Think Your Sales Manager is a Psycho?

You might be right!

According to Paul Babiak and Robert Hare, authors of Snakes in Suits, although psychopaths make up about 1% of the general population, they account for 3.5% of all executives. Simply defined, a psychopath, or sociopath, is a human predator who uses charm to manipulate and disguise a complete lack of conscience and remorse.

I guess that when psychopathic bosses travel, they really are "snakes on a plane"!

Lesson's from the Road Part 2: Always Have a Back up Plan

About 100 miles to our first destination I saw a paper fly off my husband's bike in front of me. When I ran it over, I realized it was our map! "Well", I thought, " I guess we will have to wing it from here!"

We got to our location easily, and when I complimented Chris for his navigation skills (and teased him about losing the map) he said: "No problem, I have a back-up map in my pocket!" Considering that we were traveling on roads we had not ridden before, and that map books while riding are not an option, I thought that Chris' backup plan was a smart one!

Smart sales professionals always have a back-up plan. Do you?

You should have a back-up plan for every sales situation. In fact, I encourage you think of your sales funnel as one large back-up plan. The larger and more qualified your sales funnel is, the more back up you have. Think of it like the insurance to want to help you hit your targets.

Why is this important? Remember that most sales people close about 1:3 qualified leads in their pipeline. Once you close 1 lead in your pipeline, you must have a back up prospect to close another sale! Realistically, you need to have 3. Three new prospects to get one more client. Who are you going to call? Who have you met lately that is in your target market? Who has called in recently? How are you going further qualify the suspects in your pipeline? Do you have anyone new to call?

Consider these facts when creating your sales pipeline or back up plan:

1. Most sales people close 1:3 qualified prospects
2. Most sales people need to make 25 attempts to find 1 qualified lead
3. It takes 75 attempts to make 1 sale on average

So.....If you need to make 10 sales a year to hit your target....You will need to qualify 30 prospects which will take 750 attempts (calls, emails, or letters). You can see how this works in more detail by checking out the goal settling section in our article library .

In the overwhelming majority of cases, sales people fail to achieve their goals because they do not have a detailed back-up plan. Without a back-up plan you don't know where your next sale is going to come from. This sounds like grey hair and a heart attack from my perspective! Have a back -up plan, fill up your sales funnel - its the most profitable plan you can have in business.

If you missed the first lesson from the road check out the August 27th posting on my blog: Be Prepared!

Winning the Battle Against Burnout

Hard to believe its the end of the summer. Its been a busy one at Engage - I managed just 1 week of vacation this year. For most of us, fall is the crazy season. That's why I thought this article by my friend Mike Staver was well timed.

Check out Winning the Battle Against Burnout in the New York Times and let me know what you think. I have already applied 2 the ideas Mike outlines for ensuring we stay passionate engaged and energized. I am also sure that many of you will love the tip on taking power naps.....In fact maybe its time for me to do that myself right now!

Have a super long weekend. I'll be back next week with another "Lesson from the Road"