Research Sets High Water Performance Mark for Sales Operations

In a research report entitled, "Understanding What Your Sales Manager Is Up Against", published by the Harvard Business Review, critical insight was provided regarding the benefits achieved when executives manage their sales operation top-down to a sales and sales management methodology supported by CRM.

The researchers categorized companies into four levels based on varying degrees of process utilization. The four levels were:

1. Organizations who lack a standard process,

2. Organizations who have adopted a process but don't manage to it,

3. Organizations who manage to a process but only monitor backward looking data, and are unable to effectively adapt to changing conditions,

4. Organizations who dynamically monitor and provide feedback on the use of their standard process, and are able to adapt rapidly to changing conditions.

The researchers found that Level 1 - Level 3 organizations were the norm and were significantly outperformed by their Level 4 competitors. They reported the following comparative metrics:

· Accurately targeting prospects: Level 4 performed 75% better,

· Properly qualifying leads: Level 4 performed 110% better,

· Effective presentation of benefits: Level 4 performed 61% better,

· Effectively cross selling and up selling: Level 4 performed 185% better,

· Sell value and avoid excessive discounting: Level 4 performed 143% better,

· Effectively introducing new products: Level 4 performed 103% better.

Adventace SMS™: New Release. New Video.

We are pleased to announce our new release of the Adventace SMS™ application!

Watch the video on YouTube by clicking on this link Adventace SMS Video

Take a closer look at the application on the Salesforce.com AppExchange by clicking on this link Adventace SMS on the AppExchange

"Blended Learning" Produces Awesome Results!

Blended learning is training that combines traditional face-to-face classroom training with other key methods.  Those methods can include computer-mediated activities, simulations, business games, “social learning”, and post-classroom field learning.

The combination can produce awesome results! 

Adventace® Blended Learning Methodology™

We have worked with these methods over the past several years and use them as integral components of an overall design in our sales training programs.  We have found that they help produce a better overall learning experience that drives metric-based performance improvement.  A summary of our methodology is shown below. 

Online Learning

We utilize online Distance Learning Modules (DLM) to facilitate classroom learning and minimize out-of-field time and expense.  DLM’s are designed to facilitate the “education” component of an overall training experience and improve subsequent classroom learning.  DLM’s are designed to maximize educational effectiveness.   Individual DLM’s are commonly designed to require students to pass a test before proceeding to the next DLM, and then pass an overall test before moving on to classroom learning.

Classroom Learning

In addition to facilitator-lead discussion, deep learning and the ability to execute effectively in the field can be achieved through a variety of blended learning methods in the classroom, including business games, simulation, and social learning.

Business Games, Simulation, and Social Learning

Business games provide significant benefit to helping sales people develop skills as they provide the opportunity to practice, build, and demonstrate new knowledge and expertise.  We divide business games and simulations into two categories:  Individual and Team.

Individual business games are an adjunct to simulation role-plays, and award individual participants for exemplary execution of a particular skill.  Examples of awards are shown below:

At the team level, students participate in a competitive team case study, called the Proposal Review.  It is a “closing event” given to a buying committee at the end of a complex multi-product solution sale.  Although it can be nerve-wracking, it is a very exciting event where tremendous learning takes place.  And it is very competitive!  The buying committee is usually made up of the instructor and actual sales executives from the customer.  Further, the winning team usually wins a significant sum of money!

Social Learning in the Classroom

In our view, social learning is a concept that takes advantage of peoples’ ability to learn by observing and imitating the actions of others.  We conduct various exercises that take advantage of this.  Examples include:

• Modeling:  The instructor and instructor’s assistant model a skill to be practiced.
• “Speed Dating” Skill Development:  This is a technique that adds a great deal of energy and excitement to the traditional role-play.
• Star Stamp:  This is a competitive enhancement to the Socratic nature of our workshops.  This simple technique results in a great deal of communication!  Everyone wants to “get on the board” with at least one star!  Many attendees want to earn the most!

Ongoing Continuous Field Learning

The true benefits of online learning and classroom learning manifest themselves in the field, where proactive management support helps change seller behavior with metric based performance improvement over the long-term. 

Field Learning requires a committed, proactive management team.  It is an easy to execute (and essential!) 3-part process and is completely automated in our CRM, Adventace® SMS:

1. Assess the individual skills of a seller
2. Grade those skills
3. Put a Personal Development Plan™in place for the skill deemed most critical.  Personal Development Plans target metric-based performance improvement within a quarter.

