Page 7 - Increase Your 2020 Sales

• Establish the items, primary and secondary, that will qualify the prospect (can be industry
specific)
• Identify the most important or predictive factors
• Include a baseline percentage for quantifying a "closeable opportunity" (i.e. 70% score is
considered closeable).

3. Sales Huddles

I was first introduced to the idea of "Sales Huddles" when I heard Verne Harnish, Founder and
President of Gazelles, speak at Objective Management Group’s Annual International
Conference. At that conference, Verne described Huddles as:

1. A communication process that allows for sharing of real-time information
2. An opportunity to focus on "burning platform" issues for a team or company
3. A way to bring sharp focus and attention to a critical business driver
4. The most important 15 minutes in any company

Over the years, I have used football huddles as an example of how sales huddles should
work. Generally speaking, there are two types of huddles. One is what you see in the middle of a
football field when the players gather around a single individual to get instruction on the next
play. The other type is what you see on the sidelines after a unit comes off the field when they
gather around the offensive or defensive unit coach to receive information about what was seen
in the press box, and how that relates to what they will attempt going forward.

Your Sales Huddles should provide real-time information, so that you can make real-time
decisions and provide real-time feedback or coaching.

Sales Huddles are one of THE KEYS to driving more immediate and productive results from a
sales team. If you wait 90 days as a manager to get data about how your team is conducting itself
on a daily basis, it will be outdated and may not be of any use to you or your salespeople.

One of my favorite questions when working with sales managers in our Performance
Management Class is this:

“When you get lost, when do you want to know that you're lost?”

The answer to that question 100% of the time is, “As soon as possible".

And that is why you must have real-time huddles!

Gathering real-time information allows you, as a salesperson or manager to make real-time
adjustments to a specific sales situation or your overall sales growth strategy. As in football, you
must collect huddle data and the business intelligence from the data in real time and you must
promptly share this intelligence with the team to improve performance.

©ACTGLLC 2020 Page 6