Maximum Sales
By: Steve Young, esm4,
Inc.
After
twenty-five plus years of sales experience working with companies as visible as
Chevron, as prestigious as the production firm for the Oscars and Emmys, and
clients whose names are among the most famous in the world—including Walmart,
Estee Lauder, Coca-Cola, Intel, Viacom, Motorola—I can assure you that there is
no simple solution for maximum sales.
Maximum sales is achieved by tapping potential.
There are no simple
answers to questions about how sales excellence can be achieved and sustained. Any simple summation—“persist,”
“follow-through,” “listen,” “maintain a positive attitude,” etc.—amounts to
very little, since platitudes and references to specific practices are all that
can be said simply. Names of practices
and platitudes constitute the superficial level of actual concepts. And concepts have dimensions and layers that
involve complex thought, which require explanations in order to be
understood. Although there are no simple
answers, answers do exist. The following
article offers answers to the questions about how to maximize sales and achieve sales reliably.
Starting Point
In order to achieve maximum sales, you must pursue maximum sales; incremental growth
is no longer a sufficient accomplishment for your business. Prepare accordingly: your Sales operation must include the following
four “sales pillars”:
Sales strategy
Strategy provides the rationale for engagement and the
nutriment of sales opportunities;
Sales process
Process provides developmental procedures for the
“what,” “why,” and “how” of sales activities;
Sales training
Training provides relevant instruction to sales
representation according to the strategy and process;
Sales management
Management safeguards—monitors, evaluates, nurtures—sales
progress.
These sales pillars are
required elements for maximum sales for virtually every revenue-oriented
company. With your sales pillars in
place, the next step to consider is your sales
standard.
The Standard of Sales Excellence
If you employ salespeople
or proactively sell a product or service by another means, you have a sales standard. Sales
improvement is satisfied with an
increase in qualities and quantities of various sales activities. Optimization
satisfies a company’s potential to sell its products and services to its full extent. Improve your sales standard and you will improve your sales. This applies to every business, regardless of its type, size, or the number of
salespeople employed.
In any given company,
parts of a Sales operation may include:
· The salesperson or sales team
· The sales manager or person who manages sales
· Support staff
· Sales materials
· Sales goals
· Organizational system—CRM
· The competition
· The company’s market position
· Sales support data
Your sales standard is an
aggregate of three distinct criteria:
(1) Performance—the minimum
performance level that you require
from the various parts of
your Sales operation;
(2) Response—the requirements for
how those parts should interact with one another;
(3) Application—the means by which
results/products from those parts (such as leads, sales opportunities, analytics,
etc.) are evaluated and used by you or your management team.
Here are a few examples
of parts of a Sales operation and a Performance,
Response, or Application correlative, as it may relate to another part of the
operation or company:
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The sales quota
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Management’s response to subpar performance
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Support materials
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How Marketing is informed of and responds to Sales needs
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Sales data
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Management’s interpretation and use of statistical
information
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Sales skills
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Management’s acceptance of competency differences within
the team
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Communication systems
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Quality of information recorded
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Similarities among
companies exist (such as the industry they share), but each company is unique.
Your company’s uniqueness includes its advantages and disadvantages
in a competitive marketplace or sales situation. Within your uniqueness resides your
potential. Potential can be improved when the parts of your Sales
operation are made more productive; potential can be optimized when the parts of your sales operation function most
effectively and efficiently according to your sales standard.
Think Broadly
Since many business
owners and sales managers do not think about their sales potential in terms of
their sales standard, they focus on symptoms of deficiency in their
operation. As a result, their Sales
operation becomes imbalanced—like a high-performance sports car with an engine
from a lawnmower!
If you think of your
Sales operation only as consisting of certain parts (such as your referral
program, salespeople, Revenue Line, sales materials, CRM) rather than as a comprehensive and interdependent system,
you set yourself up for eventual breakdown in your productivity. Strengthening one link in the metaphorical
chain of your operation creates imbalance, which weakens the chain. You can maintain a more profitable company
through balance among the parts of
your Sales operation. Suggestions:
A solution for issues
with lead generation should include
development of a salesperson’s ability
to convert qualified leads into a sale.
