Sales Success Is Not Only Reflected By Figures

Perfect component parts can only be combined to produce a perfect product if all of the organisations employees participating in manufacturing are willing to ensure smooth co-operation between themselves. This willingness and co-operation cannot be written down in percentage figures or in pound notes and it cannot be ordered from any kind of supplier. It does not appear in any company annual report either. Similar un-quantifiable factors are also increasingly determining selling results - to the same extent as traditional statistics such as price, delivery time, etc. What can be done to perform competitively in this area? This sales training article provides answers to this question.

Make patience a virtue again. Sales goals are often short-term results and increase turnover today rather than tomorrow. The consequences of this approach are:

Reports reflect the figures and statistics relevant to the reporting period, but ignore client development and the positive results of "support expenditure".

Seeking to extend turnover is often misinterpreted as seeking to acquire new clients: but this costs five times more than it does to nurture your existing client base.

Seeking to attain short-term turnover goals impairs the ability, both on the part of the sales department and the client, to think and act on a long-term basis.

There is no room for innovation if salespeople try and attain their targets in as streamlined a fashion as possible, due to bureaucracy and official channels.

Those who spend their time dealing with clients need to have good ideas and new ways open to them. Try not to put too many obstacles in their path or bombard them with an overabundance of ineffective forms.

Everyone needs to pull together and in the same direction. At the end of the day this is an information problem and a question of awareness. A common sales training session can help. If everyone is aware of the central issues affecting the company, its corporate goals, and the competitive climate, motivation will no longer be a large obstacle to overcome.

In-house communication is the cornerstone of establishing trust and being successful. Studies show that: More than 40% of company employees complain that they get too little information and the little they do get arrives too late. The form and arrangement of information must satisfy the needs of those receiving it. If the requisite information has to be wrested from a large volume of other information, the person receiving the information is often happier to go without.

Here are a few tips on creating an efficient information culture:

Eliminate the obstacles that prevent the distribution of important information.

When distributing important information, do not wait until it is in a nicely printed, presentable package.

Give every salesperson the requisite information so they can act on it immediately.

When distributing important information outside your company - irrespective of who issues it, make sure that your company appears to be speaking in one voice.

In many branches of trade and industry, technical quality and product form are offering fewer opportunities of distinguishing yourself from your main competitors. The way round this is to define and develop your client relations in the long term.

Set up ad hoc project teams for larger or more complex sales cases, which are disbanded on completion.

Eliminate unnecessary admin tasks, which waste time and energy without actually helping salespeople. Strive to create a climate of trust and reliability based on the "I'm okay - you're okay" school of thought. Open exchanges of information contribute a great deal to the establishment of trust.

Too many sales managers have the fatal tendency of ignoring facts that are not contained in the annual report with corresponding figures attached to them. Sales success depends not only on how much sales training you provide to the sales force, but also to the amount of effort you put in to addressing the above key points.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com