business | tips and techniques The four crucial habits of successful salespeople, part 2 Success depends on both salespeople and proactive management. by James Auerbach T he R-S-P-F Sales Formula™ focuses on four measurable and repeatable habits, traits and processes that all salespeople must be proicient in, and that all sales leaders must monitor closely. Part One of this series outlined the irst two crucial habits: Research and Scheduling. But that is only part of the equation that differentiates salespeople who are consistently exceeding goals from everyone else. Equally important is mastering the inal two habits: Presentation and Follow-Up. Ground rules reminder Many sales leaders focus only on " the numbers. " They never look beyond a few key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify where salespeople are struggling and how to help them improve. Unfortunately, this often leads to salespeople being replaced or put on performance improvement plans (PIPs) based solely on sales metrics reports. While quotas are important, they present only a partial picture of why a salesperson is successful or underperforming. The long-term health of your business depends on understanding how to train and develop each member of your team into a successful contributor. Editor's Note: This is Part Two of a two-part series by the author. Part One appeared in the August/September issue. 38 intents oct-nov 2022 Habit Three: Presentation Treat any objections as requests for further information. I regularly ask sales leaders when they last went out on sales calls with their veteran team members. The response is often " not recently " or worse, " never. " How can this be? What could take precedence over ongoing ield training that coaches sales teams how to present in the most eficient way possible to increase positive results? The answer: sales leaders are too busy onboarding new salespeople to get them producing quickly to focus on anything else. But neglecting ongoing coaching only leads to an endless loop of replacing underperforming salespeople (and missed sales goals for the organization). Pandemic-related restrictions in the past two years drove substantial revenue drops in industries like special events, hospitality and others. This resulted in high employee turnover for many employers. Top-performing salespeople left to ind stable sources of income elsewhere, and new employees became " veterans " overnight. Sales leaders had no choice but to put all their efforts into sourcing and training new hires. Adapt and change Social distancing and lingering concerns about the pandemic will remain for many years. The consequences of the pandemic have forced many sales leaders to reevaluate how they train their salespeople to work with potential customers who expect information delivered differently than in the past.