It is very common to see a seller overcome a long-standing difficulty where they were rated as a level 1 performer (that is the low end in our management methodology).  And, with proactive management backed by their Personal Development Plan, achieve level 3 (that is the high end in our management methodology) in only one quarter or less.  With that is very common for the performance flood gates to open! 

The Keys to Making Your CRM a Success

“We use our CRM as an expensive contact manager and inaccurate forecasting system.”

That’s what a client of ours said after an expensive project to install a well-known CRM.  And if that sounds familiar, you are probably in good company.  Forrester Research reported that in 2009, the failure rate of CRM was 47%! 

Far and away the number one reason that businesses give for the failure of CRM is that it does not align with their business processes: The technology does not support the necessary needs of people who use it, forces people to utilize processes they do not need, and is difficult to use and time consuming, especially for sales people. The net result is that sales operations don’t get the “bang for the buck” they anticipated, nor do they achieve predicted sales goals and productivity gains.  

We believe that process comes first and technology follows.  Our approach, over the past two decades, was to develop our holistic, top-down, metric-driven methodology (i.e., a set of integrated business and sales processes), and then - through the Salesforce.com AppExchange - develop the technology that supports those processes.  In so doing, the Adventace Sales Management System (SMS) provides sales operations with an end-to-end sales management system.  It helps executives better drive their entire sales operation top-down through use of key leading performance metrics.  It helps sales managers better manage sales people and improve their skills, while running a better operation.  Its expert functions make it an indispensable differentiator and time saver for sales people, allowing them to generate key buyer deliverables in minutes while better managing their opportunities.

For Sales Executives

Using operationally critical leading performance metrics, executives are better able to drive their entire sales operation top-down.  These metrics determine the organization’s Goal Vs. Actual performance in real time.  And how’s this for proactive management:  With a simple click, executives can easily drill down into their organization to find out where group or individual performance difficulties exist, then work with management to optimize performance.  

For Sales Managers

To help managers we automated our highly touted 4 Pillars of Sales Management™.  A profile of key functions follows: 

Pipeline Management: Based on well defined, “no wiggle room” opportunity stages, SMS performs a complete pipeline analysis.  It determines a seller’s optimal pipeline goals for each stage and whether gaps exist.  It then provides a color-coded pipeline so managers can make surgical pipeline recommendations.  Forecast Management: A 30/60/90 day forecast is provided, weighted by stage.  

Skill Development: Complete skill development systems are provided to help sellers, sales managers, channel managers, and senior sales managers.  Here, managers grade an individual in each key skill related to their job function.  SMS then provides Personal Development Plans to help managers measurably improve an individual’s performance, helping to unlock their potential.

For Sales People

So, you get back from a great sales call.  You spend all sorts of frustrating time entering data into your CRM because, well, you have to.  Then, rather than spending two or three hours preparing a sell cycle control letter that you know you really need to get to your buyer, instead you decide to hit the phones.  Enter Adventace® SMS.  Now, in a matter of minutes, using our expert system interface, you click a series of selections and generate a sell cycle control letter that summarizes:

·       All key Need Development elements you and your buyer discussed

·       An Action Plan, identifying the sequence of events leading to a buy decision

·       An Impact Tree™, showing the interdependence of the issues between key buyers.

You select the appropriate email template, generate your email, and send it to your buyer, who responds with a call saying, “You understand our business better than we do!”   And you know you have made yourself their first choice!  These are the indispensable functions Adventace SMS provides sales people.  Functions sellers have called, “indispensable”. 

“Accurate Forecasting”: Is it Really an Oxymoron? (Not if You Follow This Plan)

Many sales executives would probably say that accurate forecasting is their most important responsibility. For public companies, investors and analysts look at the forecast as a barometer of future performance; confidence in the company and the stock price are impacted if actual results differ from those forecasted.  Forecasts are used by executives to properly adapt the operation to their view of the future.  Workforce expansion is one example.  The forecast is also important when it comes to making decisions about new product development and other investments. 

Yet many companies are unable to achieve on-target forecasts.  The impact can be devastating.  So how can companies turn what for many is an inaccurate art into an exact science? 

Forecasting Getting You Down?

