Best Opportunity to Win

Taking orders for sod is easy. Upselling a companion product requires selling skills.

Having effective incentive plans and focused training is crucial for Sales Reps to succeed. When designing sales incentive plans, it is important to prioritize revenue over activities. While including a few activity goals can encourage proper sales behavior, the main focus should always be on generating revenue. Initially, our Inside Sales Team had an incentive plan that heavily emphasized activity goals.

Although the creators of the plan had good intentions, it ended up rewarding Reps for simply doing their job, rather than actual selling. Reps would claim to have made sales when it was actually the result of Marketing efforts.

Recognizing this opportunity for improvement, I developed a new incentive plan that aligned with our Marketing Team's inbound efforts. The new plan incentivized Reps to upsell a secondary product. Instead of solely focusing on taking orders for our sod, Inside Sales Reps were now motivated to upsell the complementary product when customers called to place an order.

Reps who effectively positioned the product and asked for the upsell were rewarded with higher earnings. To maximize their chances of success, I narrowed down the customer pool to a specific persona that was more likely to be open to the upsell. Inside Sales Reps who utilized the provided tools such as scripts, selling processes, and CRM had a higher probability of achieving success. The results of these changes were remarkable. Despite a 7% decrease in call volume compared to the previous year due to the introduction of an online store, sales of the complementary product increased by 130%.

This growth was achieved without a significant increase in incentive payments, as high performers were rewarded with higher earnings while low performers received less. Our call center transformed from being focused on order-taking to becoming a selling call center. The new incentive plan also allowed call center leadership to identify who was actively selling and who was simply taking calls, providing call center leadership with valuable data to distinguish between sales-focused individuals and those who were primarily handling calls. Similar improvements were made to the Outside Sales incentive plan,

Focused Sales Training

Focused sales skills training is like gold at the end of a rainbow.

The Inside Sales Team consisted of mostly individuals without prior sales experience or training. After a few months with the new incentive plan, it became evident that the team needed sales training and tools to support their efforts. During this time, I took the opportunity to convince Call Center Leadership to allocate time for additional training by pulling the representatives off the phone.

The training covered various aspects including product knowledge, technology, interactive activities, and selling skills. Product training focused on understanding how the product supports new sod, while technology training reinforced the importance of using a CRM system. To make the training more engaging, we incorporated actual phone call recordings of successful sales from their peers and encouraged participation through role play. However, the most crucial aspect was developing effective selling skills.

After the first training session, we observed moderate improvement. We decided to run everyone through the training again, this time focusing on identifying and addressing the obstacles preventing their success. While several reasons were given, it became clear through call analysis and role-playing that the main issue was the team's resistance to adopting and fully embracing the new program. However, we were able to convince the team to give it a try, and they realized it was time to fully embrace the new incentive plan. As a result, those who followed the process exceeded the goal by an impressive 230%.

Many people mistakenly believe that sales is an easy job that anyone can do. However, I firmly believe that successful sales representatives possess certain innate qualities such as good listening skills, the ability to quickly build relationships, and determination. Nevertheless, these qualities need to be nurtured through sales training.

While the majority of our Outside Sales Team had the natural qualities required for sales, their skill development was lacking. To address this, we introduced the concept of referral selling, which we found to be the most effective process and tool in Joanne Black's book, "No More Cold Calling." For those Outside Sales

Reps who were willing to put in the effort, we witnessed significant improvements in new prospecting and pipeline development. For instance, we hired a new Rep for an area that required him to solely focus on new business development without any existing accounts to manage. After working with me on "No More Cold Calling," this Rep quickly rose to become the top performer, giving credit to the time spent embracing and implementing the process. I always remind him of his natural talent and determination. On the other hand, we had other new Reps who received the same training but failed to achieve similar results. This highlights the fact that great salespeople need a combination of natural ability, determination, and someone to nurture their skills through proper processes and sales training.

CRM – Nature or Nurture?

Always looking for the opportunity to grow.

Implementing a CRM across multiple sales teams can be challenging when it comes to gaining adoption. Sales reps often find reasons to criticize the CRM, claiming it's too complicated, time-consuming, or that a notepad works just fine. However, there are also reps who naturally embrace the CRM and eagerly learn new features to stay on top of their prospects and deals. This raises the question: is using a CRM a natural inclination or does it require nurturing?

