation is not going as smoothly as you would like, ask yourself if you can identify their point of view. It’s not that they have the facts wrong. Most likely, their context needs to be adjusted. Then, with evidence that you can make as personal as possible, provide them the broader point of view leading to a better decision.

Having coached thousands of producers, I have noticed that 20 minutes a day, spent in the following way, will increase sales productivity by at least 20%:

At the beginning of the day, do nothing for 10 minutes other than plan your day. Pick two or three items to accomplish that would make you feel the day was productive. Do not add more to your list.
Insure that you will accomplish your items by you being the boss of your day. I have observed that for most producers, other people and things are “the boss” that control the producer’s time. For example, the client who calls with a service problem, the car repair shop who calls about maintenance that’s due, the papers on the desk that call for attention, the Wall Street Journal that calls to be read, etc.—these are all attempting to dominate you and be your boss. Either you are the sole boss or everyone and everything in the universe will be your boss and consume your time.
You retain control by not answering the phone. Either have an assistant answer incoming calls or have your voice mail answer the phone. Stop falsely believing that a ringing phone is a sales opportunity. The truth is that 90% of incoming calls are time wasters and one-way communication that can be handled by voice mail. You return the calls on your time when it’s best for you. No more allowing everyone to interrupt you.

By the way, notice that most telephone communication is one-way. Someone calls to give you information or you call to give them information. No conversation is required. Yet, so many producers play a day-long game of phone tag because they do not make the distinction between one–way and two-way communication. Train people that call you to leave complete messages that you will not need to return, with this voice mail message: “Hi, this is Bob Smith. In addition to leaving your name and number, please leave a very detailed message on how I may assist you or leave the information you have for me. In addition, please leave your email address and fax number, so if you need any documents, I can get those to you right away.” This simple message will eliminate 70% of your return calls.

Clients or prospects making some request or demand today will need to wait because your priority is the completion of items on your list for that day. Their needs that occur today will be added to tomorrow’s list. By the way, maintaining a list means that you MUST have a daily planner or personal digital assistant (e.g. Palm Pilot) with both your work and personal schedule and to-do items recorded. I am still amazed at how many professionals make notes on small slips of paper or post-its and do not have a daily planner system. If you have been using the slip-of-paper system, please cease that today and get a daily planner system.

Before each appointment, take 5 minutes and design what will occur. Think about the prospect. What motivates him? What are his biases, likes and dislikes? See these through his eyes. Imagine you are him—what are his concerns, uncertainties and hesitancies? Now picture that you assuage these issues and he decides to do business with you. If you run this mental scenario before every sales presentation, you will close more often. The problem is, most producers poorly schedule their day and need to rush to get to a sales appointment. In order to have the five minutes needed for the visualization exercise described, requires that you have your day planned and avoid interruptions, as described above.
Last, if you have not computerized your client and prospect list, hire someone to do this. Just give them the information and have them record it all in ACT! or Goldmine or any popular contact management program will work. Pay someone to show you how to use the software. This alone will save you 30 minutes daily and produce more effective time for sales activities.