Accurate forecasting can be realized by practicing the four key steps described below:

1.  Utilize "no wiggle room" stages to grade opportunities.  Stages must be defined that precisely grade the status of individual sales opportunities.  These stages must be unambiguous and reflect key qualitative events completed with the buying organization.  For example, "Assessed Needs" is not good enough.  "Defined needs with the Power Promoter, discussed and gained acceptance of an Action Plan, and achieved agreement to these items in a Letter of Understanding" is unambiguous, not based on seller opinion, and warrants assigning an "A" stage with a 50% probability of closing.

2.  Managers must rigorously grade opportunities, which will not only result in an accurate view of the pipeline but also an accurate forecast.  We believe that one of the key roles of the sales manager is to analyze and grade opportunities.  The objectives are to:

• Identify and rectify ambiguities, misqualifications, etc. (if not rectified, the opportunity should probably be disqualified)
• Using those no wiggle room stages, accurately grade the opportunity.

Once the manager has graded the opportunity, the result is an accurate probability of closure.  This, in turn, results in managers furnishing an accurate opportunity-based forecast (not sellers, because having sales people forecast is akin to letting the Congress balance your checkbook).

3.  Have sales people follow a well-defined sales methodology.  As it pertains to forecasting, this is particularly important when it comes to a sales person defining, managing, and controlling their sell cycles.  In fact, to do so they should employ an Action Plan, aka, a "sequence of events".  The Action Plan identifies all key steps, with anticipated dates, leading to a buy decision.  This in turn will result in an accurate close date, valuation of the opportunity, and revenue recognition.

4.  Utilize a CRM that fully supports your processes.  We have found that far too many organizations use CRM’s that force the sales operation to adapt to it instead of it optimally fitting the processes of the operation.  Importantly, based on the stages opportunities are in (and their associated probabilities of closure) and their anticipated close dates, the CRM should calculate an accurate weighted forecast.  See the example shown below.

An Accurate, Automatic, Pain-Free 90-Day Forecast

In summary, the combination of well-defined stages providing accurate win probabilities, use of Action Plans by sellers, the grading of opportunities by managers, and calculation of a weighted forecast through a process-aligned CRM results in forecasting being relatively easy, pain free, and very accurate. 

Sales Pipeline Management Part 3 - Pipeline Balance Algorithm

Sales Pipeline Setup

Recall that the Sales Pipeline tracks all qualified opportunities, i.e., those that are actively being pursued and where the seller has been able to achieve at least the first level of qualification, a Candidate, because the seller made enough progress with the prospect to get the prospect to admit their Critical Business Issue.

Shown to the left are the key Adventace opportunity stages for qualified opportunities mapped to a representative Sales Pipeline.

We believe and teach management that:

· Each Pipeline Stage provides the total number of active qualified opportunities in that stage.

· The C and the B Stages do not provide a dollar or other currency value because they cannot be determined with a sufficient degree of accuracy. At the C stage, the initial sales call has not even been completed. At the B stage, the seller has not yet gained access to the Power Promoter, nor is there yet an action plan and, therefore, the value here also cannot be determined with a sufficient degree of accuracy.

· The A Stage is a total of the A and A+ stages. We differentiate between the A and A+ stages only for forecasting purposes, not pipeline balance, because the A+ stage is simply a set of A prospects with a higher qualification level because the seller has successfully completed certain key steps in an Action Plan.

· Opportunities in the NL (Near Loss) stage should be minimized. NL’s represent a failure to properly and early on in a sell cycle to disqualify an opportunity. They typically occur when various disqualifiers are ignored by the seller, but also a failure on the part of management to exercise “tough love” and remove the “opportunity” from the pipeline. They also occur when sellers respond to RFP’s they have no business responding to. This also represents a failure on the part of management to again exercise tough love.

· We combine the NW and W because NW is a stage that many opportunities skip (because they go directly to W) or if an opportunity does go to the NW stage, it is normally a short-term interim stage on its way to a W. Thus, it is not possible or relevant to determine a NW pipeline goal.

The Pipeline Balance Algorithm (PBA

The purpose of the PBA is twofold:

1. It helps sellers maintain a continuously balanced pipeline, “24 x 7 x 365” days a year. It is designed to ensure continuous pipeline balance. In so doing, when a month, quarter, or year ends, and irrespective of whether or not the seller “made their numbers” for that period, it ensures that the seller enters each period with a fully loaded pipeline.