In our case, we use HubSpot. Our marketing team utilizes the marketing tools to drive prospects to our website, educate them, and close deals in our online store. However, we face difficulties in getting adoption from our outside sales team. How can we convince sales reps that investing a little time upfront can actually free up more time for prospecting?

To address this challenge, HubSpot recently added a matrix called "Last Active," which allows us to see when a sales rep was last active in HubSpot. We have seven outside reps who have the same tenure, territory size, and opportunity. Among them, the top three reps were active in HubSpot within the past hour to a day, while the bottom three reps haven't been active for months. Interestingly, the top three reps generated twice the sales compared to the bottom three reps.

Additionally, I examined our enterprise sales team, which supports the top customers of our outside sales reps through phone interactions. These reps also have their own customers. It was found that enterprise reps who use HubSpot to log calls and follow up on proposals earn three times the commissions compared to those who don't.

So, the question remains: is it natural for reps to use a CRM, or does it require nurturing? I believe it's a combination of both. There are numerous resources available, such as books and blogs, that provide guidance on increasing CRM adoption. However, the best approach is to hire reps who are process-driven or can demonstrate past success in utilizing a CRM during a directed interview.

It's important to note that I'm not suggesting that a CRM alone can be credited for doubling sales. The top three outside sales reps excel in various areas. However, it's worth considering how much of their success can be attributed to the CRM.

The Growing Season Begins

Forsythia's early yellow blooms

Friends and neighbors often ask me questions on how to take care of their lawn. I’ve notice over the years that not much would happen after the advice was given. We are all busy, and if you don’t take action right away, it is easy to forget the details of any advice given.

The other issue is too much information. There are plenty of websites with treatment calendars. Many will give you several options but no specifics. My plan is to be very specific as it relates to the type of grass you have in your yard.

The first yard treatment of a new growing season is to apply pre-emergent for crabgrass. Yes, pre-emergent herbicides will treat other weeds, but crabgrass is the one weed most of us are familiar with. Treating the others will just be an added benefit.

In North Georgia, it is easy to know when to apply pre-emergent. As you drive through your neighborhood and notice the Forsythia blooming, it is time to head to your Super-Sod Outlet to buy pre-emergent. 

Super-Sod stocks the best products for homeowners, 0-0-7 25% Barricade. You don't want to add nitrogen this time of year on warm season grasses like Bermuda, Zoysia or Centipede. What you see here is all you need, 0-0-7 and not the 19-0-7. If you have cool season grass like fescue, then go with the 19-0-7.

25% Barricade with 0-0-7 is available at all the Super-Sod Outlets.

19-0-7 for cool season grasses like Fesque

To be effective, pre-emergent has to be watered in. I don’t know about you, but February or early March is not a time of year when I want to drag hoses and adjust lawn sprinklers. So as soon as you see the Forsythia blooms, buy the 25% Barricade and watch the local weather forecast. When the forecast is rain in the next day or two, apply the herbicide. 

The rain will move the herbicide into the soil where it will bind and be available for about three months to kill the crabgrass when it germinates. Those new crabgrass roots will absorb the herbicide from the soil and die.

Criss-cross when you apply. Put down half the herbicide in one direction and then the rest as you go across, north/south and then east/west. This ensures a uniform application with no misses. Ask your Super-Sod Rep on how much to buy to cover your lawn.

In the next blog, I will discuss scalping of Bermuda grass and a follow up pre-emergent treatment, which will protect against some tougher to control weeds like goosegrass.

Spring Dead Spot (SDS)

Four new Spring Dead Spots after a relatively mild winter.

So your warm season grass is scalped down and it’s starting to green up. At first, it has a nice uniform look. After a few days of warm Spring weather, as the grass greens up, you start to see the dreaded Spring Dead Spots (SDS). 

While SDS is most prominent in Bermuda grass, it can also affect Zoysia grass. SDS is caused by three hard to pronounce fungi. The thing to know is that the fungi doesn’t kill the grass; it weakens the roots which is then too weak to survive Winter’s cold temperatures.

