Ingredients for Sales Success

Most business owners think salespeople are a waste of money. They don't work out. That is true often. Sales is probably the toughest position to fill. Put it this way: give any employee - tech, CSR, whoever - give him a sales quota and watch him sweat. Most employees don't really have metrics on them like a salesperson. Certainly, in bigger orgs, the CSR (customer service reps) have metrics on call times and calls answered per hour, but those aren't the same as: "Go change that guy's mind and sell him $500 worth of services" every week. Or we won't pay you.

• Examine your business honestly. Are you even set up to sell?
• Is your website current and mobile ready? Does it have good copy that interests people? Any analytics? Any calls to action?
• Do you have a CRM system? is it being used or is it like the treadmill in your garage?
• Is there an on-boarding procedure and training policy for salespeople AND customers?
• How will you manage the salesperson? Who will he or she go to with questions? You can sell from an island.
• Collateral is nice, especially if it answers the basics about features, benefits, etc.
• Are there any testimonials?

Cast Studies are common today. Why? Because buyers don't like risk and your company hasn't done the trust building (used to be called branding) needed to establish trust. (And telecom is an industry full of companies that over-promise and under-deliver and under-whelm customers.)

• Is there a leads list? Is there a list of former customers?
• Do you have a newsletter? Do you do any email marketing to your customer base? Social media is for noise and reach, but email is where the magic happens. Is someone in charge of email marketing?
• Does your company do any advertising, marketing, PR?

So, you don't email anyone because you don't want to bother them??? (It means that even you don't think you can put anything valuable in an email. Hmmm.) Your website isn't up-to-date. You have no case studies or testimonials or CRM or leads, but this new salesperson is supposed to go out there and do it all - in less than 90 days - and bring in revenue???? That is what we call UNREALISTIC!

Also, did you train her on the products? Describe how your services help companies? Explain the company value proposition? Maybe give the salesperson a couple of questions to ask? Or did the salesperson have to come up with all this on her own? If so, You set them up for failure.

And you aren't doing your brand any good either. Your brand is your reputation. If you send unprepared people out under your logo, they either build your brand or destroy it. Every touch of the market place - ads, calls, billing, installs - everything is part of marketing, part of building a reputation, ingredients of building trust. Trust is required to sell anything.

There are 3 sales going on all of the time simultaneously: Prospects have to trust the salesperson, the company and the product that they are buying.

Would you send a tech out for an install without making sure he knew how to configure the equipment, without the tech having the right gear and tools?

See you in Atlanta!