7 Foundations for Sales Greatness!
Doyle Slayton | Mar 11, 2008 | Comments 18
There are 7 key areas to develop when laying the foundation for your sales team. Build on these principles, and you will set your team up for greatness!
1. Product Knowledge
Knowing your product backwards and forwards will dramatically improve your ability to overcome objections and correctly match your services to your customer’s needs. When it comes to product knowledge… figuratively speaking… you need to be a “know-it-all!”
2. Industry Expertise
My team and I used to work in general geographic territories. Not anymore! It finally occurred to us that we need to be industry experts. When you are sitting across the table from a prospective customer, they need to know that you are one of them. The more you become an industry expert and resource… the more people will be calling YOU for solutions!
3. Business Acumen
Your ability to accurately assess and understand business issues play a key factor in making great decisions. What business journals, books, newsletters are you reading? Start today!
4. Strategic Planning
The smartest sales executives build detailed strategic plans, target the best clients, and are relentless about execution. The next time you get a performance review, do a comparison check… you’ll find that quality of your strategic plan and the execution of that plan are a direct reflection of your performance.
5. Networking & Community Involvement
Keith Ferazzi, in his book Never Eat Alone, asks the question, “How many people do you know that you could call at two in the morning.” I’ll build on that by asking, “How many of your contacts will fight to the death for you when their company is considering dropping your services?” Look at your prospects and say… how can I get that person a raise… promotion… how can I turn them into a superstar!
6. Marketing
CEOs and VPs take heed. Develop marketing strategies that directly support your sales team! If you’ve been doing it the other way around, it’s time to change. In addition, it’s the sum of multiple forms of advertising that create explosive growth. Combine internet, television, radio, print, direct mail, and billboards with “feet-on-the-street” and watch your business boom!
7. Sales Skill
Move quickly to get to this point. Get out there and sell! Put yourself in a position to be on the front lines every chance you get. Every customer interaction is a chance to get better! Be self-reflective. As you drive home from work everyday, think about the sales interactions you had. Think about… “What will I do or say next time I’m in that situation to make it even better!”
What are your areas of greatest strength? Where can you get better?
The site will not let me subscribe. I get a “invalid address” error message.
Doyle, I really like your idea/concept here. I might publish something soon If I can ever find the time.
How about # 8 or you could say #7 A. Probing. Many good sales people lack the ability to probe. Knowing a lot about the business is a great thing but why not ask questions to build value in your product with the business. Don’t just “Show Up and Throw Up” as I like to put it.
Alan, being a Director/VP of sales, you have a ton of experience in prospecting and closing big deals! I noticed your previous comment highlighting the concept of probing. You should put together a step-by-step guide for running the appointment and uncovering customer needs. I can publish it as a ”Best Practice” in the next week’s publication!
Doyle,
Great concept for salespeople and leaders. I think another great foundation is TRUST! Once a potential client can trust you, they are going to be open to your suggestions. If you have character that one can trust, then they’ll be open to your listening to your competency about your product, field, company, etc.
Learning the value of the Speed of Trust will increase sales, strengthen relationships and increase referrals.
I will look forward to seeing what others write. Being open to change and having a learning agenda can take people to levels they never dreamed they can reach. Lastly, the next step is applying what you’ve learned.
Good luck with this blog. It’s the first step of many more positive ones sure to come. God bless!
-John
Lot’s of good thoughts here John! I especially like the idea of having a learning agenda. I call it having an “A.B.L.” attitude… A lways B e L earning!