2. The point above ensures that quotas are being met

Here’s how the PBA works. Looking at our Sales Pipeline, the concept is that coming out of the bottom of the funnel we want a consistent number of wins with sufficient value to achieve quota (as represented by $Win).

The PBA works to ensure this via its two key components. The first component is the value (in dollars or other currency) of the A pipeline. Why the A pipeline? If you think about how we clearly defined an A prospect with a 50% probability of becoming a win, the A Pipeline becomes an excellent predictor of $Win. Therefore, managers calculate the financial value of each of their seller’s A pipeline.

The second component is the number of New Opportunities to Create (NOC) each month to achieve and maintain the $A pipeline. A NOC is achieved each time an opportunity progresses from a S to either a C (by far the most common), B, or A opportunity each month.

Then, consequently, if there is a gap in the $A pipeline managers are shown how many additional NOCs are needed for the upcoming month to alleviate the $A gap as quickly as possible. If managed closely, most can in fact be eliminated in one or potentially two months.

Note, as shown below, that this entire process (determination of the PBA, gap identification, and NOC’s to eliminate the gap) is completely automated in our Adventace SMS application.

And, by achieving his or her $A pipeline goal, sellers are able to consistently eliminate the roller coaster ride and achieve their quota.

Sales Pipeline Management Part 2 - The Framework

Lets look at the framework behind Sales Pipeline Management.  Provided in the following table are the Adventace “no wiggle room” Opportunity Stages along with their definitions.  Well-defined surgical Opportunity Stages are the critical foundation to accurate identification of the status of opportunities, Sales Pipeline Management, and forecasting.  They must reflect key events successfully completed between the seller and the buyer organization (such as access to power, identification of a Critical Business Issue and a solution, and the sequence of events leading to a buy decision).  For a detailed review of the stages please refer to our video at http://www.youtube.com/user/AdventaceGlobal.

The flow through the stages is shown in the following diagram.  The T stage involves planning for prospecting, while the S stage reflects the identification of near-term prospects the seller will call.  But opportunities at the C stage represent QUALIFIED OPPORTUNITIES that represent the first stage to be included in the Sales Pipeline.  It is qualified due to the fact that the seller has been able to get the buyer to admit a Critical Business Issue.  Note that a C opportunity ultimately leads to an A opportunity.  The A opportunity is very important because the seller now has a Power Promoter who has agreed to an Action Plan.  A opportunities and, in summary, the A pipeline, are an excellent predictor of win probability (at least 50%) and are thus key in terms of predicting revenue goals and quota achievement.  As we will demonstrate, the value of the A pipeline provides a key metric for assessing pipeline health.  It is also a key to accurate forecasting. 

But note that there are two paths a seller can take to reach the A stage.  We can go directly from C to A, or take the path C to B to A.  Very importantly, we DO NOT want to take the latter, through the B prospect, because this is where sellers get stuck “below the power line”.  And, as we previously explained, this is why many sellers, and ultimately sales operations, fail to achieve their overall goals.  Thus, the B Stage should be minimized.  So it is important for executives and managers to make sure that organizationally they are following the correct processes and metrics to take that direct route.  For a deeper look at this please take a look at our video on performance metrics.


In Part 3 we will demonstrate how to do Sales Pipeline Management through use of a Pipeline Balance Algorithm.  Stay tuned!

Sales Pipeline Management Part 1 - Introduction

Not atypically, if you take a look at a seller’s - and consequently an organization’s - revenue over the course of a year you will see peaks at the end of each quarter with a substantial peak at the end of the 4th quarter. This is commonly referred to as a roller coaster ride - which is very much in line with stress levels in the sales operation.

This is, of course, due to the fact that sellers are trying to do everything they can to achieve quarterly and annual quota objectives, including unnatural acts to close business prematurely.

And, unfortunately, at the start of each new quarter, and especially the new year, pipelines are barren and people are therefore doomed to repeat this pattern.

Sales pipeline management will resolve these and other related issues. The purpose of this post is to define what we mean by Sales Pipeline Management, provide the framework for an effective sales pipeline and illustrate its setup, and demonstrate pipeline management by using a Pipeline Balance Algorithm.

