by Stephen Waterhouse
It's not the economy; it's the company that makes the difference.
Last year I was reminded of an important truth: there is always someone who knows how to make a profit in any given economic condition. We saw an increase in the number of mid-size companies that intentionally improved their sales skills to take business away from the big dogs. Fortunately for them, many of the Big Dogs were tied to the porch by tight budgets and corporate edicts. They realized they could get a relatively quick ROI from any programs that would help them capture the big deals.
Next year promises to be another challenging year and, once again, the smart companies are positioning themselves by preparing their sales teams with the best tools.
Here are five techniques that will help you improve and can make the difference between success and survival in a tight economy:
1. Value Selling - sales people must learn to relate their offering to the customer's bottom line. This goes far beyond consultative selling and requires a new set of business, research, sales and presentation skills. Done correctly, a value based presentation will overcome most price objections and even create a budget where none existed before.
2. Team Selling - Gone are the days of simple one-on-one sales. Today, you use specialists, senior managers and support staff to make the complex sale. Smart companies are giving this team the skills they need to succeed together. These new skills include team building, communications, group presentations, sales process and investigatory skills for everyone on the team.
3. Time and Territory Management - This year your lean company will need to grow sales without growing costs. One of the keys will be their effective use of time. The bad news is that most people operate far below their own capability. The good news is that most of them want to do better. Give them the tools they need to succeed and you'll be surprised with the results.
4. Strategic Sales Process - If you can't adequately predict and grow your business, you need a better system. A Strategic Selling Process maximizes sales by ensuring that more of your leads become sales in a timely manner. Professionals don't fly by the seat of their pants; they build a plan and work the plan. This year more companies will customize a Defined Sales Process for their team and reap the rewards of increased sales and predictable results.
5. Coaching - Are your top performers achieving 100% of their potential? Statistically, you can show that a small improvement in your top people will give you a bigger ROI than a big improvement in you lowest performers. These are the people who are ready, willing and able to learn and eager to soak up and apply everything their coach has to say. That is why more companies will hire coaches for their top sellers in 2003 to give their sales the boost they need.
To add any of these techniques to your company this year will require change. Change takes time and effort and must be sustained over time. We have found that companies who succeed have champions who keep the goal visible and help everyone stay focused. I recommend that you find a different champion for each initiative you try and give them your full support.
Do you want to be the champion? If so, be sure to get the support of a core group of people who will stick with you until they see results. Once the benefits are clear, others will quickly follow. It is easier to work from the inside out than to force change from the top down.
Obviously we offer the training mentioned above and would like the opportunity to help you increase your sales. But whether you choose us or someone else, make the commitment to make the changes that will make a difference for your company.
This can be your year for dramatic sales growth!
For a free copy of "The 5 Steps to Keeping Your Sales Team Focused", please email article15@waterhousegroup.com and ask for article #15.
Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group (www.waterhousegroup.com), a sales training company that helps companies increase their sales and profits. He can be reached at 1-800-57-LEARN or steve@waterhousegroup.com.
