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What I Learned on my Summer Vacation
Blog / For Sales Pros / Sep 27, 2017 / Posted by Ken Thoreson / 5735

What I Learned on my Summer Vacation

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Many organizations fail because they simply don’t focus on executing the fundamentals of a sales process or management process. Its why our tag line was developed almost 20 years ago….Building Organizations Through the Execution of Strategic Sales Management. During our trip, I saw all sides of the “execution” issue.

During the past 12+ days we explored parts of the Western U.S. and drove nearly 1800 miles, we saw marvelous topography from the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone National Park, several cities in Montana and Wyoming plus we visited Mount Rushmore and the Badlands in South Dakota-it was a great trip. That much time also gave me time to reflect, observe and think about our world of sales leadership.

We made Yellowstone our second stop, deciding on a hotel called Canyon Village in the center of the park. Don’t ever stay there. Hotels deliver an experience, and ours was a long way from satisfactory–the $300 per night we spent bought us a Motel 6 (or less) environment. We had no TV, no internet, no air conditioning, and limited cell access. We did have a coffee pot, a small refrigerator and a small electric fan. My inquiry about the menu choice at the reservation only restaurant was answered with, “American comfort food.” There was no menu in the room, so I asked to see one, at which time I was told there was only one copy of the menu, and I’d have to make the trek to the main lodge lobby to see it. It’s amazing to think that there are 590 rooms in this hotel, and when I got to the lobby it took two people to locate that menu! Our party of four decided not to dine in that restaurant, and instead chose the non-reservation dining room. Chaos. People were dropped off to wander about and read menus on the wall and then picking up a plastic tray you were walked down a corporate cafeteria line choosing your “protein”, your meat, and salads, and eventually finding your way to a cashier. The dining room was made up of plastic chairs and tables ooooo BTW you bussed your own plates onto another stainless-steel counter. Now remember this is in the middle of Yellowstone National Park-no Lodge atmosphere, no warmth, no friendly faces, no attention to the environment- just more junk to buy alongside your corporate cafeteria experience.

After three days we went to Bozeman, Montana, that evening we went out for dinner in the downtown area. We enjoyed the opposite experience, at the Montana Ale Works restaurant we had great service, our waiter even wrote down two recommended tourists spots to visit on Monday and we had an engaging conversation. Food was terrific, atmosphere was fun and the place was packed on a Sunday evening!

I won’t make this a trip report, but my point is high performing organizations and sales leaders look and analyze their sales process, management processes and their prospect/customer experiences. A few questions to consider:

Are the sales teams executing a sales process properly? Are you sure?

Are you as a Sales Manager organized? HINT: go to our website and take the free Sales Management Assessment.

Do you have systems in place to Inspect what you Expect?
Are your sales teams trained to professionally represent your firm and its products/services? Are you sure?

Do you communicate with your customer base on an ongoing basis, as to their experiences?

Is there a quarterly review process in place with your management team to ensure you are remaining competitive and making money?

These are just a few questions to consider, the ultimate question is; are your focused-on execution?

Our Sales Management Boot Camp is filling up, it starts this Friday, September 22nd. https://www.salesgravy.com/online-sales-training/course/Slammed-Sales-Manager-Boot-Camp-9-22-17-259

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About Author

Ken provides keynotes, consulting services, training and products designed to improve business and revenue performance. The past 4 years, Ken was ranked by Top Sales World Magazine as the Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers. Ken has 5 books, his most recent, SLAMMED! for First Time Sales Managers.

Author's Publications on Amazon

What's the number challenge for sales leaders and sales organizations? Recruiting and hiring top talent. While most sales organizations focus on creating a sales process to increase sales performance, they fail to develop an effective recruiting and interviewing process that attracts top talent. Then they…
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In Your Sales Management Guru's Guide series sales management expert Ken Thoreson teaches sales leaders the essentials for leading and developing high-performance sales teams. In this book, you'll gain skills and techniques for creating sales compensation plans that will take your sales team to the…
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In "Sales Management Guru's Guide to Recruiting High-Performance Sales Teams" you'll get detailed interview scorecards, interviewing questions, and sample job descriptions. Plus a bonus section dedicated to the new hire onboarding process.
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