Definitions

The Sales Pipeline summarizes by stage all qualified opportunities that are actively being pursued. It is usually depicted as a funnel. Qualified opportunities include those from the earliest stage of qualification (“Candidates”, where a seller has conducted a partial sales call and where the buyer has, at minimum, admitted a Critical Business Issue, with a 10% probability of closure) to opportunities that are imminent (“Near Wins with a 90% probability of closure) and recent “Wins”.

The forecast, as opposed to the Sales Pipeline, focuses on near to mid term revenue projections. It includes opportunities that have anticipated close dates that will occur in the near term (next 90 days) to mid and potentially long term (beyond three months).

As opposed to the forecast, the Sales Pipeline looks at the broader opportunity set and includes opportunities that are nascent and too early to forecast. It is normally independent of opportunity close dates and instead focuses on opportunities by stage. As such, for individual sales people, their managers, and executives it gives a picture of anticipated overall future business. And, when matched against sales pipeline goals:

· Provides an important view of both the health of the pipeline and the health of the business,

· Identifies where gaps exist, and

· Gives management the ability to take corrective actions early.

Sales Pipeline Management is the process of:

· Establishing pipeline balance expectations/requirements,

· Monitoring and assessing pipelines against those expectations for both quantity and quality,

· Identifying gaps, and

· Putting in place highly specific plans to rapidly achieve balance where gaps exist.

In Part 2 of Sales Pipeline Management we will provide the framework for an effective sales pipeline and demonstrate pipeline management through use of a Pipeline Balance Algorithm. Stay tuned!

10 Steps to Create the High Performance Sales Environment®

There has been extensive work over the past ten years by a number of business research organizations into the nature of effective ‘business to business’ buyer/seller relationships.

One such organisation, HR Chally, concludes that in the B-2-B business environment the survival of many businesses will be determined by the quality of their sales operations. The primary role of the sales person has evolved from day-to-day transaction management and specialised technical support to Customer Business Consultant.

As a Customer Business Consultant sales people must:

• Understand their customer’s business
• Elevate their points of contact beyond the customer’s purchasing, technical or administrative personal to the executive level
• Add measurable value to the customer’s business results.

So how do we achieve this? Here are the 10 ‘how to’ steps to Create the High Performance Sales Environment®, for sales, sales management, channel management, and executives.

Sales

1. Base your sales approach on an understanding of how buyers buy. There is a logical flow to the thinking process buyers typically follow. Successful sales people understand this buying process and align their efforts to helping buyers make intelligent purchasing decisions.

2. Generate a repeatable sales process across the organisation. Developing a sales process built on an understanding of how buyers buy gives focus to the efforts of the sales team and their managers. Control over the sales process leads to improved sales effectiveness, higher revenue streams and forecasting accuracy.

3. Sell solutions not products. Effective sales teams differentiate themselves by how they sell as much as what they sell. Buyers are looking for sales people they can trust, who work to understand them and their business issues before prescribing their products as ‘solutions’. Effective sales people gain early access to the real business drivers behind the buying activity.

4. Gain access to high-level business decision-makers. Business decision-makers often delegate the research and initial selection of potential vendors to their purchasing, technical or administrative departments. Working at these delegated lower levels can leave the inexperienced sales person exposed to buying criteria they have no understanding of, or influence over. The ‘technical recommendation’ is no guarantee of success.

5. Influence the buyer’s decision-making criteria. By gaining early access to decision makers the sales person can, acting as a ‘Business Consultant’, help buyers diagnose their needs and influence the buying criteria to their own advantage. Even within a formal competitive tender environment early access to decision makers can shape the ITT/RFP in the seller’s favour.

6. Understand and control the buyer’s buying process. Just as projects without a plan never finish, buying processes with no control can run from one monthly forecast to the next. Successful sales professionals gain access to power decision-makers, understand their buying processes and direct the buyer’s steps towards a good and speedy buying decision.

Sales Management

7. Sales Managers. Sales Management is key. Sales professionals do not do what you tell them ... they do what their managers supervise them to do. Good sales managers:

• Support their sales people in key opportunities thereby driving the sales process to meet sales targets.

• Manage the sales process and pipeline to produce reliable and accurate forecasts.

• Develop the skills of their sales people to continually improve their ability to sell successfully.
 
• Continually work to improve the overall efficiency of the sales process.

