Sales Performance Strategy to Empower the Sales Force

Companies in the 21st century, that are facing sales performance challenges, asks themselves

Why the market is becoming so hard to reach? .Why closing clients is taken so much time? Is it the sales performance, is it our marketing strategy?

As per the last Harvard Business Review study, January February 2013 issue professor Richard Ettenson, after a study involving 500 managers and customers in multiple countries across a wide B2B industries, showed that that we need to reinterpret the 4p’s.

The rules of the game have changed and we are talking more about:

Selling solutions than selling our product service features

1.Value of the solution that we are offering to our leads than focusing and negotiating the prices.

2.In a way improving the sales performance of the sales force while implementing the consultative sales approach.

Now that client’s behaviors towards buying have changed

The hardest thing about selling today is that customers don’t need you the way they used to because:

1.They are informed i.e. they are a click away from Google,

2.They have access to any information they are searching for through blogs articles, free webinars etc…

3.And in some cases we face extremely competent procurement teams or consultants armed enough with data to define solutions for themselves when we are approaching multinational companies.

Unfortunately we can still see the majority of the sales performance of organizations weakening by a sales force not prepared to face such changes and still trying to sell as sales representatives using the consultative sales techniques.

Selling Styles

The higher up the scale the rep establishes as a base for the relationship, the greater value added to the customer experience.
– On the lower end, the salesperson relies on rapport to carry the day, adding very little to the customer.
– At the other end of the spectrum, the salesperson establishes him-self as a Trusted Adviser, using the consultative sales and  adding a significant value to the potential customers.

The act of building mutually rewarding relationships with customers, applying consultative sales techniques where sales people can help them solve their problems, achieve their goals, and maximize profitability while buying your products and services.

Remember

Now that we pinpoint the Crucial need to:

1. adapt our marketing mix
2. take our sales people selling approach to a consultative sales approach

After a study done over half a million sales people, statistical figures showed that:

-85% of sales teams do not have a formal sales process

-45% of sales managers struggle to manage effectively

We have to identify the sales force weakness and establish a long term sales development plan because Sales Training workshops returns on sales performance will last a maximum 3 months while a sustainable sales development strategy can lead to an increase of a minimum of 10% in sales.

Now that we all agree that Organizations have an urgent need to:

1.Adapt a new marketing mix approach to gain market share
2.Train and educated its sales force to a new selling solution approach.

Whether you need to

1.accelerate your growth,
2. reverse flat or declining sales,
3. reduce your cost of sales,
4. hire a key sales executive, or a VP of sales
5. change your sales model,
6. Or implement an efficient sales process

You will need to ask the right questions to identify the real issues you are facing and provide a comprehensive solution tailor made to your need

Then you will be able to take your sales force from an Order takers level to a Money maker’s level