That salesman can’t sell anything! Fire’m!!
This phrase has been uttered innumerable times by frustrated managers and executives who failed to make their numbers. The blame is always laid at the salesperson’s feet. He did not close, she did not get the account; and so it goes, but few stop to look at the reasons for the salesperson’s inability to bring home the proverbial bacon.
Let me stop here and say yes, they are a few people that should not be in sales, because their personalities are not suited to the work. Conversely, there are many more that are good, yet find that when they try to sell the company’s products or services, the prospect has no understanding or awareness of the values being offered.
At this point an epiphany should occur but often it doesn’t. Why? Because managements often believe that the salesperson’s job is to educate, to deliver the message, to provide the service, and to set up the value proposition instantly. The reality is that that most sales occur after the 5th sales call or interaction is ignored. If all the sales could be “closed” on first interaction between the salesperson and the prospect, then why do we try to build relationships with the customer? Or even run multiple commercials in the media? We could just run the commercial once and it would sell – look at all the money that companies would save.
The reality is that full robust sales, marketing and public relations (PR) campaigns are required if the company is to succeed on a continuing basis. And yes, there are exceptions – some can do it using salesperson only. But they can be vulnerable to concerted attack by a competitor. But that is outside the scope of this article.
So let’s look at the pieces starting with marketing. What are the components of a good marketing campaign? Among the main ingredients is Branding. Branding, simply put, is the promise the company makes to its customers relative to its products or services. Its components, in turn, are quality services, warranties, and methods of doing business (to name a few).
Other key ingredients of marketing are: setting prices, advertising, market research, marketing communications, product planning, distribution, and positioning. Again, there are many more components to this function.
Many people sometimes misunderstand public relations – it is not advertising. If this seems confusing then look at it this way – PR is an opportunity to put yourself in a good light, share your views, and otherwise build the credibility of your company or position. Advertising, in turn, extols the benefits of a product or service. In any case Public Relations is critical to the support of a well-rounded sales effort.
“Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.” – African Proverb
Sales is another function that involves multiple disciplines such as strategy, tactics, promotions, channels, organization, customer feedback, support (both internal and external), service, and the development of the sales team, to name a few.
So what about the salesperson out there who’s making the direct contact with the customers and prospects? Some companies wonder why these people do not succeed. The reaction is “we gave them one week’s worth of training, they should be experts”. Then the salespeople get calls every day from handlers, telling them to sell more, what the bonuses are and what to do to close a sale, and how well their associates are doing. This is probably the wrong approach, although it is traditional. If the sales person burns out, well, the company gets another one – especially if it is a commissions-only position. In reality, the company has very little of its own skin in the game. When the ads read, “self-starter, self-motivated, needs little supervision,” they can be interpreted as chaos back at the corporation.
So, what’s the alternative?
Training and development, including real analysis of the training and the individual. Working with the senior sales trainer on drills, making joint calls, playing out “what if” scenarios, and, above all, providing the sales person with an understanding of the company’s product or service. Also providing real support, in the form of coaching, information, techniques etc., and not just telling salespeople to go sell more.
Why should a company do this? Well, hiring people is expensive and losing sales is expensive, but losing opportunities is even more so. Presenting the wrong information to the prospects reflects poorly back on the company, which is why the enlightened companies develop their people and give them the tools to do an outstanding presentation, sale and close.
A better way to think of the sales/marketing/PR effort is in the same way as the defense department views its role for defending the country. The defense will be much more successful if it has an army, navy and air force than just a strong army. As we have just witnessed, excellent training, support, and logistics produces excellent results.
So what is a solution? Build it correctly using your resources and you will produce a strong, balanced organization that contains all the key elements for selling your products or services.
Mr. Vishney has held several senior level positions as Partner in a Consulting firm, CEO, VP Sales and Marketing, Consultant, and CIO. As the founder, chairman, and CEO of the globally recognized software company, AWARD Software Inc., Mr. Vishney was instrumental in offering the leading edge BIOS software in the PC industry, which runs on over 300 million personal computers today. You can contact him at rvishney@vcgconsult.com, or find out more about him, his company, products and services at http://www.vishney.com.
