Your Sales and Marketing Process

" This may be the most costly thought process of all time, and unfortunately a lot of companies live by it.

Are there inefficiencies in your Sales & Marketing processes today? These inefficiencies are costing your company money.

Because they are hidden costs that do not reveal themselves in your financial statements, they are continuing to do harm to your business. As "Lean" is really tied to removing costly inefficiencies, it applies to all aspects of business - your company's Sales & Marketing effort included.

If your company's sales and marketing program contains "non-value added" aspects, your potential for gaining additional market share is suffering because these activities are costing you money. You are either
passing these costs on to your customer by increasing your sell price, absorbing these costs and reducing your profitability, or suffering from doing a combination of both.

In any of these scenarios, Your company's ability to win incremental business is being compromised, but also your Current business is not as profitable as it could be.

Too many companies, whether they are manufacturers or distributors, are spending time and money repeating sales and marketing steps that are unnecessary to help them grow their sales profitably.

To determine if you need to implement "Lean" practices into your Sales & Marketing process, see if any of these 9 questions apply to your business.

1. Does your company have a "Sales Process" that is as effective as it could be, or is your sales team not advancing sales opportunities through the pipeline? 

 2. Does your company advertise in a way that reaches your desired customer and is producing a good ROI, or are you spending money on the hope that your desired customer will see it?

3. Does your company have an authoritative and educational website that is working for you as a sales tool, or is it just another website?

4. Does your company implement price increases efficiently and timely, or does the process take too long?

5. Does your company generate qualified sales leads and follow up on them to secure new business, or do you treat all leads equally?

6. Does your company appropriately segment your marketing initiatives, creating communications that "speak" directly to the desired customer or do you take the same approach to reach all potential customers?

7. Does your company have sales aid information that is organized and readily accessible for your sales team, or are they having to search in multiple places for that, including contacting your Customer Service?

8. Does your company effectively and consistently on-board new hire sales and marketing personnel, or is the approach inconsistent, resulting in a missed opportunity to instill your corporate strategy from the outset?

9. Does your company introduce products to the market timely and powerfully, or are you missing out on the great opportunity to draw attention to your brand?

All of the above are areas where inefficiencies can become common practice and hurt your top and bottom lines.

Your Sales People With Learning Process Outsourcing

Your sales staff is not delivering its best. And the only reason in sight for this under performance seems to be their lack of communication and selling skills.

In the past, you have tried hard to enhance their communication and selling skills, to make them more customer-oriented, but the results have been far from satisfying.

Have you ever tried learning process outsourcing?
Learning process outsourcing has been around for quite a long time, but still many organizations are yet to take advantage of this.

Put simply, learning process outsourcing involves outsourcing the learning requirements to the third party, which will be responsible for developing and delivering custom made trainings to the employees of its client and thus helping them to be more effective and efficient in whatever roles they have been assigned in the organization.

In outsourcing, it is the supplier (training company) who invests in infrastructure, technology, and provides top-quality service. And thus you do not have to worry about taking out time and resources for conducting all these programs.

Now let's talk about your sales staff. You know they lack some where, and the in-house trainings (which you conducted in the past) were not much of help; in such a scenario, you may like to consider speaking to a training specialist, which has been around for long, and has worked with several organizations in improving their sales performances.

Once the trainers gauge the training needs of your sales staff, they will conduct a series of training programmed to better their sales and communication skills, and thus help them close more deals. The trainers will ensure that the staff at all customer - touch points is able to answer customers' queries and make long lasting relationships with them.

Now think about it: your staff will be motivated, and will perform better; they will also get to know their shortcomings and the best ways to overcome them. They will better understand their jobs and their responsibilities to the organization. Isn't all this fabulous? You just need to partner with a training company that has extensive experience in learning process outsourcing; this is all you need to do. However, you should make sure that you talk to them in detail and let them know in advance as to why you are seeking their services. This will help the training company in offering you customized, smart training solutions.

Learning process outsourcing is a sure-shot way to improve the performance of your sales staff.

What Is Importance Of Sales Manager?

This piece is not going to be a great read for sales managers. I am not a fan of sales managers or sales management generally. I read an awful lot written by sales managers about sales managers and the claims they make to justify their existence. I hear all the time about their theories, their frustrations with their charges, their responsibilities, their concerns and their willingness to dish out discipline or tough love and the influence they have upon the success of their "team". But, the underlying thread most commonly evident during these comments or articles is the view that sales people are somehow lesser beings in need of cajoling, control and coaching by them - the gifted ones - the ones with the inside track on sales excellence who choose to live their life by telling others how to do things rather than doing it themselves.

