Why don’t we sell more ? |
Most companies are not very good at selling. How do we know ? Recent research across a sample of almost 400 organisations tell us that only 44% of them judge that they sell more effectively than their competitors.
Selling is a strange career. I doubt if many of us woke up one day as a kid and said ‘When I grow up I really really want to be a salesman, just like that nice man who sold us the double glazing’. The common perception of a salesman is of a pushy smarmy low life who would sell you his granny if he could, so perhaps it is no surprise to learn that most companies don't seem to be very good at it. The paradox with sales is that whilst it can be one of the most financially rewarding careers (simple supply and demand, very few people can do it very well) , it is not commonly seen as a worthy profession, then to make matters even worse virtually every company is reliant upon it‘s selling activities to survive and prosper. So what is the problem ? Selling is a marriage of Art and Science If I were to ask most people what they would expect to find in a good salesman, they list would probably include; personable, friendly, persuasive, ambitious, and hard-working - these are the Art of selling and are all about a high level of interpersonal skills which help salespeople form relationships quickly and nurture them. My experience however is that whilst these are important, there is an additional set that seem to make the difference between average and outstanding sales performance and these are the ’Science’ factors. What is the Science of Selling ? Science is all about analysis, metrics, predictability and application to clear goals. Translating these concepts to practical changes to your sales activities produces better and more consistent results. Generally most salespeople tend not to have these characteristics, so management need to facilitate them. How to improve results ? To gain the most rapid improvements in sales a comprehensive analysis of what you want to archive and what you are currently doing to get there is needed, to provide a prioritised action plan. We offer this service as a 20 point Sales and Marketing Health check. Here are a couple of simple steps that you can take to start to improve results immediately; Measure everything ! Start to collect metrics about all activities in the sales process, such as incoming enquires, outgoing phone calls, prospect visits, quotes and proposals sent out. Set performance goals for all important activities. Having established a baseline, set performance goals for each important activity, such as three customer visits a day, ten quotes a week, win one new customer a week. Collect and feedback everybody's results to all your salespeople. These two simple techniques always improve results because they focus attention and effort on the important activities which drive more sales. The next stage is to measure and improve ‘success ratios’ from each stage in the process to the next and to link rewards tightly to performance, but that's another story.......... Bryan McCrae is the founder of Cognitive Sales Consulting which helps organisations improve their sales results. He can be contacted on 07739 465219 or register for more free hints and tips at www.cognitive-sales-consulting.co.uk |
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