• Monitor and manage sales results through a dedicated and focused dashboard of key sales metrics.

Channel Management

8. Proactive Channel Management. Not all channels to market are through a direct sales force. Successful organisations proactively manage the diverse channels to market by optimising the organisation’s portfolio of partners, engaging new partners as necessary, managing and tracking partner performance as well as supporting their efforts to win new business.

Executives

9. Manage the entire organisation to provide support to the sales effort To maximise the effectiveness of the organisation’s sales efforts, every part of the organisation needs to align its efforts and processes. How can sales people effectively sell if one hand is spent fighting colleagues internally?

10. Executive Direction and Control. Senior Executive level Sales Management needs to drive the sales organisation top down through reliable metrics and proactive executive reviews. Sales Managers must do the same through focussed metrics and the same proactive management reviews. A top down synergy focuses the entire organisation and sales effort to Create the High Performance Sales Environment™.

THE Key Performance Metric: A/B Ratio. Part 3: How to Achieve Success!

In parts 1 and 2 of our discussion we explained the importance of calling above Vs. below the Power Line.  And, as measured by the A/B Ratio, we looked at the significant performance impact the Ratio measures.  


In this final post on the A/B Ratio we will identify the three key integrated programs, between Sales Executives, Sales Managers, and Sellers, that can result in the sales operation achieving "Best in Class" A/B Ratios of about 6 to 1:


Sales Executives

• Using a Performance Metrics Dashboard, executives should monitor and drive the operation top-down towards improving their organization’s A/B Ratio.   This includes "drilling down" the organization to discover where gaps exist in Actual Vs. Goal performance against the Ratio.
• Where gaps are identified, Executives must proactively work with the management team to make sure the appropriate skill development program is put in place for under performers.
• Executives should align compensation plans with metric based performance improvement expectations for both managers and sellers.

Managers

• Using the "Skill Development plan for Sales Call Qualification", managers should carefully work with sellers to improve their ability to qualify during the sales call.
• Using the Sales Call Script, frequent role-playing of the qualification portion of the sales call (steps 5-8) is an essential component of the plan.

Sellers

• Prospecting Above the Power Line!  Too many sales people call low and stay low.  Sellers should review their prospect list with managers to ensure they are calling at and at least one level above the power line.
• Sellers must also exercise assertive qualification on sales calls to determine if they are below the power line and, if below, negotiate to gain access to power.

So by following this integrated plan an organization can achieve tremendous results, not just in an improved A/B Ratio, but in many more wins, dramatically improved pipelines, and a huge impact on individual careers and ultimately the entire sales organization.

THE Key Performance Metric: A/B Ratio. Part 2: Managerial Impact

In part 1 of our discussion on the A/B Ratio, we defined what we mean by calling on buyers "Above the Power Line" Vs. "Below the Power Line".  In part 2 of this post we will now review performance against the A/B Ratio and its impact on the sales operation.  


We call an opportunity where the seller has gained access to buyers above the power line an “A” opportunity.  We call an opportunity where the seller is below the power line a “B” opportunity.  And, therefore, the key performance metric is, simply, the A/B Ratio.  It measures an individual seller’s ability to qualify buyers by gaining access to power. Importantly, as you move up the chain of command, it becomes THE key metric to measure the effectiveness of an entire sales operation, from sellers, through managers and right up to the VP of Sales.

Referring to the table below, here is what we have found.  Until managed effectively, most sales people start out at a rather deplorable ratio of 1/8.  In other words, for every opportunity above the power line, sellers work on 8 below.  And here’s a very sobering fact.  Over the years we’ve worked with our clients to determine how much time sales people waste below the power line, selling to people who cannot buy.  At an A/B Ratio of 1/8, our clients have found that sellers waste 40% of their time - 2 days per week - dealing with people at the wrong power level.  Think of the impact this has on the entire sales organization!

But, if management follows the plan we will outline in our last post on this subject, they can help their individual sellers and the entire operation achieve a 1/1 ratio after only one quarter.  After two quarters, they can achieve a ratio of approximately 4/1.  And, after only three quarters, they can achieve an industry “Best in Class” steady state of approximately 6/1!

And how can "Best in Class" A/B Ratios be achieved?  In our upcoming post we will outline the integrated plan that Executives, Sales Managers, and Sellers should follow.