I always think that surely, they would be better off doing the selling themselves and earning huge bonuses from employing their outstanding sales talents. Why hide their light under a bushel? Their companies would flourish and a whole level of management salaries would be eliminated at one fell swoop. Targets would be smashed and profits would soar. Wouldn't they? Well, they might except it is likely that the sales managers have no personal experience of selling for a living and only have theoretical knowledge or, they are sales people who have been promoted into the role without any recognisable management talent or they have been successful sales people who are now burned out and need a refuge from the day to day grind.

Sour grapes? Who knows. But rather than just have a go at sales managers I thought I'd extend the theme into an alternative view of sales. It seems to me that the real culprits are the companies that employ sales staff and sales managers.

If a product or service offered by a company meets or exceed the needs of the targeted customers it should "fly off the shelves" shouldn't it? Is there really any need for anyone to "sell" it? Surely, all you need is someone to take the order. "Selling" implies having to overcome a reluctance to commit by the buyer who needs to be persuaded or tipped over the edge into buying. But why, when what is available does what they want it to? They either need or want it or they don't.

The only differential is, I guess is how badly they need it. How important to the potential buyer are the benefits it bestows. This impacts directly upon pricing. Clearly, we all weigh up the benefits versus the costs. Food in a famine is able to attract a premium fee as is a life jacket when a ship sinks - it's a seller's market and the motivation of the buyers is very clear. The need for someone to "sell" will be redundant if the product or service on offer is viewed by the buyer as essential to them. They will buy it if they are allowed to. The clearer the benefits to the buyer the more likely the sale at whatever price.

However, even the simplicity of this scenario is more complicated than at first sight. Have the potential buyers the wherewithal - either money or goods or services to barter or some other asset to swap in exchange? - So, cost is a variable to be considered and perhaps, becomes even more of an issue when the imperative to buy is smaller, less important or of no consequence to the potential customer. So we have inverse proportionality.

The more important/useful the product the larger the potential customer base and the fewer the sales people needed. Order takers yes, sales people, no. The less popular or relevant the product or the greater the number of producers of a product, the greater the need for someone to push it. If we assume that uniqueness and relevance in the market can support a product with few if any sales people we see the only reason for sales people at all is if the product is unremarkable or of no hugely, vital use; is poor or has many competitors between which customers have to choose.

These are the environments most heavily populated by sales people. Where companies struggle to sell product or services they will employ sales managers to drive the sales people. There seems to be no correlation drawn by management between producing "stuff" over producing more relevant and attractive "stuff" which will sell better. Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) or Value Propositions (VPs) can help win the race and the sales person can be a big differentiators but basically the product is the key to winning business.

All else is smoke and mirrors. Innovation and originality of product or service is the best way to succeed. Companies need to take stock of their offerings and make some hard decisions about the realities of the industry in which they operate. If they are also-rains or just followers-on they should recognize it and make the changes necessary to overcome that situation. Expecting sales people to work miracles or using sales managers to beat up the sales force won't solve anything. Mediocre products are mediocre products.

Auto Sales Tips

What are you looking for in an auto sales career?

Something like financial security, retirement, putting the kids through school, a better life, or time to enjoy life.

My profession is auto sales. As I write this, we've just gone through a torrent of rain. You could literally say buckets and buckets. There were very few Ups or walk-in prospects.

For some car salespeople, when there are no Ups, life is stressful. In fact, a few days of no car sales could spell disaster.

Is that you?

Hey, it's okay. At one point I was there. When lot traffic was down it meant a very small voucher or commission check. And, if the dry spell continued for a few weeks, life at home was stressful!

That was before I met Dan.

What Changed

Here's what changed all of that.

I met a RV salesman who never seemed to miss a day without a prospect or two.

In fact, regardless of the weather, the economy, or even after being away on vacation, Dan had deals on the board, appointments scheduled, and people coming to see him.

I wondered why he always had something on the go in an industry with a lot fewer prospective buyers than there are in auto sales.

As I thought about it, I actually got a sinking feeling in my gut. It was the realization that while I was standing around, "Dan Dan The Trailer Man" was in his office doing;...

... Well what he was doing was what he did every day. Unless there was someone in the chair in front-of-him, or he was on the lot, he was

    working his sold list,

    following-up with prospects,

    going through the classifieds.

He was doing all the stuff that didn't fit the agenda of the guys and gals in the huddle.

By-the-way, if you are not familiar with the huddle, that's great. Stay away from it.

In auto sales, a huddle is two or more salespeople standing in a corner or on the lot bitching about the weather, the economy, not enough advertising, not enough vehicles, too many vehicles of the same model, too many vehicles of the same color, too many trucks, not enough SUVs, too many four doors, too few four doors, and on and on and on.

I know about the huddle. I was huddle chairman at one point - not something to be proud of.

Everyone Needs A Dan

You've probably heard the saying "Sick and tired of being sick and tired", well that was me. I was fed up. Nothing seemed to be working. And the huddle was draining me.