I saw this in action a few years back. We had a Winter where temps didn’t get low enough to put my yard into full dormancy. To my delight, when Spring came, all my SDS was gone. At the time, I thought it was gone for good as the warm Winter killed the fungi. The next Spring, after a normal Winter, the SDS was back. That is when I learned that the cold does the killing not the fungi.

There isn’t any easy way to control SDS. Ironically, this may be the one time when the grass is greener on my neighbor's yard, because yards that are not maintained all that well usually don’t have SDS. Some of this could be due to mowing heights and fertilization. The higher you mow the deeper the roots grow, and fertilization causes the PH in your yard to increase. 

Aerification is one of the areas where I can improve. Roots need oxygen to be healthy. The one thing that holds me back is not having a truck to haul an airiator. However, this year I’m committing to doing whatever it takes to aerate. You may have someone knock on your door offering to aerate for you. Usually, these services are going to go over your yard once. Once isn’t enough. To be effective, you’ll need to have 10 holes per square foot. That means you need to go over your yard several times. June is a great time to aerate. Late Summer early Fall isn’t a good time as it doesn’t give the roots time to adjust before Winter.

I’ve heard that in North Georgia some have seen success in reducing SDS by using calcium nitrate fertilizer. I mentioned before that there are three fungi that cause SDS. The one most prominent in North Georgia seems to be sensitive to calcium nitrate. For more on this, take a look at page 26 of this study. Yara has a yard calcium nitrate fertilizer. I’ve gone as far as tracking down the Yara Rep for the Southeast but unable to find a distributor in the area that carries the product. If you find it, try it and if works, let me know.

Once you have SDS, there are three ways you can repair it. The first and easiest is to let the Bermuda grass repair itself. This could take until late June. The second option is to replace the grass with sod from Super-Sod. (Okay, that was a shameless plug. Please forgive me.) The third is more work but will repair the spot for years. That is to dig up the spot. Go deep enough, 12 inches, to remove the fungi. Replace the soil with new topsoil and then the grass. 

I’ve done all three. The one I like best is to replace the sod. A few years back I did dig up the SDS and replace the topsoil. I didn't get all the fungi on two locations in the back. Take a look at what I have now. The problem with the front yard is that I did get rid of the spots but now have several more just two years later. I won't be digging up SDS anytime soon.

Now I have SDR. Instead of two small spots, I now have a large Spring Dead Ring. Looks like a pair of glasses....

Best practices to reduce SDS is to aerate, grow your turf higher for deeper root growth and don’t add nitrogen 30 days before the average first frost. 

It Has To Be Done.

Scalping means dust.

The worst of the best for me happens every year at late winter or early spring. While I absolutely love mowing my yard, I dread scalping it. So what’s the problem? The same equipment is used. You get the same exercise, and it looks great when completed. After being inside all winter why am I not all revved up to get out and mow. One word - dust. 

It seems like it takes me a week to get over all that dust. However, if you want your warm season grass to look good early and all season, you need to scalp it as low as you can and remove all the cut grass.

I recently attended a webinar given by Dr. Keith Karnok, Ph.D., University of Georgia. Dr. Karnok spent the hour talking about one thing, mowing. He made the point that mowing your grass is the number one thing you can do to have a healthy, good looking yard. For more information from UGA on mowing, scroll down to the maintenance section of this UGA blog for more.

A standard for mowing is to never cut more than a third of the grass. I like to say that if your bermuda yard looks like it needs to be mowed, you waited too long. Too much is cut off bermuda when you see the brown stems. During peak growing times, June through August, you have to mow more than one time a week or you are going to see brown scalped areas. 

I mow every other day starting about mid-June through early September. This is much easier than weekly. I don’t catch the grass nor is the mower bogged down by tall grass. I watch my neighbors get out on Saturday morning to mow. The grass is so tall they end up cutting more than a third of the plant; it takes longer; and it’s a mess because they either bag the grass or it sits on top of the lawn.

Mowing every other day or every three days during the peak growing season allows me to get needed exercise, makes mowing easy, and I don’t spend all Saturday morning struggling in the yard. 

One tip to keep your bermuda yard looking good all season is to raise the mower height as the season progresses. I will keep the mower at the scalping height until late May then raise it one notch. If I stay on my mowing schedule, I can expect to raise the mower height one notch about every four weeks. By the end of the growing season, my goal is to be at about one inch mower height. Also, don’t forget to keep your mower maintained and the blade or reel sharp. 

