Reversing Poor Event Sales

One of my favorite speakers in the industry is Dan Cole. On several occasions, I have
had the pleasure of speaking with Dan, who is the Senior Vice President of Trade Shows
and Exhibits Sales for Hargrove Inc. Perhaps one topic weve discussed that sticks with
me the most concerns his views as to how to transform any sales force so that it can
reach its greatest potential. Dan has had considerable experience transforming sales
departments during a career that includes, in addition to Hargrove, the Consumer
Electronics Show and events for Advanstar Communications. Weve chatted on and off
throughout the years about his philosophy of selling.

Dan and I agree that when a sales force is not performing to its fullest potential, the
problem is attributable to some or all of following reasons:

The leadership is weak;

Management is not rewarding the right behaviors, nor punishing the wrong ones;

Staff are not working on the right things and/or not accountable;

The environment of the company is not revenue-driven.

So how do you turn this around? Simply put, reverse the above with the following tactics:

Develop and enforce a definitive direction with an approach that is assertive, but
reasonable. Focus on the fundamentals and incentivize the behaviors you want;

Assess your current staff, confirming that they are coachable, flexible, and
entrepreneurial.

Determine whether your company has the appropriate revenue-centric environment;

Hire the perfect rep by identifying the above behaviors before you make the hire;

Enshrine TRACER as a way to keep a positive sales culture locked in.

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What is TRACER? Its Dans way to ensure the sales team hits its long and short term
goals. The components are:

Training skills, industry knowledge that focuses on the fundamentals, and knowledge
of the customers market sector(s);

Revenue focus that is organization-wide, from the CEO on down;

Activity and accountability that is measured by phone and face-to-face appointments,

not on smiling and dialing;

Customer focus that involves getting in front of both customers and prospects
regularly, not just prospects;

Environment that gets rid of bad apples and encourages teamwork and healthy
cooperation;

Recruiting the right people, with a focus on attitude first, then sales competence next.

In the end, what does a profitable team look like? They:

Are paid well, because they earn when revenue goals are met;

Are empowered to make decisions that serve the company and the customer;

Have a camaraderie that reflects a healthy competition between the sales reps;

Are members of a revenue-focused organization.

If you can pull all of this off, you are indeed cutting edge in my book. I certainly can see
why Hargrove goes from strength to strength.

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Warwick Davies is the Principal of The Event Mechanic!, a consulting company which helps event
organizers realize greater revenues and profits by fixing broken events and launching new ones both in
the United States and internationally. His clients include event organizers in the information technology,
healthcare, biotechnology construction and design, engineering and executive event markets. Previously,
Warwick was responsible for internationally recognizable event brands such as Macworld Conference and
Expo, LinuxWorld Conference and Expo, and the Customer Relationship Management Conference and
Exposition worldwide. For more information on The Event Mechanic! And past SISO The Event Mechanic!
columns
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