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YOUR SALES MANAGEMENT
ROAD MAP FOR 2003
Ron Jackson has high hopes for an economic up tick in 2003. It is an unabashedly optimistic view, but one that's backed by 30 years of high-tech sales experience. "I wouldn't be in sales if I wasn't bullish," says the senior vice president of worldwide sales, who oversees more than 30 salespeople at a telecommunications technology company.
Still, Jackson's bullishness is tempered with prudence. "The world has changed in the last three years," he says. "From 1990 to 1998 I worked in an industry where the leading companies were growing thirty to fifty percent per year. Now, with such growth a distant memory, sales managers must motivate their sales forces by encouraging them to better serve customers."
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Jackson's is not a unique case. Many sales executives are entering 2003 with tighter purse strings and an eye toward cultivating existing relationships. "Emphasis is definitely on gaining market share," says Robert Calvin, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship and marketing at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
Many Sales Focus Inc. clients plan on implementing SFI's "Building an Organization that Sells" hiring & recruiting processes.
(Complimentary white paper available on SFI's website - www.salesfocusinc.com). Building a successful sales team takes more than hiring salespeople who are geared toward a specific customer or market. The ideal candidate has to be able to sell within the existing company's culture and be comfortable with the company's processes.
Having a third party like SFI involved in hiring salespeople, allows a service by experts to hire the right sales person utilizing an impartial, non-emotional approach and validation to the company's choices. The money spent on third party involvement in hiring ideal sales candidates will easily pay for itself by reducing costly turnover and bringing strong salespeople onboard who can get up to speed and produce revenue quicker.
Most sales managers have been given marching orders to look for new ways to keep costs down while boosting productivity.
The answer is not that difficult.
- Cut back on marketing aids and print marketing material. Most of the time when a salesperson is phone prospecting and hears "send me literature" it is just a polite way for the prospect to get the salesperson off the phone. Stuffing a large envelop with every piece of company literature to have it tossed in the circular file is very expensive. Use your literature as "leave behinds" that support and review what the salesperson presented. Another way to cut costs is to reduce or eliminate direct mail campaigns. Response rate has dropped from 1 - 2% to 0.5% - 1%. Less than 25% of those who respond are qualified.
- One key to success in 2003 is to have your sales people be your competitive edge. They are the major difference between your company and your top competitors. The best way to assure your competitive advantage is to provide your sales team with "advanced sales training". Tactics and script training has very little value. What works is training that deals with buyer behaviors, psychology of selling, and better people skills. A good on-going, facilitator based training program will net a return of 20:1 to 35:1 on investment. It is money well spent that produces more revenue.
- Another key way to improve the sales effort is to reduce the amount of "no pay" activity of your sales team. Think about it. Which is better: a sales person spending 2 hours preparing a report that's only purpose is to support the sales manager at a monthly meeting, or spending those two hours researching the next two companies they are going to call on?
About Sales Focus Inc.
Sales Focus Inc. is a consulting, training and outsourcing company that focuses strictly on sales. We help our clients during these difficult times to take business away from the competition. In down economic times, focused companies will not only survive, but also thrive! We offer cost containment and profit enhancement solutions. Profit enhancement is a different mindset than cost cutting. Cost cutting means doing less of something; profit enhancement implies doing more of something that will boost the bottom line. We represent the concept of focused profit enhancement solutions.
Sales Focus is driven towards a single goal: "Generating Immediate Revenue for our Clients! " Whether it's implementing our S.O.L.D. Methodology, Developing Specialized Training Programs or Launching an Outsourced Sales Force, we remain focused on the goal of TACTICALLY GENERATING RAPID REVENUE.
For more Information or to see if we are a good fit with your company, contact us directly at 866.840.8305 or 410.442.5600, or send us an email at info@SalesFocusInc.com or visit our web site: www.SalesFocusInc.com. Request a free white paper while calling us or visiting our website.
Sales Focus Inc.
3210 Florence Road, Suite B
Woodbine, Maryland 21797
P. 410.442.5600
F. 410.581.8306
Toll Free: 866.840.8305
URL: www.SalesFocusInc.com
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