According to Wikipedia, a best practice is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc., when applied to a particular condition or circumstance. The idea is that, with proper processes, checks and testing, you can achieve a desired outcome with fewer problems and unforeseen complications.

A best practice can also be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on repeatable procedures proven over time for large numbers of people.

Benchmarks and best practices

At The Friedman Group, we use a term called the "rail" (as in railroad tracks) to gain an understanding of fixed benchmarks for performance or behaviour. One rail is all about sales metrics; the other is about behavioural standards.

The track starts at Point A and travels along a fixed route to Point B. Ties keep the rails in place. These ties are steps all along the way.

Here's a simple example: Your salesperson opens a sale, continues selling and closes the sale, and you have a happy customer. If these are the steps you want your salespeople to follow, you could call this a process. And if you're certain this is the very best way to achieve the desired results, you could, in fact, call it a best practice.

Let's take this example a bit further and say that opening lines when approaching customers must follow three hard rail rules.* These opening lines:

1. Have nothing to do with business.

2. Include a question to initiate a conversation.

3. Are different enough to continue a conversation.

OK, Friedman fans, I get it. Old stuff. Really??? Then, here's a question for you: How do the three rules above apply to best practices? They are best practices, but there's more. We have the approach, assessment, takeaway, verbal contract, etc. Best practices? You bet, all of them.

Let's go nuts. Let's talk about probing. The idea here is that your salespeople ask customers some questions about their hopes before they show them the goods. First-grade stuff for sure. So, let's upgrade to open-ended questions. We're on a roll. Let's upgrade again to open-ended questions with supportive responses. Oh, yeah. Best practices, period.

Best practices, selling and you

Imagine you're gazing at your selling floor. You see "Johnny." He's the one who can't seem to even get e-mail addresses from customers. Where are the best practices that would help him with this simple task -- and much, much more?

Salesmanship at a high-performance level doesn't just happen; it's a profession, one that requires hard work by the salesperson and proper guidance from management, i.e., best practices. But don't consider the person behind the counter at Subway or The Warehouse as practicing high-performance selling. These are not high-performance stores.

How can you determine whether you have a high-performance staff? Try this: Take your highest range of sales by your better salespeople and subtract the lowest range of sales by your poorer salespeople. Take that dollar amount and multiply it by how many salespeople you have -- and voilà! you have the amount of money left on the table.

That dollar amount represents missed sales. Want more sales? Give your salespeople the guidance they need to become high-performing professionals. Get some best practices in place, whether you build them yourself or have to buy or borrow them.

You'll see high performance pays for itself very quickly. And when you start getting better at what you do to make sales, I'll have no desire to write about you in a smirking kind of way. Enough said.

*From The Friedman Group's "Gold Star Selling Course."

by Harry Friedman