Sales - "It is not like it used to be"
Years ago the formula for increased or sustained sales was pretty straight forwards...more sales people speaking with more customers fundamentally generated more sales. If you wanted to increase sales then you needed a bigger team. If the team was large enough yet the sales did not come though then you needed to do more marketing, or the right marketing. Sales training was about fundamentals such as product/service knowledge, negotiation and closing techniques...
Things have dramatically changed over the last 20 years, although only the most successful companies have changed the way they 'sell'. Sales is no longer an art-form, a mysterious agreement achieved on the golf course, or some form of magic best delivered by the flamboyant. B2B sales is now a science, it is a professional skill.
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What changed?
A number of behaviours have changed, but when asked an obvious change is the invention of the internet, although for most the internet is not to blame in the way most people initially suggest.
A common error is to presume that to sell in the age of the internet we need to now USE this technology and create an online sales process, for almost every business I work with this approach can not out perform professional sales people.
"For most businesses the internet has NOT changed the way we sell, but it HAS changed the way customers buy".
However, sales success is generally not achieved by putting the purchasing process online either. So if we are blaming the internet, yet are not going to use it as part of the solution what has really changed? The answer comes from not looking at how we will use the internet, but rather by understanding how our customers use it and what its existence does to the way they think and work.
Customers are now 'experts'
Twenty years ago when purchassing, if I wanted to understand some technical detail, who can supply me, or what other people think, my options to learn where very limited. Today we all can find out almost anything from a few moments searching the internet. This changes the knowledge our clients have before we meet them, and empowers them to check out claims and details. flamboyant reassurances from a confident sales person are no longer enough, and it becomes very easy for the customer to turn the process to a discussion all about price...so at best these sales people compete to win work on the lowest margins or sell less suitable budget products/services.
The buyer is dead
The poor economy in recent years and improved communication systems has changed the purchasing culture for most businesses. There are more people than ever queueing for the buyers job, and amounst other things this leads to insecure and riskaverse purchassing. It is now easy and normal for the buyer to share the decision process, protecting their job by reducing the blame if a decision is poor, and utilising a wider pool of skills held by colueges and partners. The single point of contact buyer is now very rare.
Sales people who used to have a strong relationship with a buyer need to change the way they approach sales, or discover thier strong relationship has less value than it held in years past.
What do I do?
If a company wants to improve sales, the approach to sales and fundamental strategy needs to be reviewed and refined.
All of the traditional skills such as product knowledge, negotiation skills and closing skills are still valuable, but the professional sales person needs to understand much more about the sales process and the interconnections between all those involved. This is best measured and managed with dedicated tools that help document and progress a more complex sales process.
"It is no longer just about head hunting experienced high performers, and growing the size of the team...it is about understanding your customers and adopting a strategy that supports them and the sales process".
If you would like to consider reviewing your own approach to sales, and agree the answer is to not just spend more and more on new sales people, then the first step is to get in touch. An initial no obligation meeting will establish if you are the type of business that I can help, and allow you to further evaluate what would be involved if I helped streghten this part of your business.
Call on 07779 888 500, email Contact@GroveShaw.co.uk, or book a meeting online
"Arrange an meeting to establish if you are the type of business that I can help, and to understand what would be involved".
Call : 07779 888 500
Email : Contact@GroveShaw.co.uk
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