Like most guys it takes a bit, actually a lot, of humility to ask for help. Dan was someone who modeled

what an effective salesman would be like. I popped by for a chat and asked, "How do you do it?"

Here's what he told me. Ten words...

1. Have a system.

2. Work it every day.

3. Value your time.

The first two I figured I understood from the get-go. But the third one, "Value your time", it didn't quit sink in.

Value Your Time

When I met Dan I had been selling cars for awhile, so I believed I knew what it was all about, the system that is. And I knew you had to follow it. But I had never placed any emphasis on my time.

At first I did what I suspect a lot of salespeople would do. I decided to figure out just what my time was worth. Dan said "Value your time."

So I took what I made the previous year and divided it by the number of hours I was at the Dealership. That gave me a value per working hour.

But then I thought, what about when I am not selling cars, is my time not valuable then?

So I took my annual earnings and divided it by the total number of hours in a year.

Wow. My time is not worth very much, I thought.

Okay the great news is I can change that. I can sell more. That will increase the value of my time.

Wrong - So Very Wrong

That's the time trap I fell into.

I started working more hours. By working longer, I sold more cars, which increased the dollar value of my time.

But for what?

While I was so focused on getting more sales, things at home drifted to an all time low.

What's up with this, I thought. I'm coining it and now my home life is in the pits.

Once again the light went on. Okay, I am a slow learner.

Like a lot of people I had the formula wrong. I was looking at the word "Value" as something you could put a price tag on and "Time" as the commodity or product. The math worked... sell more vehicles, get more commissions, my value goes up.

How dumb I was.

You cannot put a dollar value on time. Time is not a commodity, a product like a toaster. You can't simply toss it and get another or upgrade it.

Nor can you increase the value of time by working longer hours. Your annual income may go up but your quality of life goes down.

Not A Auto Sales Formula - A Prescription

What Dan gave me was not a formula but a prescription. He saw I was sick. Being sick and tired of being sick and tired wears on you and it shows.

He wasn't just helping me to sell more, he was telling me how to get better - better at work, better at home, better all around.

Sales Manager And Sales Increase Techniques

Most sales managers and business owners tend to focus on improving the close ratios. While doing so is a legitimate tactic, improving the close ratio of a sales team can be challenging. On the other hand, increasing opportunities for the sales team is a fairly easy task.

If the close ratio of the sales team is 40% and the sales team generates 100 opportunities each week, then the result is 40 closes or sales. To improve the close ratio to 60% within the 100 opportunities each week is a challenge. On the other hand, if the number of weekly opportunities for the sales team is increased to 150, and the close ratio remains constant at 40%, then 60 sales are generated during the week.

In other words, the same result occurs for either choice, but increasing the opportunities is an easier path to take versus increasing the close ratio. The process identified and described in the following paragraphs is guaranteed to work because it is built on and around the simple objective to increase opportunities for sales personnel rather than to improve closing ratios.

An increase to sales is likely to be realized quickly once these few, simple additions and adjustments to the selling process are implemented. The additions and adjustments are elements of a process, not a procedure. Consequently, any of the elements identified may be addressed and implemented without having to wait for another element to complete.

Increase face time of outside sales team with present and potential customers. Think of your business as a professional football team. The sales personnel are the running backs. They carry the ball (products and services) to existing and potential customers. The more time the sales team is in front of a customer, the greater the likelihood that a sales event (touchdown) will occur.

Recently a business owner told me that his sales were dropping and he asked me what he could do to turn things around. He said that their company recently purchased a sales software program that worked well with his mail order division, so he employed the software in the territory sales division. The software program called for each sales rep to make fifty calls each day seeking an appointment before heading out to make calls. That's half a day's time! I simply told the business owner that his running backs were sitting on the bench the entire first half and not scoring touchdowns, so he should find others to make the phone calls so his sales team members could optimize their time in front of customers.

Establish a quota or increase the quota of telecommunication contacts with existing or potential customers required each day for the inside sales team. As stated previously, the objective of this process is to increase opportunities for the sales teams. If your business has an inside sales team, then establish a daily quota for outgoing calls to existing customers to sell products or to potential new customers to introduce your company and its products and services. If you already have daily quotas, then increase the number. It is amazing what the impact of just one or two additional calls each day will have on sales.

All sales personnel must develop and submit their sales contact plan each week. Every very good and great sales rep has a plan for the day, the week and the weeks that follow. Every very good and great sales rep shares that plan with the sales manager. Every very good and great sales rep knows the importance of providing this timely marketing information.

Most all other sales reps don't really have a plan for much beyond a day or two. You know, it's the where should I go and what should I do today approach. That type of planning is not beneficial to increasing sales. Some type of formal routine reporting and planning feedback must be installed to assure increased sales.

