Why Your Sales Team Can't Close Like You

0:00I'm Marvin Mitchell and I am I am in a financial planning business for high network individuals looking to invest and minimize their taxes. And I used to close about 42% in my previous top advisor was at about 36% but since he left none of the remaining advisors can get over 20%. This is despite me training four times a week for for the last couple of years. So if you were me, how would you tell whether this is a sales system issue or talent issue or leadership issue with me and should my COO and me should we step in and double down and directly lead sales and do sales or should we spend more time recruiting and repositioning new advisors as as one of our first few moves moves.

0:44>> So I'll just hear it from the hip just from a pattern recognition of having done this a lot. If I see a team that's struggling for many years in a row and it's the same leader, it's the leader. >> I thought so. >> [laughter] >> I mean a good leader would know like so sales sales management is is really about culture. Like that is the job of the manager is to maintain the culture and so then what's the culture right? That sounds like a big fuzzy word but it's basically the rules of engagement. It's what gets rewarded and what gets punished and so that leader has to set the rules for this team and enforce those rules both the positive and the negative and most times I should I just had the list up there.

1:25Most times if we're looking at this list that I just went over they're missing one of these steps. Now this is how you train an individual once you transfer it to the rest of kind of the department they have to start giving kudos to the people for reinforcing each other and saying hey Johnny great way to support you know Sally. And so then we reinforce that behavior and then all of a sudden they start reinforcing each other.

1:51Once they start reinforcing each other, we start winning more. When we we winning more, we have to tie winning to the winning behaviors. Saying, "Hey, we didn't just win because you guys are great closers. We won because we have a great process." And so, you follow the process, and that's what creates the wins. Right? And then, as soon as you start winning, and you tie the winning to the to the behaviors, then more winners start showing up because winners want to join winning teams. And so, that means they have to create an environment that that encourages winners, and also cuts out losers.

2:17Because what happens next is that you have to raise the bar. Because what was great last year is just acceptable this year, and what was acceptable last year gets you fired this year. And so, like this is the cycle of winning. And so, right now, you have Did the dip in sales happen when you brought the new manager in? >> Um no. So, um actually, we are we're on a up since my new um COO came. It's only been a couple months, though.

2:45>> But, what is the sales percentage now? >> Um it's only still 20. I mean, it was it was like 18. It was 20. So, we just recently >> [laughter] >> We just >> So, we went from 18 to 20? >> It's not great. But, we just repositioned. So, what we just did was reposition our hunters, which is our advisers, >> Uh-huh. >> to be more former. So, we created a better adviser team. So, what I mean by that, instead of making Since they were in closing, we made them instead of hunters, where they were actually closing the deals, we put them on adviser teams

3:17>> Okay. >> now. So, that sort of left room for We can give them some leads, but we can also go out and hire some new advisers um if we wanted to. And right now, I hate to say it, that I, for the first time in about 3 years, have had to step in now and do most of the meetings until we figure it out. >> So, who is managing the team? >> So, great question. >> Yeah.

3:43>> So, I'm doing a lot of the >> "Fire the manager." He's like, "Well, Well, >> [laughter] >> So, I'm I'm doing I'm doing a lot of the the coaching, but we do have a sales manager, but it's a fractional sales manager. >> Yeah. >> And um and it hasn't improved. I mean, it's it's been >> you've had the fractional sales manager? >> say it's been about 7-8 months now, and it's about the same. >> But before that, well, so yeah, he added nothing. But what what about before that? Who'd you have? Cuz you were at 20% prior, correct?

4:10>> Yeah, before that, we we didn't have one. >> Right. So, he he adds zero value. >> Correct. >> You were at 20 without him, and you're still at 20 with him. >> Correct. >> Might as well save the five grand a month or whatever it is. Uh Sorry to your sales manager who watches this later. Um Um So, fundamentally, like I How big's the the team?

