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I know the pressure to “just
sell something” is intense. In fact, it can send the most seasoned salesperson
into full blown OCD trying to chase rabbits. But, don’t do it.
I know it’s tempting to just
lower your price thinking you’re trading for volume, but, don’t do it.
I know you want to please your
prospects by overpromising just to gain the sale but, don’t do it.
I know you want to play the
blame game. The company wants to blame the sales force for the drop in business
and the sales team wants to blame operations for not meeting customer
expectations. But, don’t do it.
If your survival mode has been
to just limit spending and cut staff without regard to current staff, don’t do
it.
Instead upgrade your sales
skills and maximize potential!
It is a fact that training is
essential to thriving during a recession. We all know times are tough (so does
your staff) and it’s for this reason that you need to show a commitment to your
staff. Training staff demonstrates leadership during tough times. By not
training during these times you can negatively affect morale. What does morale
have to do with anything? Productivity – productivity equals an increase in
sales which should equal an increase in profits. Training also provides the
competitive advantage you will need today and in the future.
“If you think training
is expensive, try incompetence.”
We have to get back
to training our sales and management team on how to rely less on gimmicks and
more on sales skills, sales effectiveness and strategy in order for them to
generate the activity levels that were created artificially in the past. We have
become complacent over the years thinking that customers would come to us and
now it’s time for us to go to them. It is truly back to basics, back to a time
when you had to be an “order maker” instead of the “order taker”.
Most of the training dollars
invested over the past decade were spent on rolling out software programs—to
improve forecast accuracy and improve the efficiency of the organization. But
what about making the individual sales person being more effective? Oops! Seems
we forgot about that. Just look around your organization. Even if you have good
people, chances are they are each attacking the sales process
differently—oftentimes, based on their experience from the past ten years. Oops
again! Remember, the economy has changed and we are no longer selling into a
market where there are easy pickings.
The days of easy
opportunities are over for now and it is time to get 'back to basics' of
building your business through your people. That rebuilding means daily
attention to the development of your people's skills, sales training, sales
effectiveness and the motivation for your group starting with management and
flowing to all of your employees.
Contact me today for
a free consultation and training assessment.
View this article online at
StaffDigest
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StaffDigest.com