As a sales manager for many years, I used with great success a rolling four weeks calendar layout report sent to me each Friday afternoon without fail. Week one showed what companies and customer contacts the sales rep fulfilled during the week about to end. Week two showed where the sales rep planned to be and who the sales rep planned to meet with during the week starting on Monday. The week was planned in full with no blank days, question marks or any maybe.

Weeks three and four were tentative. Again no blank days were permitted, but since these two weeks were tentative plans, there could be some question marks and a maybe or two.

Besides the important marketing information these reports provided, the sales reps developed better time management skills. It also conditioned them to think and to plan ahead. Every sales manager will appreciate these habits as they are great contributors to closing sales.

Sales reps should act rather than react, as well as rely more on support team members than trying to do it all yourself. When asked, many, if not most, sales reps will declare that their first priority and responsibility is Customer Service. Their actions support the notion.

As we stated previously, the sales rep is the running back who carries the ball for the company. The largest part of the reason why the sales rep carries the ball is that the sales rep by definition is a closer. The sales rep's job is to score touchdowns, or in other words, to promote and to close sales of products and services to customers.

Customer Service is an important part of the sales satisfaction mix, but Customer Service is everyone's job in the company, not just the sales rep's job. Nonetheless, when a customer calls with a problem or a gripe, most sales reps will stop what they are doing and respond to the customer complaint - even if they are at the site of another customer! My view on that behavior has always been that there is nothing or no one more important for me than the customer I am with at the time.

Additionally some sales reps will go as far as to deliver customer orders instead of relying on traditional delivery methods. This is a really bad practice especially if the sales rep is not using a company-owned vehicle to deliver the products. There are simply too many potential injury and accident risks. Fortunately, many liability insurance carriers are strongly discouraging or excluding this practice from coverage.

If business owners and sales managers want to increase sales, then the closers must continue to do their closing duties and rely on support team members to handle delivers and to assist with solving customer problems.

Reduce "Windshield time". When I travelled with a sales rep, I made note of how much time we spent driving to one place from another. At the end of our time together, I would share the total with the sales rep. It was often a staggering number and certainly an eye-opener. Sometimes and depending often on the metropolitan area, a long travel time from one customer to another was just something that really couldn't be controlled very well. Often that was not the case, so I took the time to pass on to the sales rep the lesson I learned from my manager as a first time territory sales rep. The message or lesson is a very simple one: plan customer calls for each day to be as close together as possible. If the sales rep has an appointment with a customer in Middle town, then the sales rep should spend the remainder of his day in or near Middle town.

Seek and Find New Business opportunities. New Business is commonly defined as either adding a new product to an existing customer or adding a new customer. Sometimes reviving dormant sales of products to an existing customer can be classified as New Business as well.

This element may be the most challenging of the process. Sales reps tend to settle into a comfortable routine and to concentrate almost exclusively on serving the needs of present customers. Nonetheless, increasing the opportunities to close a sale cannot be limited to present customers.

Business owners and Sales Managers must not just encourage New Business sales, but demand it. Sales reps must document their contacts or meetings with potential new customers. A quota of contacting one or two potential new customers each week may be reasonable. It most certainly will be productive. In fact, the New Business opportunity source may have the greatest revenue potential of all the elements of the process. Including elements very important to increasing sales for your business.

Open Sales Market And Consumers

Sometime you just need a little encouragement to get in the door to make that call. Here's what I tell salespeople no matter what field they are in - whether real estate, mortgage banking and pharmaceuticals : There are two things on the other side of a call or a visit -
Opportunity and relationship

OR
No opportunity

You want to know. No, you need to know what's n the other side of that door or call.

When I started doing sales, I was fearful of being rejected. I was scared about what people were thinking about me. Then I realized...this job wasn't about me. It was about the person I was talking to at each and every opportunity. When I because curious about them, my whole sales process changed.

Making a phone call, paying a visit, or cold-calling is all about pushing the door open and seeing what happens. The door is simply a barrier between you and the person with whom you want to connect. Sales are about being willing to push that door open no mater what is not the other side.

Sometime you are going to to run into people who are mean, upset, angry, sad, or disenchanted. They are going to try to make you feel the same way. Don't let them. Sometimes you're going to run into people who are nice, happy, and friendly.
Sometimes you are going to make a sale but most of the time you aren't.

Here is what I do know... If you don't push the door open or make that call or go on that visit, you will never make a sale. Part of sales is tenacity - the ability to just go out and get the sale. The other element has to be curiosity. You have to be curious and interested in the people you interact with throughout the course of your day.

The key is to focus your mind and look at every barrier as an opportunity. There is something interesting on the other side of the door. Go push it open. Go that make call. Go make that visit. Keep doing it. The more you do it, the better you will get. The more you do it, the more opportunity you will have to develop relationship with people. The more you do it,