4:35>> Um so, we um we have a total of about um >> Sales? Just sales guys. Yeah. >> Um it's about five. >> Yeah, like that's a full-time role, man. That's a full-time role. >> Right. >> Like weekly, you've got daily training that's happening, right? Where you're going to be having kudos for the team, giving each other. The manager models one of the four parts of the script, intro, disco, pitch, close.

5:00And after doing the modeling, role-playing happens. That's every day. Every week, there's a one-on-one with every single one of the guys, where the manager's going to go over what's going on in your personal life, cuz if you're getting divorced, you're probably not caring about the script. If assuming you don't your personal life isn't screwed, we then go over short-term goals, which is like, "Hey, we need to improve your close rate. I need you to work on building rapport. Hey, you're losing the frame. Hey, when you get into the pitch, commission breath starts coming out. I need you to change your tone. Lower Slow down when you're speaking. Add more space between words. Let's role-play it, right?" Um And then uh in terms of So, that's we have weekly and daily in terms of the activities that the manager is doing. And then in the in between there, their time is spent listening to calls and giving the reviews so that they can give feedback to the guys. And if guys are below KPI, they're meeting once or twice a day with the manager individually.

5:50Functionally, the whole team is on a PIP right now. >> Right. [laughter] >> Or they should be on a PIP right now. >> and that's the thing. I don't think we we don't listen to many many of the recordings, so we need a full-time >> It's a full-time job and you've got a heart part-time person, you're getting part-time results. >> Good point. Yeah. >> Right. It's like you're a sales company, dude. >> Right. >> Like you're a sales org. This is the This is the bread and butter. This should be the thing that you are the best at to grow the business.

6:17>> Right. >> And so like this is like kind of what I was saying earlier in terms of repeated roles, getting somebody off the street to becoming a productive closer, I'll add one more nugget to this, which is that I'm going to bet, I could be wrong, that when you sell, you have a very authoritative frame and that you know more than the prospect and you kind of like teach them a little bit to consultative frame. I'm going to guess that's how it is. >> Yeah, I mean I teach everybody the script and I don't follow it. So It's one of those things.

6:45I mean it's like I I know how I mean the problem is is like right, I got the intuition to know exactly where the client will go before they go there, but our team, they don't. So you know. >> But what you just described though is just pattern recognition, which is if-then statements, which are absolutely trainable. All right. That being said, the point that I wanted to like zero in on cuz it's not just applicable to you, but to every other founder who sells in this room and can't get their team to sell, it's because they can't sell like you. They shouldn't sell like you.

7:12My team can't sell like Alex because if I got on the phone, I have complete frame. >> Mhm. >> Right? I know way more. I can just prove that I can know more about someone's business than them and then say, "Do you want my help?" And they're like, "Yeah." They can't do that because they're 23 years old. Right? But what they can do is I can develop a script that doesn't require them to be the doctor. >> Mhm. >> I just need them to be able to assess the problem and then hand off to the person who's going to do the solution.

7:39And so I think what would be wiser for your business structure overall is that you have your hunters and then you have one nerd in the back who obsesses about investing. And so you let the you let the hunters go manage the relationships, go get the money, and then have somebody else who manage the money. >> Right. >> And then I would use that as a USP if it were me. I'd be like, "Listen, you don't want every one of these Tom, Dick, and Harry's managing your money. Like none of us are special snowflakes, right? Believe me, you don't want the nerds and the quant guys managing your conversations. I promise you that." All right? And so what we do is like, "I'll manage to do this, they take care of the money."

8:12That's a very good pitch. >> Yeah. >> That's how I would set it up if I were you. >> Awesome. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> If you like this video and you're a business owner who wants to break through your current revenue ceiling, I distilled every lesson from scaling 10 businesses past 10 million and three businesses past 100 million into a completely free scaling roadmap that I've used to go from zero to one, zero to 10, and zero to 100 plus. And so you can click here and you can check it out. Again, absolutely free. And since you're a business owner, I appreciate you and enjoy.