17 ways to improve your sales
The trouble is it's very easy for even the best sales team to get stuck in a rut, find themselves in the comfort zone or start taking it easy. But, unless you're in a dot.com collapse scenario, there's always something you can do re-enthuse and re-energise these most vital members of your workforce. Here is our guide to putting some pep back into your salespeople.
1. Make them talk to people who matter
Salespeople often call the monkey when they should be calling the organ grinder. 'One of the most important things', says Colin Wells, chairman of JBS, 'is to speak to the decision maker. Salespeople, especially newer ones tend to call one level down because they think its an easier call.' In fact, continues Wells, the decision maker is often a far nicer person than those below him or her and as they have the authority will often say 'bugger it, where do I sign?' So do some research find out who this person is, then call them.
2. Get it write
Everyone agrees on this one. Nothing will put off a prospective client more than a simple error that should have been spotted by someone - anyone. Normally this is a spelling error in a letter - and a simple transposed i and e can undo the good work of a dozen hard phone calls. This kind of thing looks incredibly sloppy and does nothing to engender belief in the quality of your products. So try and create a culture where people proofread each others' letters. Or set up a series of readymade templates. Either way you've got to eradicate it. Clients know theirs [intended] no excuse for this kind of sloppiness.
3. Tell them to listen
'Salesmen,' says Wells, 'tend to be glib and they try to change people's minds.' But the fact is few are actually that persuasive. What they should be doing at the outset is listening and finding out what it is that their customers want, what problems they have and what solutions they need. Then, he says, 'show it to them. Don't start out by shouting in the dark, show empathy understand what turns them on, then work on how you can deliver that. That's the essence of sales.'
4. Give them goals
There's nothing worse than having your sales team shooting at a fuzzy target. 'One of the prevailing truisms in my experience,' says Jonathan Bunis, COO of Espotting, 'is the clear and unquestionable clarity of the goal for a sales rep.' They must know what is outstanding, what is very good, what is average and what is poor - and it can often be as simple as a whiteboard with targets on it. 'They need to be goals that the team and individual buy into and understand' says Bunis, 'as long as that's the case it almost doesn't matter what they are.'
5. Energise Them
Create physical energy and excitement in the place they work. Apart from at the very top end, salespeople thrive on buzz and there is nothing worse than a sales department that has the vibe of an accounting department. You want people jumping up when they've completed a deal and you want chatter going on at all times. People feed on the what goes on around them and it helps them to give good phone.
6. Reward Them
'For managers,' says Bunis, 'it's very important to be relentless with rewards for excellent execution.' You cannot, he says, reward at the end of the year or even the quarter. Do this and the relationship between good performance and recognition becomes rather nebulous - salespeople are 'immediate satisfaction' personalities. Moreover, he adds, when it comes to incentivisation, there is nothing wrong with a bit of theatre. 'I once went to a meeting in Chicago. One guy there was a salesman who had been doing a particularly brilliant job. We were sitting there and the CEO walked in with two Brinks Mat heavies and dumped $45,000 in cash in front of him. It sat there for the whole meeting and I've never seen a better example of motivation.'
7. Make Targets Realistic
'Many companies such as ours,' says Ross Hugo, MD of holidaylets.net, 'have to keep abreast of the fact that their market is cyclical.' So, in this case it would be ludicrous having the same targets in February and March which as pretty busy as June when most people have already made vacation arrangements. On a more general note, set targets too high and commission based people will be demotivated; set them too low and you'll be paying out stacks of cash. 'Each month,' says Hugo, 'we have to sit down with the team and agree realistic targets based on what both parties think is achievable.'
8. Talk to Them
Salespeople are real people too and, like everyone else in the business, they need to feel wanted and appreciated. 'You've got to keep talking to them,' says Hugo, 'all the time. Give them feedback and take and interest in what they're up to. Just stopping by for a chat is a great uplift.' On a related note, if you have good news or want to recognise someone, for God's sake do it in person, not by email. It means ten times as much if you actually walk the five metres over to their desk.
9. Encourage Feedback
You should provide the channels for your customers to tell you how they feel about your products or service, whether it be through your website, your salespeople or face to face. But you should be careful about how you interpret this. Bear in mind that happy customers usually don't give you much feedback - the vast majority comes from the dissatisfied. So while you should always respond - especially to those who are unhappy - you should think twice about changing an offering that has a silent satisfied majority. As for positive feedback: well that's great - you should use it as testimonials.
10. Understand your Target Market
'Make sure your product or service gives them a number of benefits,' says David Horwood, CEO of ihotesk,'and show them the return on investment which must be believable.' It's not rocket science, but you have to make this obvious - and if it isn't you probably need to rework your offering. 'Look at your product or service though your prospect's eyes' says Horwood. He also adds that it's worth getting yourself a focussed database of clients: if you try to cover too many, you'll just wind up with a scattergun approach.
11. Use a variety of approaches
Make sure you approach prospects in a number of different ways. Probably the best is to ask existing prospects for referrals: there is nothing like the dropping of a name known to both parties to break the ice. You may also want to use direct mail, telemarketing or even partner with businesses who are after the same target but with whom there is no conflict of interest. Exhibiting and or sponsoring events that your prospects are likely to attend can work well too.
12. Everyone's a salesperson
'Your best sales people,' says Horwood, aren't necessarily your sales people.' In fact, anyone can be a salesperson or at least be spreading the message about what your business has to offer. To take a very simple example, what happens if a potential customer winds up speaking to someone in IT support? That person should at least be able to point them in the right direction. To this end, Horwood suggests that everyone in your business should know what the company offers and what the business's key messages are. And he says, taking a rather broader view, 'Give everyone the skills to identify opportunities and know what to do if they do spot one.' For not all great sales ideas come from salespeople.
13. Check The Chemistry
Not everyone gets on with everyone else and this as true of salespeople and customers as it is in other areas. 'As I expand my sales team,' says Paul Brett MD of Powerdesk, 'I will be hiring a variety of personalities for this reason.' Moreover people are good at different things: some people may be great at cold calling and opening accounts; but they may not be the best to necessarily maintain these relationships. But sometimes you might actually want to work contrary to this. If say a negotiation isn't really going anywhere or a relationship is going flat, you may want to send someone more abrasive or challenging in - to mix things up a little.
14. Train Them
'Our sales and marketing people all do a basic technology training' says Brett, 'We also keep them up to current market trends.' This is crucial - there is nothing worse than a customer talking to a salesperson who knows absolutely nothing about what they're selling. And in esoteric or high tech areas this can be a real problem: for while everyone knows something about, say, magazines, not many people outside the sector know much about database management software. Plus, training sends out a morale-boosting message to your staff - that they are worth investing in.
15. Appearance
A poor personal appearance is to a person what a misspelled word is to a letter: it makes a very, very bad impression indeed. This person is representing your company and their shoes are scuffed, their jacket has shiny patches and the thin end of tie is too long - what does that say about your brand? Generally you should make it clear to people who visit clients that appropriate standards of appearance are expected. If someone insists on dressing poorly, well, it's difficult, but you really have to take them aside for a quiet word. And this is doubly true of an employee who has B.O. Though if you really couldn't bring yourself to say the necessary getting in a makeover consultant for half a day might be a solution.
16. Do your presentations represent you?
Take a look at your presentations. Are they beautifully designed pieces of communication - or do they still have old logos and 071 phone numbers all over them? Have they been designed professionally or just evolved ad hoc over the years? What do they say about your brand? If the answers to any of these have you wincing then you need to redesign them. Even the best salespeople need good tools.
17. Talk it over
You need to hold meetings - perhaps monthly - to work out what went right and what went wrong. In these it might be a good idea to take case studies - say a deal that was very successful and one that was a disappointment. Analyse both cases and look for lessons that can be learned. Encourage your people to work as a team and share their experiences and tips. Also salespeople can be pretty cagey and jealously guard their prospects and techniques. Encourage a culture of openness where people share and ask for advice.
For More Please Contact SEO COMPANY ORISSA, ssahoo001@gmail.com, 918895086645
Chat ID: ssahoo001@gmail.com(Gmail), ms.stephen(Skype), Direct chat in the website too.
