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Archive for the 'Motivating Salespeople' Category
Selling really is fun when you’re doing it right… Are you doing it right?
I know it’s an old cliché, “When the
going gets tough, the tough get going.”
However, I think it’s really appropriate
for today’s marketplace.
I don’t believe
many people would disagree with the
fact that it is a tough marketplace that
we are selling in today.
I also don’t think
anyone, at least in their right mind, would
call this economy a seller’s market.
I recently wrote about
whether selling was an art or a science. My
conclusion, after over 10 years of hiring,
training and developing sales people, is
that selling is, without question, a science.
The art of selling, I believe, lies in one’s
ability to execute the science of selling.
In the article, I quoted the founder of a
well-known company who stated,
“Selling is a fun game when you’re
doing it well.
It’s the pits when you’re
not.” Selling really is fun when you’re
doing it well.
Unfortunately, most
salespeople don’t do it very well.
I define a sales professional as
someone who “has a commitment to a
calling, has the training, education and
expertise that an amateur does not.”
When
the going gets tough, the amateurs drop
out. The professionals not only survive
but many times excel in a down economy.
The following is an excerpt from
an email I received a few weeks ago:
“The local promotional business market here in Los Angeles has contracted just as it has nationwide.
Personally I am seeing a rather large
influx of program sales and my
personal January production is up 85 percent over
2010.
There are many reasons for this
including the fact that many non career
solution driven distributors are dropping out of the business
selling, especially in a booming
economy, almost anyone can get a sales
job and experience a degree of success.
However, when the boom ends, as it
inevitably does, these individuals are the first
to move on.
When the going gets tough, the
professional works harder and smarter, is
more imaginative and creative and finds
new, innovative ways to develop business.
Let’s again review our definition of a
sales professional.
How many salespeople
do you know who have a commitment
to a calling and pursue education and
training consistent with the old adage that
school is never out for the professional?
In Malcolm Gladwell’s new book “Outliers”
(this is the same author that gave us “The
Tipping Point” and “Blink”), he suggests
that the difference between a professional and
a talented amateur is 10,000 hours of practice.
Even though Gladwell did not use
selling as an example, I think his
reference is just as applicable to selling
as it is to law, computers, music or any
other field of learning.
However, I do
take exception to the general cliché that
practice makes perfect, because if you’re
practicing doing something wrong, all you’re
doing is getting better at getting worse.
Many times I have asked the question,
“What do you think would happen if a
salesperson would just spend 10 percent
of the amount of time learning selling as
they would have to put in to become a
doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, or any
other professional?”
Unfortunately, most
salespeople choose to only learn enough to
get by, whatever “getting by” means to them.
The HR Chally Group, in a sales
benchmarking study, identified
what customers want from sellers.
Interviews with more than 1,000 corporate
customers established three major needs
that customers expected vendors and sellers
to address — even though customers were
not confident that sellers could fill them.
– Customers want to narrow their
own focus to the few things they do best
and outsource the rest without the added
overhead cost of supervising their suppliers.
– Customers want sellers to know their
business well enough to create products
and services they wouldn’t have been
able to design or create themselves.
s o t h e r e i s m o r e p i e f o r
everyone.
– Customers want proof, hard evidence that
their supplier has added value in excess of
price.
T h e C h a l l y R e p o r t st a t e s t h a t ,
“Customers expect salespeople to transform
themselves into professionals who are left at
identifying and satisfying their new buying
needs.
Having conducted extensive research
in customer purchasing behaviors we are
able to enumerate new buying needs.
This
list of expectations essentially defines the
role of the new sales professional of the
21st century.”
“In the customer’s own words, needs
included: Be personally accountable for our
desired results; understand our business; be
on our side; design the right applications;
be easily accessible; solve our problems;
and be creative in responding to our needs.
Buyers expect professional salespeople to be
innovators who bring them fresh ideas to
solve their problems.
Creativity is a major
source of value in today’s salesperson.”
The skills, techniques and philosophies
of professional selling will give you a
sustainable advantage over your
competition. You will sell more, earn more
and have more fun in the process.
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"Selling really is fun when you’re doing it right… Are you doing it right?"
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| Objective: | To motivate a sales force through a contest offering quick redemption of prizes. |
| Strategy Execution: | Eager to achieve its 13th consecutive quarter of growth, the insurer needed to perk up summer sales, traditionally the slow period for the out-in-the-heat door-to-door agents. Hence, the “Summer Fireworks!” contest. Agents were told in the kick-off video, “The long hot days of summer are your window of opportunity to sell and reach new heights.” The company’s 5,000 agents were issued a scratch-off card for every application they wrote. At the weekly sales meetings, the agents ceremoniously scratched their cards one at a time to build excitement. Winners were verified and prizes such as auto dashboard noteholders, six-pack coolers, caps, vinyl bags, watches and calculators were awarded at the next meeting. Each ticket was entered into a weekly sweepstakes that offered a Cancun vacation, a cruise and various merchandise prizes. At the end of the contest, there was a grand prize drawing for a $10,000 car voucher. |
| Results: | With new applications averaging 500 a week, American General obtained $1.25 million in new premium income and attained its historic 13th quarter of growth. |
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"How To Get Your Sales Team To Have Record Quarters"
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| Objective: | To increase sales (new installations, water heaters, ranges, and extended warranties) by five percent compared to the same sales period the previous year. |
| Strategy Execution: | This three-month Olympic-themed “Gallons for Gold” promotion was conducted in 820 district offices (which became known as “countries”) located throughout the United States and at the headquarters office. Targeted were 8,000 employees, including drivers, customer service personnel, secretaries, managers, corporate staff and various support personnel. Promotional products were distributed at the “opening ceremonies” and subsequent “special events” during the medal competition by managers in embroidered polo shirts and caps.
Included were T-shirts, flyers, note holders and memo boards given to headquarters employees for support to the “athletes” in the field. Each week’s competition utilized a different event, such as a ski jump to “leap to new levels” and a marathon to “run with the winners.” The promotion’s mascot - Fillmore the Lion (alluding in part to the client’s ongoing sales goal to “fill more tanks with propane”) was imprinted on a variety of specialties in the campaign. “Closing ceremonies” saw gold, silver and bronze awards given. |
| Results: | Total sales were reported of 143.8 percent of the company goal (new installations 165.5 percent of goal, water heaters-199.7 percent, ranges-200 percent, and sales of extended warranties-113 percent). |
[I reckon these lead generation ideas are a beut mate!]
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