Adding on to #5:
“Outside of the box thinking”
By providing a free service to the community, you gain a great deal of positive exposure. If you can afford this approach, your position within the communitie’s eyes will be emboldened. This will establish your character that is unmatched by any other service you can provide. Free genuine help. If you can actually help someone out, and show you genuinely care, your sales will follow in place. Position yourself correctly, give your target market an easy way to contact you, and the rest should follow in place. I wouldn’t advise looking for a sale on the spot. This approach as with most sales is all about the follow-up. I am donating my time and helping out local schools while promoting an upcoming event. I love kids, I love helping others out, so it’s a win-win! Not to mention the exposure it provides. I think the limitations are in having the time to do these “outside of the box” activities along with everything else related to the sale. How about a free newsletter. Or free advise on “X” every Friday from 5-8pm: I am taking time out of my day to answer any questions about “X” industry. I am devoting this specific time period to help you out with problems, questions or anything else related to industry “X”. How about doing this on your down time when normally you might not be doing anything at all. Can you afford a few calls out of your day. Open up as many avenues as possible. Another incoming call is an another opportunity for a sale. What else can you you do that might get a prospective client to call? Give them a reason! Everyone can use a little help now and then can’t they?
-matt
No one sales call is the same. Each client has their own ways of doing business and this is their finger print for their success or failure. You have to be able to examine that finger print and adapt your sales approach to make sure that you are communicating on a level that the client is comfortable with. Adaptation is a major key to my success. If I find that their was of doing business is set up for failure, I try to implant ideas in their head that will steer them in to a more successful approach with out it actually being my idea. Let them think of it as if it was something they came up with. Coaching is the term I use here.
You know what the ultimate goal is. (Making the sale) How you get there is up to you ability to adapt.
Just an example: There was this client that I had been trying to close for several months. I tried everything, phone calls, visits, emails ect. I was even able to call to a major lender to get him a line of credit. By the way, this credit could be used to buy any product, not just mine. Nothing got this client to buy. Finally when I know that the credit line was secure, I made a road trip to his business. I took with me a sleeping bag and a tooth brush. When I arrived at his office, I unrolled my sleeping bag and placed my tooth brush in his coffee cup. By then he knew that I was serious about getting his business. I sat in front of him with my order confirmations for 10 hours. He signed them, and today he is one of my largest clients.
That’s a great story about the line of credit, sleeping bag, and the toothbrush. That’s a bold move… and even better… it worked! Congratulations on securing the “long-term” deal!
This is a great perspective Matt. It’s a view point that not many hard nosed sales “hunters” have. It’s not that they are bad people, or that they don’t want to give, it’s just not in their nature. Zig Zilar said it best in the book Secrets of Closing the Sale, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
include me
I had real trouble with the product know it all component. Customers do not need to know how smart you are about the product you are selling. They really do not care. They need to know how the product or service will support their business. Reaching product mastery is a waste of time and is essentially useless information. Every company has ‘technical’, ‘product’, and ‘customer’ experts in their ranks. A great sales person needs to know how to identify client needs, build trust, and develop a solution that fits. Advocating how that solution fits can be accomplished through the resource team. The reason I am taking such a stand on this is that I find that too many people focus on product as the key to selling success. Those that do become advocating and pushy sales people. Those that leverage their business acumen and strategic skills are much more effective relationships based sales people. I for one am not a product knowledge fan. Product awareness? Yes. Expert? No way.
Another excellent read, once which I remember reading on a night flight back from new york after the scary news about the housing market – which is my sector – so you can imagine I needed some motivation and inspiration!! Fantastic read
Thanks for your seven principles
I think the most important is strategic planning. Even we have a good know how on the product if we don’t know what to do, then there is no success.
I agree with you. To be successful, a fool proof plan is a must have.
Doyle,
I know that this post is quite dated, but in my new position I have found a #8 to this article. I wouldn’t place it at #8 but more a #2. Being that I am in a more retail oriented business now, one of the most important aspects of our selling knowledge, after knowing your own product or service, is knowing your competition. As I put it to my sales team, “Know your competition as well as you know yourself.”
Thanks,
This is a great one to add to the list Paxton. Knowing your competition is a huge advantage. I may have to write an article on this very point in the coming weeks. Thanks for sharing! -Doyle