| |
| |
|
Sales Management Information |
|
|
|
The Get Dangerous Quickly Approach to Product/Service Training
In 2000 a computer distributor hired me to help them build a software specialist sales team. The distributor had more than 100 "generalist" salespeople, but these salespeople were doing a poor job of selling software. The distributor's management felt a team of specialists could help jump-start growth in software sales. This was a very interesting project for several reasons. First, the distributor had sixteen software products in its portfolio. Second, they couldn't afford to hire experienced software salespeople. Instead, we needed to hire good consultative salespeople and train them to sell all sixteen software products. We also needed to write a business plan, get a budget approved, hire six salespeople, train them to sell sixteen software products, and have them working in the field?within 90 days. Sound impossible? It sure seemed that way at first glance; but, when I talked to the various software manufacturers, I came to an important realization. All of the software manufacturers were almost desperately eager for incremental opportunities. If the new software salespeople could identify qualified opportunities, the software manufacturers would be delighted to provide product experts to help turn the opportunities into sales. So, all the new software salespeople really needed to learn was how to find and qualify opportunities. I knew there was no way we could make our new salespeople experts in sixteen software products in any reasonable time frame. But, we could make them experts in the business problems that the software products addressed. And, we could provide them with tools they could use as "cheat sheets" in the field to determine whether prospects had those specific business problems, and if they did, to quantify the impact of the business problems. There was just one challenge. The software manufacturers' marketing departments were all accustomed to delivering very detailed, technical training. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get them to understand the kind of abbreviated, targeted training that I wanted my salespeople to receive. I even roughed out a sample training tool (the very first "get dangerous quickly" document) and sent it to each software manufacturer. Despite repeated conversations and lots of good-faith efforts, they just never "got it". So, I developed my team's training tools and conducted most of the training myself. What were the results? The six software salespeople helped the distributor's existing 100 salespeople double software sales during their first six months on the job! Unfortunately, the "dot com bust" hit shortly thereafter, and the software specialist team fell victim to deep headcount cuts. This project taught me a very important lesson: salespeople don't need to be experts in specific products or services to sell them successfully. They do need to be experts in the business problems that the products or services can solve, as well as how to find and qualify opportunities, and how to leverage expert resources. If you want to produce rapid sales results, redesign your product/service training curriculums to help your salespeople "get dangerous quickly". You'll be glad you did! Copyright 2005 -- Alan Rigg Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. To learn more about his book and sign up for more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020performance.com.
MORE RESOURCES: |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Snuff Out the Competition Without Leaving a Mark! Does the competition drive you crazy? Are they relentless about taking your clients away? Are customer loyalties becoming a thing of the past?In our ever changing world, it seems securing business these days comes down to, who will provide the most services at the lowest possible price.To add insult to injury your previously served customers have taken on a new militant attitude about obtaining your services. Ten Awesome Ways To Incease Your Sales In Holidays Everybody thinks that the businesses will slow down a bit in holiday seasons. Ofcourse everybody thinks that people don't want to start new ventures in holidays too. How to Organize a Seminar or an Event Seminars and events have always been implemented as a holistic experience to participants. Thus, organizing an event requires extensive planning and preparation with most work implemented at least a few months before the actual event. The Benefits of Catalog Sales For Your Business Things to watch out for when selling your product in catalogs.Giving away the farm. 8 Line Items of a Trade Show Budget Budget Guidelines for Trade Show MarketingB'techa didn't know - Trade shows are the second largest expenditure of corporate marketing dollars in the US. Only the field salesperson costs a company more. Increase Retail Sales With Meetups I recently attended the monthly Italian language Meetup here in Little Rock. Meetups are informal social gatherings of people with similar interests in a particular topic. All Small Businesses Need to Gather Community Intel How well do you know your community? As business owners it is essential that we know our communities intimately. Have you ever made the effort to learn more about your town; Do you even know where to look. How to Increase The Sales Of Promotional Products I have searched for a new way to increase the sales of my promotional products. A good way is to start an affiliate-program with a commision for every customer who buy an product and who came to your page from a webpage of one of your affiliate-partners. 5 Secrets to Managing Your Sales Manager Productively Many people believe that the main reason for representatives leaving their organisation is that of money in that they leave for a bigger salary. In fact, the biggest reason why people leave organisations is that the role they are doing is no longer offering any challenge or excitement. Run a Productive Business From Your Car-Office The way we do business has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. More products and services are now being offered outside traditional premises. Whats a Professional Sales Manager? I was in the depths of a major depression. As a third year salesperson with a good company, I was doing well, and was on my way to becoming the top salesperson in the nation for that company. Management From Within Inspiration and Management from Within - Part 2.The more you follow the path of exploration into the mystery of life, the more life becomes revealed to you. Sex, Drugs, & Rock-n-Roll: Trade Show Traps and Tips Sex, Drugs & Rock-n-RollHere's the Scenario.. Never Trust a Silent Customer Imagine you run a pizza parlour. You have all these neighbourhood families that pop in at least once a week for some pizza, garlic bread and Coke. 6 Common Mistakes in the Sales Hiring Process Is lack of sales results, more sales training costs, months ofunearned salary and damage to your company's image orreputation your company's method of NOT finding goodsalespeople? For most companies it is!The "trial and error" method of hiring salespeople is verycostly to a business. Without a viable way to hire qualitysales people everyone in the same organization is negativelyaffected. Energize Your Organization No matter what you do, it seems, your employees do only what's absolutely necessary to get along. You've handed out raises across the board year after year. Sales & Marketing Plan Strategies Design and Implementation of a new Sales & Marketing campaign must be carefully thought through from the beginning. What message do you want to send about your company, products, and services? What are the anticipated results? What is the execution strategy? What is the cost ratio versus expected return?These are just a few of the questions that run through our minds in the early stages of planning. A Coachs Handbook For Sales Managers This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section "About the Author". Is Sales Process & CRM Stopping Sales? Standard metrics and KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) are created usually between The Sales Director, The Financial Director and The Managing Director. These KPI's tell the sales teams what they should be doing. Transforming Your Sales Force by Creating Specific Expectations I just finished a phone call with a potential client who had called to discuss a problem. His 18 person sales force was paid on straight commission.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |