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Identifying The Leaks
Since the beginning of the BP oil spill disaster on April 20th, it has been headline news. You may have read that James Cameron (creator of the box office hits Titanic & Avatar) even wanted to lend his underwater filming expertise to help remedy the leakage as all else seemed to be failing, yet BP turned it down. The fact that his support was even a possibility suggests how grave the situation has become for the oil company. It would be easy to assume they could just implement the protocol spelled out for this exact circumstance…the one they designed and put in place before they started drilling. What, no pre-emptive solution? No “Plan B”? It is interesting how hindsight works, isn’t it?
No doubt, the impact of this tragedy will be far reaching long after the oil is cleaned up and BP is no longer in the nightly news. Some are now suggesting that this event will likely be recorded as the worst environmental disaster in our Nation’s history. There are many lessons to be learned from this tragedy - not only for those in the oil industry but all industries…including the Litigation Support Industry. A few that come to mind are: the importance of proper strategic planning; weighing the risks associated with “reducing costs” on any given project; the execution of multiple back up plans when the odds turn against you, etc.
A wise Ben Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Looking at the second half of 2010, are you on track to meet or exceed your projections for the year? A better question might be, “how are those goals shaping up for your individual account managers?” It only takes a few mouse-clicks to find out, but as you are reading this, I’ll bet you have a really good idea about where they stand. This is especially true if your monthly revenue rests largely on one or two veteran account managers and the others, perhaps new or less seasoned account managers, make up the difference.
As a bit of preventative maintenance or simply to solidify your projections, you might be planning a mid-year conference with each of your account managers. Yet, simply asking them to review their goals and looking at current results for the first half of 2010 will probably get you some pretty canned responses and you could be back to the same-old routine by the next week. A better approach would be to look less at their monthly revenue projections and more closely at their sales activity.
As you review the sales activity for each account manager on a weekly and/or monthly basis, try to determine the following...
- How many new prospects are they in front of weekly?
- Are those prospects the right caliber of buyer?
- What do the sales appointments with those new prospects look like? (If you were a fly on the wall during any appointment, what would you see?)
Satisfy the answers to these three questions and you can have a pretty good idea as to what the end of the year will look like.
“As a general rule: if the results are not there, the activity is not there
(calls, appointments, follow ups, etc.)” Larry Beckham
It is a universal truth that sales are the latent result of activity…the right kind of activity. As a manager of a litigation support business, I’m sure you have occasionally become frustrated over the disparity between what your performance expectations are for your account managers and what they become content with in terms of sales volume.
We have noticed over the years the typical account manager who is under performing is suffering from:
- Lack of Motivation
- Ineffectiveness at prospecting
- Call reluctance (setting appointments over the phone)
- Ineffectiveness at establishing need
- Poor listening skills
- Complacency with their current level of business
In other words, with the exception of points 1 and 6, they are suffering from a lack of talent (their skill set) and knowledge. Admittedly, it is easier to pinpoint the reasons why an individual is performing poorly than it is to help them make the necessary changes.
“Whatever is happening today is the result of yesterday’s effort
(last week, last month, three months ago, etc…)” Larry Beckham
As a manager or business owner, you know the success of your company rests largely upon the success of your team. In reality, your own personal performance is judged by the collective efforts of your organization. Your account managers are the life blood to your success in terms of your business revenue. They represent who you are and what you stand for as a company. They are your ambassadors, not just with your clients, but in all of the law firms in your marketplace.
We believe a confident, knowledgeable, well trained account manager is your best hope for convincing a potential buyer to use your service!
If you have account managers on board who you believe have more potential than is currently being reflected in their performance, we can help you by providing the specialized sales training that can make a significant difference.
Our current class schedule for the coming months is posted on our website at www.thebeckhamgroup.com under “Training Schedule.” Let us know if you have account managers you would like to register to attend one of the upcoming classes.
If you have any questions about the specifics of our Sales Training Course, or our Placement and Consulting Services, please give us a call at 1-800-929-8740. As always, we look forward to hearing from you.
The Beckham Group
13902 East Cypress Forest
Houston, TX 77070
1-800-929-8740
www.thebeckhamgroup.com |