If you just don't have time to mow frequently enough, check out the new Automower. I've said for years that I won't turn my yard over to a landscaper. The reason is the cost and results. If all I can afford is once a week mowing, which is what most landscapers offer, my yard will look terrible because it ends up four inches tall and scalped brown. With the Automower, I get a constantly mowed yard but am free to travel during the heat of summer. Take a look at how an Automower makes a difference.

Give it a try this growing season. Your goal may not be one inch by the end of the season but if you mow just a bit more frequently and start low then slowly raise the mower deck, you will have a better looking healthy lawn and be less frustrated.

Now that I have my yard scalped down to the proper starting level, it usually takes about four weeks from the last pre-emergent herbicide application. This is a good time to do a follow-up application. Go to this link for a reminder.
 

At Least My Invitation Included Breakfast.

I was the Field Service Specialist in Kansas City when my boss, who was the Field Service Manager, left Abbott. This gave me the opportunity to be the Acting Service Manager. 

Shortly after my new position, Abbott put in place a new rule that you had to have a college degree to become a Manager. Time to change the plan, so I started night school to earn a degree in Business  Administration .

Within the first few months of starting my degree, Abbott announced a big realignment for both the Field Sales and Service Teams. I now had a new Regional Service Manager (RSM). At the National Meeting, she invited me to breakfast. A peer Acting Service Manager in Denver was also invited to breakfast to meet with her first. As I was walking into the restaurant, the Denver Acting Manager was walking out. From his face, I could tell he hadn't eaten and the news wasn’t good. She told both of us that she was going to fill our positions with regular Managers, and we could interview if we wished. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.  The silver lining was that she allowed me to stay and have breakfast with her. Actually, it was a little tense.

At about the same time, I was promoting an idea to reduce the cost of new instrument installs. The large diagnostic equipment had to have a pre-site visit before it would be shipped. Either I or a Field Service Rep would have to travel to the hospital to walk the halls and make sure the doors and hallways were wide enough. We also would check the water and power supplies to ensure they met the proper criteria. Because it wasn’t technically challenging work, I thought we could get the Sales Reps, who were in the accounts almost weekly, to do it. This would save the extra travel expense and free Service up to take care of down equipment. We would need to train the Sales Reps on all aspects of the pre-site. Even how to test the power outlet, requiring them to stick a probe into the socket, which most of them absolutely didn’t want any part of. 

The bigger problem was getting the Sales Teams to get on board. They didn’t see this type of work as something they should get involved with. They were Sales and this had always been a Service activity.

The new Regional Service and Sales Managers were the sponsors, which meant they would be involved in the kickoff meeting that was held in the Omaha District. Fortunately for me, in my preparation to earn my degree, I just took a class on presentation skills. Up to that point, I had never given a formal presentation with that much on the line. In class it was for a grade; for Abbott it was a promotion. The presentation class had prepared me well. During the presentation in Omaha, I could sense it was going very well. 

The competition was strong for the Field Service Manager jobs. My interview with the RSM seemed to go okay. I was surprised when she called to offer me the job. Then she told me, "I had no idea you could move people the way you did back in Omaha.” She went on to say, “You have the leadership ability to move people in a direction they initially don’t want to go.” 

I’ve been given many opportunities to improve my presentation/speaking skills over the years. I think the reason for my success is that I connect with people at every level from the C suite to the front lines.

These same skills gave me the ability to close the largest deal in Runzheimer history. Speaking is another area where my passion met my purpose, as demonstrated in the results I’m able to get from a team or moving prospects through the buying process.

You could say it was luck that landed my first leadership position. Seneca would agree, as he said “luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.” The fact that I was spending nights and weekends in preparation to earn my degree as the opportunity of having the hiring manager in the audience when I presented was luck.

Concrete Life Lessons.

My early career moves were from mowing yards to bagging groceries to driving a tractor to working in a gas station to pouring concrete. Looking back, I learned the most from pouring concrete. 

I was the only one in my family of five kids to go on to postsecondary education directly out of high school. While I thought about college, knowing that I had to pay my way, I decided to go to a two year Vo-Tech school to be an Electronic Tech. Of the jobs I had to that point, fixing cars was the one that paid well and I enjoyed the most, so I could see myself as a TV Repairman. 

