Ten Steps To A Successful Sales Force

By Tony Horwath

Quick, 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 with integrity, honesty and superior communication skills.

As a business owner, you are under enormous pressure to maintain existing client relationships and continually to find new ones. 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 among those who are your top producers and 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 an energy, cohesiveness and structure of process that allows them to dominate.

    Here are the essential elements that will take your team to a higher level.

    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 on a regular basis? If not, you’re losing money and opportunity on a daily basis. 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 sales person. Everyone, at sometime, must be prepared to communicate to a perspective 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 sales person 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 & 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.

    The best sales teams do two things: 1) they establish strong credibility with ethical persuasion techniques, and 2) 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 Added 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 single most influential statement of value-added service that you make to your customer base.

    10. Develop a Corporate Program for Commitment & 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 is essential for growth.

    Given these essential requirements for success, how can you, as a business owner, improve your organization in these areas?

    There are many alternative sales solutions in the market today. Companies have options available to them that weren’t available two years ago. The common denominator among successful companies is that they are process-driven and always focused.

    Tony Horwath is the president and founder of Sales Focus Incorporated (SFI), a provider of business process outsourcing of sales and marketing departments for information technology organizations. He can be reached at 410-730-0500 or visit http://www.salesfocusinc.com.



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