Spring is sprung, the grass is riz.
I wonder where the birdies is.
They say the birdies on the wing, but that’s absurd.
I always thought the wing was on the bird.
For me with 8 days left in the Q, today and every day through the 31st is all about our sales process, the use of our sales and marketing tools nicely placed in our various HubSpot locations which we customize for the most efficient use of our time. Want to learn more about HubSpot, just connect with me anytime!
Actually, looking ahead to the actual day of the 31st, I thought that it is very fitting that we have the entire sales and marketing team of one of our most exciting customers coming to Boston that day to work through the "tuning up" of the sales process they have been successfully using. All polished and seasoned sales and marketing warriors...along with a dynamic CEO heavily involved with customers...wanting to take out a day in their tough schedules to get ready for the balance of the year which for every quarter has steadily increasing KPIs of revenue, deal count, ASPs, lead gen and expanding customer categories without adding new people.
With our mantra of "Process-Tools-Technology-Metrics & People" tattooed in my brain, as I look out to Q2, my overarching sales themes for Q2 are:
Reframe the game and take the mystique out of "the art of selling" and bring it down to a proven process map designed as "Your [insert your name here} Way of Selling" using the principles of "The Science of Sales" and get to a point of 100% commitment by each of the sales team individually and collectively.
Keep a short list of your Q2 selling priorities, since Q2 is the most critical time of the year in terms of setting the pace, using a specific sales process with its very defined tools and playbooks and measuring up daily and weekly by utilizing the full scope of your CRM and its various plugins.
Totally align the sales and marketing organization 100%! Find the One Simple Thing, drill down on that and message it everywhere in your stated culture, in your messaging, in your tools, in your refreshed customer journey, and in your tuned-up Value Propositions. Get to a stated "Amen" or whatever term you want to use from everyone. An "Amen" is just that. It's loud, it's 100%, and it's a full-bore commitment! It is not "acceptance" or "hope" or "trying". Total alignment also means 100% SLA agreement on every weekly KPI between Sales & Marketing.
I love both the simplicity and the complexities of today's Marketing, which spawned my fundamental belief in "Making the Complex Simple", but the most fundamental pillar is that there must be total respect and alignment between the heads of Sales and Marketing. If you cannot get to that, change one of the players. Don't waste your time if you cannot immediately get to a fast-paced operating rhythm mindset with a senior manager. You don't have time for that personally plus unless that is cured immediately, it will be an underlying pebble in the shoe for everyone working hard to be successful. Plan for and execute that plan for a new manager. There's plenty of talent available, especially now in a period of uncertainty.
None of us can have much impact on the larger issues of politics or the economy. What we can control is ourselves, our commitment to the company and its processes and by having an absolute focus on using our available selling time, which we already know comes down to only about 30% of our overall work time.
I'm sure you can come up with a more personal list than what's above. I just provided this starter list that I use to give you a few productivity ideas to make sure that you can most efficiently and effectively use that most important 30%.
As I am finishing this, it's begun to snow here in Vermont where there is still a foot of old snow on the ground here in my tiny town of 769, so although the calendar states it's Spring, it's actually "Taint Season" here: Taint Winta'; Taint Summa'".
Enjoy the hopefully sunny Spring weekend wherever you are!
"Writing the Winning Sales Plan"
"Writing the Winning Business Plan"
"Writing the Winning Marketing Plan"
"The Marketing of Me"
We outline ideas on structure, models, process funnels, productivity tools and how to recruit, hire and onboard the best people. A few hands-on guides for real managers written by real managers with their fingers in the dirt.
Connect with me any time at jack@derbymanagement.com and let's discuss your own Q2 plans!