I left Macksville for Salina Area Vo-Tech. It was a great move on my part. I loved learning the theories of electronics and found that I was very good at breaking a problem down and repairing radios and TVs. Good enough, I won the Kansas Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) in electronics and competed at the National level both years. 

I moved to Dallas from Kansas once I graduated Vo-Tech because of my Uncle Ron, my dad's younger brother. Uncle Ron took an interest in me. He told me that I had too much potential to stay in Kansas. Uncle Ron was someone to listen to. He came from my same background to reach the C level executive suite. I always thought it important to listen closely to his advice. Just as important was to not let him down.

Soon I was a Field Service Rep traveling the Southwest fixing electronic medical diagnostic equipment in hospitals. I loved the work of problem resolution along with the customer interaction and was really good at both. 

Complete rebuild and carburetor kit. Started on the third pull. Mike Kephart

Diagnosing and resolving problems with both the customer and instrument is a skill that serves you well throughout your career. How many times will someone diagnose the symptom and not get to the true problem? An example you see often in sales is the problem of lack of first meetings. The diagnoses will often be that Reps aren't making enough calls. The real problem many times is in the message. Either the company is providing an ineffective message or the Reps aren’t doing a good job of communicating the message. Either way, increasing the number of dials doesn't necessarily lead to more meetings.

Abbott Labs hired me and we moved to Tulsa. I learned the importance of goal setting and planning along with working the plan. My plan was to become the National Field Service Rep of the year for Abbott Labs. I learned the hard way that not only is it important to build and work the plan but make changes to the plan as new challenges are presented. While I was very disappointed when I didn't win the first year, I made the necessary changes to the plan and achieved my goal the second year. This opened the door to several promotions and relocations for my family.

A few years later, I felt ready for the Field Service Manager's position, Abbott announced a new rule. You had to have a college degree to become a Manager. Time to change the plan; I started night school and earned my degree in Business Administration. I enjoy learning new things. The great part was the Minor in Leadership Studies. I believe that if you are born with leadership skills, you then have to spend your life developing those skills, and that is what I continue to do.

Abbott sent me to Atlanta as the Field Service Manager. The Atlanta District had a Manager who had been there a while, so Leadership chose me as I had demonstrated strong leadership skills and was action oriented to make changes. The Atlanta Team needed to be held accountable. While I didn't know it at the time, my leadership style was much like the "broken window theory." I took care of the small stuff which set the stage to fix the big issues. Top performers improved and flourished while under performers either accepted their plan to improve or left. Some had to be shown the door. The Atlanta District turned around and became a top performing District. 

What life lessons did I learn from pouring concrete in the hot Kansas sun? That hard work in those tough conditions gave me focus beyond anything else to study hard as studying hard was nothing compared to pouring concrete.

Sabbatical of a Lifetime

Another calm clear morning on the golf course.

To start my new sales career, I took a Pharmaceutical Sales position with Abbott. This was the first big mistake I made in my development. Not only did I not like 15 second commercials, I became one. 

One day as I waited to call on a doctor, I read an article about a woman who was sitting in her office at Hallmark Cards feeling much the same way as I was when she decided to become a Golf Course Superintendent. That day I decided to do the same in 15 years once my daughters were raised and through college.

When the time came to execute my plan, I spent a year talking to those in the industry. I realized that the golf bubble had popped with the housing bubble. It would take me too long to make the Superintendent level but could take a year sabbatical to experience my dream. My lifetime passion in turf-grass met the opportunity, and in June of 2014, I went to work on a golf course. 

It was a goal oriented working sabbatical. While I enjoy golf, my real passion is the turf and working on my yard. The goals I set were to work on a premier golf course while it was hosting a major golf tournament and where the Superintendent is highly regarded in the industry. My desire was to become proficient at every job and piece of equipment. To increase my knowledge, I would study turf-grass management. All of these goals were accomplished by working at the Atlanta Athletic Club during the USGA 2014 US Amateur under Ken Mangum and obtaining a certification in turf-grass management.

