Sales REPS Vs.
Sales PROS
By: Steve Young, esm4, Inc.
Sales professionals are among
business owners’ greatest assets. These
talented and tenacious individuals advance the frontline of a business in the
marketplace. Their work is vital to the
success of the businesses they serve.
Unfortunately, these individuals are becoming increasingly difficult to
find. The sales occupation continues to change from the influx of
sales representatives into the workforce.
In recent years, the sales
occupation has sustained a different kind of salesperson, which I refer to as
the sales representative. While there are several types of salespeople,
there are but two fundamental classifications of salesperson—the sales professional and the sales representative. The difference between these groups is
important for business owners and sales managers to understand, especially if
they are interested in growing a business by acquiring new accounts.
Most
business owners and sales managers cannot distinguish a sales rep from a sales
pro. Unlike other professions such as
accounting, the profession of sales is not formalized; there is no required
certification process, and therefore, no criteria defining the differences
between the levels of proficiency existing among those in the profession. While these two groups—reps and pros—perform
many of the same functions, the differences between them account for many of
the problems business owners have in growing their businesses.
Drawing the Line
The
difference between sales reps and sales pros can be expressed in terms of a degree of quality. Sales reps will present your products and
services to prospective customers, identity, qualify, and follow-up on sales
opportunities. They will create
presentations, schedule sales meetings, and, in the process, occasionally
receive a sale. The sales of the
representative are incidental to their work, which is more mindless (as of a routine) than it is mindful (as if engaged in to ensure the
fulfillment of an objective). By
contrast, the sales of the professional are orchestrated results of his/her work, which is thoughtfully pursued
with the intent of achieving a specific result.
Vision,
preparedness, investment, and skill provide categories for good examples that
can more clearly highlight the differences between sales reps and sales
pros.
Vision
There
are several main objectives in most sales sequences, including finding and
qualifying prospective clients, scheduling appointments with prospective
clients, profiling and identifying leveraging points, clarifying urgency to
buy, and obtaining next-step commitments with a prospect. As selling becomes complex, additional steps
are required in order to achieve a sale.
Identifying and having a vision of the often arcane, prospect-specific
steps can challenge a salesperson. And
an initial vision must often adapt in order to accommodate new steps as they
arise in the pursuit of sales.
Sales
reps lack vision. They give little or no
thought to modifying general sales procedures. Sales reps are not concerned with maximizing
the effectiveness of their endeavors.
Sales professionals consistently strive to gain insight and advantages
into sales situations and opportunities to ensure the success of their mission
to convert potential sales into actualized sales.
Sales
reps can develop their vision and improve their sales by thinking more deeply, questioning,
not settling with their assumptions, and reasoning the “why,” “how,” and “what” beyond the ostensible. This thinking process accounts for the main
difference between many sales successes and failures.
Preparedness
The
basics of preparedness for most sales pursuits are: (1) having a breadth and depth of knowledge about the prospect and the sales opportunities
the prospect represents; (2) strong leveraging
points; (3) anticipation of a prospect’s responses to your presentation,
and consideration of any peripheral issues that could impact achieving the
sale; (4) a step-by-step vision for
securing the sale; (5) a fallback
approach for reengaging a waning prospect.
Sales professionals are prepared to engage and nurture sales
opportunities. Sales representatives
mindlessly go through the motions of call, meet, and follow-up without
sufficient preparation. Sales is a
numbers game for the sales representative who hopes that eventually something
will come from “all of my work.”
Preparing
a salesperson to engage in a sales pursuit requires an investment of time and
materials from the business owner. If
the business owner or sales manager isn’t supporting her/his salespeople in the
activities essential for selling in today’s world, both the business and the
rep will typically lose in competitive selling situations involving competition
that is better prepared.
Sales representatives can improve
their preparedness by asking and answering for themselves questions such as:
1. What
data might help me engage and intrigue my prospect?
2. What
is the main objective of my meeting
with this prospect?
3. What
possible issues might be influencing
my prospect’s buying decision?
4. How
can I create desire for my product
in my prospect?
5. What
questions might my prospect ask me
and how will I answer?
6. What
hurdles can I anticipate between
where the sale is now and finalizing the sale?
7. How
will my presentation help my prospect understand the value I offer?
Investment
A
sales rep rarely considers what his/her sales pursuits cost her/his
employer. Profitability is not a
consideration for the rep. Sales reps see
a sale simply as a sale, and their effort in any sales work as equally valuable. Sales professionals are more valuable to
employers and will consistently outperform sales reps by simply knowing where
and how to invest their skills.
Professionals know which prospects to pursue, when and why a sales
pursuit should be abandoned, how to negotiate and achieve profitable
transactions, and strive to improve their skills in order to maximize profits
from their endeavors.
Sales
representatives can improve their value as salespeople by periodically
questioning themselves:
1.
Am I on-track for reaching my goals, and, if not, how will I change that
status?
2.
What overall value does this sales pursuit represent to me and my employer?
3.
What priority should I give this pursuit in helping achieve my goals?
4.
How does the work I’m doing right
now rank in helping achieve my
goals?
5.
What can I do in order to increase my productivity and ensure reaching my goal?
Skills
Salespeople
must develop a multitude of skills in order to consistently bring sales
opportunities to fruition. Sales reps
often neglect developing their skills.
Sales representatives and sales professionals, therefore, vary to the
extent that they diverge in possessing the skills required to sell most
effectively.
Consider the components of most
sales work and their respective demands:
Conducting research Requires resourcefulness and creativity
Qualifying Requires logic, and breadth and depth of specific
(industry) knowledge
Setting appointments Requires technique proficiency, discernment, and
assertiveness
Presenting Requires strategy formulation, positioning, and
presentation skills
Nurturing business Requires patience, resourcefulness, persistence,
creativity, and subtlety
Selling
professionally requires a multitude of skills working synergistically. Those who possess and refine such skills
become top performers. Most people
employed in sales, however, do not improve their skills, and thus, remain ill equipped
to succeed consistently.
When
striving to improve the sales of your company, understand which skills are
required to meet your specific challenges.
Consider your sales methodology. Understand
the rationale behind what you are practicing, and require the same exercise from
your salespeople.
The greatest sales skill that you
can develop is the depth of your thinking.
Sales professionals are deep thinkers about sales situations and,
therefore, are more capable of figuring out how to effectively manage those situations
in order to achieve success. Convert
your sales reps into sales professionals with process-based sales training, performance
standards, and appropriate support, and then enjoy greater sales success.
No comments:
Post a Comment