11/12/2010

SalesGiants interviews Ken Thoreson, Your Sales Management Guru

Ken Thoreson,
Your Sales Management Guru

Ken Thoreson is a sales leadership and sales management guidance speaker, consultant, author and executionist. He's also Your Sales Management Guru!

1) Ken, what kind of customers do you usually work with and how do you help them exactly?

During our 13 years of consulting, Acumen Management Group has worked with hundreds of  B2B clients; they have been in early stage to high growth to turnaround situations.

Specifically we assist our clients in building a business and sales strategy with a focus on execution. We like to say we operationalize the business strategies. Our belief is to build a prescriptive approach to the strategic sales management aspects of an organization rather than allowing opportunistic or ad hoc systems and operations to exist. 

We focus on the tough job of sales management; hiring/recruiting top talent, building sales compensations plans that drive results, creating management systems to help build predictable revenue, teaching leadership/management skills and building a culture of high performance. We use our experience, our process, and tool set to make a difference in our clients business and personal lives.

2) In a short sentence, what companies should be interested in your consulting services? 

Our ideal client companies are frustrated in not achieving predictable revenues, are not winning market share or are growing so rapidly they cannot build the infrastructure  necessary to support their sales channel.

The other level of companies we serve are major vendors that use independent dealers, VARS, resellers to go to market. We create Partner Facing programs to assist the vendor companies in building a stronger channel organizations, increasing loyalty and partner profitability. Our clients in this segment are Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Ingram, TechData, etc.

3) On the other hand, who shouldn’t? What will companies NOT find in Acumen?

Acumen is not a marketing or lead generation firm and we are not a sales training organization, we have a close eco-system partnership with firms that can perform those services.  We focus typically on the weak link in most firms, the sales management function.

4) Besides your website (http://yoursalesmanagementguru.com/), what other sales websites would you recommend? 

Acumen’s main web site: www.AcumenManagement.com offers :

  • a White Paper on the Job of Sales Management: the 40 actions sales management must do to build predictable revenue,
  • free assessments on sales management, sales compensation and your overall business operations,
  • free video’s on hiring salespeople,
  • free video on building sales  training programs and on-boarding new hires as well, 
  • radio interviews on several topics related to sales management and leadership.


We also have a complete list of free articles on general sales management topics and 5 hours of Sales Management training on DVD’s and our Interactive Sales Managers’ Tool Kit.

5) How about your preferred sales/business books?

For salespeople: I have been recommending Jill Konrath’s latest book: SNAP Selling.  Obviously our recently published books from our “Your Sales Management Guru” brand have been well received, they are The Sales Management Guru’s Guide to Hiring a High Performance Sales Team, The Sales Management Guru’s Guide to Sales Management and the Sales Management Guru’s Guide to Build Sale Compensation Plans. They are packed with great practical insights and tools for sales leaders. 

SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today's Frazzled Customers

About you:

6) How did you get started in sales?

Right out of college, I was hired by Burroughs Corporation, in the computer business and in those day’s they had a great sales training program. Extremely thorough and it set the basis for everything I have done. I then worked for a small independent entreprenurial organization as a sales manager and VP of Sales.  From there I became a VP of Sales for a North American based vertical software organization that sold our solutions through a network of channel partners. Those two experiences gave me a basis for understanding small business as well as more complex aspects of sales leadership.

7) Most memorable sale? 

There are quite a few, but one that sticks out was  a nearly a million dollar order from a major corporation, I was told I had the order on Friday morning, I offered to pick it up, but the client told me he would mail it to me, he was located about 45 minutes to an hour away from my office..  The man died over the weekend from an heart attack and in the transition a merger took place and I never received the PO!... A lesson learned! PICK UP THE ORDER and stay  with it. I was fairly young and what a difference that would have made... but it taught me an important lesson.

8) Most disastrous sale (or funny situation)?

I recall as a sales manager helping a young rep at the end of December, the rep had been told the PO was done, and on her prospects desk. In calling the prospect we learned from his voice mail, the “buyer” had left for the holidays.   We took a lesson from an old movie” All The Presidents’ Men”, we started dialing all the phone numbers that had similar phone numbers to our buyer.  Finally someone picked up the phone; we sold him on walking over to this person’s desk and finding the PO and faxing it to us!  That order put the young sales rep over her quota for the year!  Everyone felt good and I felt great because we didn’t quit, we were creative and it worked!
                       

 About your work as a sales expert:
  
9) What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales expert? 

Our work as a sales management consultant puts us in a position to see many mistakes made by owners or sales managers. The number one mistakes however  is simply a lack of focus on hiring. We do not see a systematic approach to “Hiring the best-not the best available”. A sales manager should  spend 20% of their time in hiring, interviewing and on boarding properly.  With great people, great things happen. We like to say that for each hire, you need to interview a minimum of 5 individuals and you should be advertising for talent at all times-consider it your marketing campaign for building your company.

A Sales Management Guru hint: the great salespeople may not be looking when you are, so you must always be interviewing. Our book provides many tips and tools to improve your odds in hiring. Remember if you lose a salesperson, it could take you 90 days to find their replacement and another 90 days for them to build their sales pipeline-that is 180 days or 6 months without their revenues adding to your quota goals-that is why the life span of most sales managers is less than 18 months.

10) What is the best sales advice you have ever received?

Two that I recall:

“You must know the difference between presenting and selling”. 
“The 3 laws of selling: emotion, emotion, emotion. You must have it, you must transfer it and you must have the prospect ready to take action based upon it.”
  
11) What are you working on right now that makes you feel energized? What's your next big project?

Well, with 4 books being published and my consulting practice in good shape and our Sales Leadership Workouts organized  (workshops) , the next big action item is our motivational  Keynote programs where I share my experiences, but also the concepts of creating both personal and professional success.  I call it “No Regret’s, a Do-over Recipe for Personal and Professional success. It ties in with my Sales Management consulting, my life experiences, my love of cooking along with solid idea’s to help others find success. In one of my new books, that I co-authored with Stephen Covey; Success Simplified I highlight how to Create a Menu for Life.
  
12) What is the best testimonial/comment you have ever received? 

Great question: thinking back on our many comments and the quotes from our website, it might be: "If I were to condense my opinion of the value received from you over the years into one thought it would be that you provide detail upon detail in our conversations – not abstract theory but practical, useable information

13) Any last comments?

The role of sales management is tough. You report to the President, you must work with your peer group of other managers and you must lead your  team! Everyone in the company knows who you are and how well you are performing. It takes work, a positive attitude and insight.  Our newsletter might be of value to your readers: “Why Sales Managers Succeed”, each month I focus on the Personal, Professional and Organizational aspects of sales leaderships. They can  subscribe (free) at our website, www.AcumenManagement.com

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To know more about Ken Thoreson and Acumen Management, please visite www.AcumenManagement.com or his blog http://www.yoursalesmanagementguru.com

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