Practical learning on the golf course. How to catch a mole by hand. Mike Kephart

While I had years of practical experience working in my yard, I increase my knowledge by getting a Principles of Turf-grass Management Certification through UGA's Center for Continuing Education. I also spent many hours pulling studies from the Internet to expand on what I learned through the UGA program or the work I was doing on the golf course. Then there was the extended practical learning like how to capture a mole by hand to calibrating a chemical sprayer.

About half way through my sabbatical, a friend asked me if I still work as hard in the yard as I once did? My response was that I now work harder in my yard. The way I see it is this confirms turf-grass is one of my passions, and with all I have learned, I'm more confident in what needs to be done.

Beyond the mental and physical improvements, I became very focused and sure of my higher purpose. My higher purpose is to use my strong leadership and managerial skills to develop, and therefore, improve the performance of a sales team by developing those young professionals.

Mowing Yards Sent Me to President's Club

Growing up in Macksville, Kansas, a small town in the central part of the State, my dad taught me that if I wanted something, I would have to work for it. His thinking was that if you worked and bought things with your own money, you would take better care. Well, I wanted a bike.

I was too young to work for a farmer, so I started mowing yards for the widowed women in town. Once I pushed the mower to the customer's house, she would call my dad to have him come by and start the mower. While I would pull and pull to try to start it myself, more times than not dad would be the one to get it started. Once mowing, I enjoyed the process of going back and forth seeing the results of my work, a freshly mowed green yard.

At fourteen, I felt like I stepped into manhood when I started working for a farmer. While driving a tractor pulling a plow is the same process as mowing a yard, going back and forth, seeing freshly turned dirt didn't give me the same sense of joy.

One year, the farmer I worked for, Mr. Locke, Alvin to the other farmers, decided to redo his yard. Alvin was different than the other farmers in that he lived in town, didn't inherit his farm, and while married to Goldie, yes Goldie Locke, they didn't have children. I remember as if it were yesterday the process of getting the yard ready to plant grass seed. Then there was that sheer amazement as the grass began to germinate. I thought it odd that wheat seed germinating never gave me the same sense of awe.

Our first house increased my interest in turf-grass. It wasn't long before I had the yard of the month. People would actually stop as they walked by our home to touch the grass. Over the years as we moved to different houses, I enjoyed the challenge of getting the yard into shape. I realized that the process of improving a yard was much the same as improving the performance of an underperforming team.

Working with turf-grass has some commonality with both leading teams and sales. When I moved, I could have the house painted in a day to make it look new. However, the yard could take up to a year or more to turn around.

Humans are more like grass. Time is needed to develop and improve. We aren't like a house where we can be changed overnight. Ineffective habits ingrained over the years take time to unwind.

We had a house where the builder sodded the front yard while seeding the back. The front yard was up to standards in no time. However, the back took more time and work. While I would have preferred to spend time enjoying the front yard, most of my time was spent getting the back yard into shape. The seeded grass in the backyard wasn't a fit for the environment. I decided that the grass in the backyard needed to be replaced.

My point is that if you are an under performer, we were going to spend more time together, and if you aren't willing to develop and make changes, then it is likely you are not a fit for the organization.

Turf-grass has also taught me to be an effective Sales Rep. To be successful and have a nice yard, you have to be proactive. There are herbicide applications that need to be applied up to six months in advance. You have to spend money and do the work in the hope of getting the results you want months later. This type of work is easy to procrastinate.

For a Sales Rep to be successful, he has to be making contact into accounts months in advance of the decision to buy. While it would be easy to procrastinate and work in the moment, effective Sales Reps are those who push through and work the plan to ensure year-over-year growth.

Disappointment after another ice storm.

Turf-grass also teaches you to overcome obstacles. There will be times that, no matter what you do, you don’t get the results you want or expect. Drought, pest or ice storms will cause you to rethink your strategy. You may feel like giving up. However, like successful Sales Reps, you never give up but continue to work through the issues and rethink the plan to get the results you want. Some of the deals I closed took several years. While there were times I thought about giving up, I didn’t. Larger deals come with the biggest obstacles to overcome. Likewise, they are the deals that send you to President's Club.

Back in Macksville, I did get that bike. It was a green stingray. My dad was right. Because I worked for the money to buy it, I took very good care and it lasted a long time. The freedom I felt riding that bike is the same freedom I feel today when working in my yard.