AICC Boxscore 2013

Dynamic Sales Management & Sales Leadership By George A. Moretti, President, GM Training & Consulting

The theme for the AICC 2013 Sales Managers Conference Spring Meeting is “Be the Dynamic Sales Manager and Sales Leader you NEED to be NOW!” So with that thought in mind let’s think about what happens and the end of one year and the start of a New Year for many of us. As Sales Managers and Leaders the New Year usually bring about a fresh look at ourselves and our sales teams to see how effective we have been along with promises of improvement and change all around. We ask ourselves; how many new accounts did we sell? Did we lose any sales people? Is our margin growing or shrinking? Have we lost any big accounts? Who should I replace because they are not getting the job done? Sometimes the answers are good and sometimes the answers are not. So we commit to becoming better in this New Year and we tell ourselves that we will improve. Nothing will stop us this year! Sound familiar? And to make things worse at the last meeting with your boss these age old comments came up again: • “Our sales people are paid too much we need to adjust our commission program because our profits have not gone up with the sales!” • “We have too many non-performing sales reps that are not paying for themselves.” • “We can’t find any talent in the marketplace. The only sales reps that are available are retreads, Sales Reps who have worked for most of the competitors except for us.” • “How come we can’t seem to keep any sales people long term? It seems like we hire them, train them, and then they leave for more money!” • “How come the new Sales Rep is not performing to where we thought they would be?

These questions and concerns come up every year in most corrugated, folding carton and packaging supplies companies. Make no mistake; it’s not that we don’t want to improve and be more effective, it’s not that we do not know what to do most of the time. And it is not even a matter of the willingness to do whatever it takes. In order to move in this direction you will need to become a Dynamic Sales Leader and Dynamic Sales Manager ! The reasons you need to change are basically the same each year. Here are some reasons we need to change to become more Dynamic . Each year in this industry as with others there are new competitors who come nipping at our heels. There are old competitors who decide this is the year they are making the change and will execute and implement a growth strategy to take market share of this or that new segment of our business. the “new “company has a different approach to the market. (By the way I am sure the questions above were asked at the company that was acquired also.) Progressive companies buy new equipment that needs to be filled up. They also want to expand, make more money or become more valuable to their customers putting a bigger moat around them by providing more value added services and products. The next generations of managers and leaders have come onto the scene and want to continue the success that their parents, friends or partnerships created a long time ago. The list of reasons why is larger than this but this should give you a good idea of why we need to constantly improve and this year is no different. Every Another reason is a merger or acquisition has taken place and

year seems to get a little tougher. Yet over the last 10 years in my seminars, webinars, teaching and training the same topics come up 90 % of the time for discussion. They are: • Sales Compensation – what is the best program? • How do you motivate non- performing sales reps who have been with the company for a long time? • What are some effective metrics we can use to measure our sales reps performance? • What is the best way to recruit sales people to our company? • How can we learn to not sell on price? So, will this be the year you decide to really develop and execute the strategy you know you need to take your company to the next level? Or will this be the year you have the best intentions and really try to convince everyone you will be different but after a few weeks or months, you get busy, overwhelmed and decide change is tough so you go back to doing mostly what we always did with some minor because it is easier? If this is not the direction you want to go then let this be the year you commit to focus on the execution of the strategy you develop and lead yourselves and your sales teams to the next level. All of these topics and much more will be covered in the AICC 2013 Dynamic Sales Leaders’ Conference in Orlando. Hope to see you there!  George A. Moretti is President, GM Training & Consulting. He can be reached at gmtcg@roadrunner.com or by phone 716-909-1177. 29 BOX SCORE