Introduction What do you think of when you hear the term salesperson? If you still think of a manipulator with a pinkie ring and open shirt who specializes in golf and is hell-bent on separating you from your money with high pressure – allow me to bring you out of the Dark Ages. Selling is a profession where the truly successful are people in a sales force with integrity, honesty, and possessing superior communication skills. As a business owner, you are under enormous pressure to maintain existing client relationships and to find new ones continually. Have you ever stopped to think about exactly why the road to success has become so much more challenging in recent years? Do you have the feeling that your sales team could be performing at a much higher level of productivity? Are there unjustifiable peaks and valleys in their performance? Does the performance vary greatly between those who are your top producers to those who are least productive? In studying some of the most productive sales teams in various industries, a core of key principles, beliefs, skills, and practices becomes apparent with those of the top tier. The best sales teams exhibit energy, cohesiveness, and structure of the process that allows them to dominate. Here we will examine the essential elements you must review to take your team to a higher level that is focused on success: 1. Develop a sales plan that is aligned with corporate strategy A company’s vision-where it plans to be in the marketplace of the future-establishes the focus of its sales team. In turn, both the company’s vision and the team’s focus will establish its mission. A clear and succinct definition of what the company does and how it benefits its clients is essential to your development. 2. Develop and implement sales processes Successful selling demands, methodologies, productivity plans, time management skills, and sales processes. Are you analyzing the areas of opportunity for productivity enhancement regularly? If not, you’re losing money and opportunity daily. Incorporate an automated sales force tool, but only after processes have been established and tested for effectiveness. 3. Effectively communicate your message Do you keep your customers updated with how you have been serving them and keeping your commitments? Customers tend to forget things, especially what is not consistently in front of them. Highly successful companies have a philosophy that everyone in the organization is a salesperson! Everyone, at some time, must be prepared to communicate to a prospective client what the company does. Develop an elevator pitch that is clear, concise, and effectively describes what your company does. 4. Develop an integrated sales support structure A salesperson is only as good as the company he/she represents. If you’re the best sales executive in the world but are representing bad products or services, you will quickly reach your limit and ultimately fail. Sales executives need support structures within companies to be successful. 5. Incorporate a team selling approach It takes a true partnership within an organization to develop successful selling methods. Selling teams are essential to successful selling. Marketing, sales, finance, management, technicians, and others within companies need to participate in the sales process. 6. Implement consistent and effective training programs Training within a company is essential to develop effective sales executives, but also to make sure a consistent method of communication is used throughout the organization. 7. Demand corporate and personal values Honesty is essential to selling. When you’ve stopped laughing, understand that knowing and responding to gray areas is essential to successful selling. Integrity – The best sales teams do two things: They establish strong credibility with ethical persuasion techniques They sell in a process. 8. Establish market differentiators Every successful company has characteristics that set it apart. These competitive differentiations might be in the areas of service, technical support, lead time, or breadth of capability, not just price or product benefits. 9. Communicate value services with quality individuals The delivery of service value to the customer base has created a boon for professional salespeople and the companies they represent. Simply stated, your sales force represents the most influential statement of value-added service you make to your customer base. 10. Develop a corporate program for commitment and growth The biggest opportunity for increasing the effectiveness of most teams is creating new and dynamic forms of accountability. Some forms of team building, idea generation, planning, and continuous improvement for any sales team are essential for growth. Given these essential requirements for success, how can you, as a business owner, improve your organization in these areas? Conclusion There are many alternative sales solutions in the market today. Companies have options available to them that weren’t available over the last two years. The common denominator among successful companies is that they are process-driven and always FOCUSED on increasing sales performance! About Sales Focus Inc.: Sales Focus Inc. Pioneered the Sales Outsourcing Industry and has the most effective and proven process S.O.L.D.™ in the industry. Our process has been implemented in many Fortune 500 companies along with small and mid-sized organizations in all industries. Building Intelligent Sales Solutions has been our only focus since we pioneered the Sales Outsourcing industry in 1998. Sales Focus Inc. (SFI) has generated well over $10B in revenue for our clients, utilizing our repeatable S.O.L.D.™ process, which allows you and us to build dedicated sales teams focused on growing small & large companies alike. Intelligent Sales Solutions Focusing on client acquisition, building and launching dedicated sales teams on a national level, all while reducing the cost of sales, is what makes Sales Focus Inc. (SFI) unique. We create repeatable and sustainable business processes designed to bring sales results in a short period. SFI can provide a dedicated sales team across the country or across the globe to meet the needs of each client. Our sales representatives are thoroughly trained using our Sales Master Training Program for both tactical and strategic solution-based selling. Sales Focus Inc. is committed to providing our clients with constant sales intelligence in the form of daily, weekly, and monthly reports, allowing our clients to own the customers. Whether our outsourced sales teams are feet on the street or inside sales, Sales Focus Inc. is committed to driving down the cost of sales, generating immediate revenue, and building “Intelligent Sales Outsourcing Solutions”.