A solution for issues gaining appointments with key
prospective clients should include development of effective presentation materials and a salesperson’s presentation
skills.
A solution for issues
with advancement of sales opportunities should
include development of a salesperson’s ability
to up-sell, cross-sell, and gain referrals.
A solution for issues
with obtaining accurate sales data should
include development of data management
systems, reporting requirements and procedures, and an assessment criterion
for sales management.
These are just a few of
the topics related to your sales standard.
Here are some additional considerations:
What limitations preclude your company’s ability to manage greater
sales?
Are your salespeople
comparable to one another in their skills, in their performance, in their
efficiency? If not, why not? And can performance
standardization be achieved?
Which of the issues has management recognized as being
related to hindrances to enhanced sales
productivity, and which options are being considered as resolutions to
those issues? What is the rationale for
the favored or chosen solution?
How effective and
efficient is the communication
between the departments of your company, and how might communication be
improved? What benefits could
communication improvements provide your company?
Sales Support Services
If you seek the advice of
a sales “expert,” proceed with caution.
You are unique! Your business is
unique. Your company’s uniqueness includes
its advantages and disadvantages in a competitive
marketplace or sales situation. In order
to optimize sales, the parts of your sales operation must function most effectively and efficiently
according to a standard. So, when considering a sales solutions
service, beware: virtually every sales support resource—books, seminars,
consultants, webinars, etc.—offers a template-based
sales program or system that is to be “tailored” or superimposed onto a
business. These services are designed to
provide sales improvement, not sales optimization. Therefore, I advise business owners and sales
managers to avoid sales consultants, and to demand a quality of service that
delivers original, company-specific solutions.
· No premade, template-based sales programs or
systems
· No outdated sales model that has been
“updated”
· No limitations of service
· No “tailored” solutions
Service providers will
evaluate your situation by the limitations of the service(s) they sell. Instead of considering merely the symptoms of weakness in a part or parts
of your Sales operation, consider, instead, your sales solutions options as
they serve your Sales operation as a system. Your sales solution must apply specifically and broadly across all dimensions of your Sales operation. You lose sales when breakdown occurs in even
one link of your operation, and from
the impact that the broken link has on other links of your Sales
operation. Some examples…
You lose sales when your
salespeople cannot…
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(a) generate quality leads
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and (b) cannot engage
their prospects
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(a) intrigue their prospects
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and (b) cannot advance
a sales opportunity
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(a) leverage a sale
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and (b) cannot nurture
sales opportunities
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(a) up-sell, cross-sell, and re-sell
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and (b) cannot deliver
satisfactorily
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(a) work more efficiently
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and (b) do not work
effectively
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You can optimize your
sales and achieve reliable sales growth.
The course to maximum sales exists and may be easy to follow, depending
on the condition of your company. In
order for any sales solutions provider to give you meaningful direction for
sales optimization, their direction must be “state-specific.”
State-specific direction refers
to specific conditions or existing situations in a company such as its place in
the market, its brand identity, its resources, products, services, competition,
salespeople, etc. The most valuable sales solutions are based on state-specific details,
which directly relate to a company’s actual sales potential and commitment to a
performance level.
Summation
If the vision you have
for your business includes fulfillment of your sales potential, your sales
standard, the four pillars of sales, and a state-specific sales program aimed
to achieve optimal synergy among the parts of your Sales operation, then you are
on the right track for maximum sales.
Sell well!
Copyright © 2014 esm4,
Inc. All rights reserved
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Author: Steve Young is founder and President of esm4,
Inc., an original sales solutions company dedicated to the greater sales
success of its clients, and setting the standard for high-quality sales
solutions services.
If you’re interested in more information on this or
another sales-related subject,
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