Best practices in sales.

While sales managers are looking for ways to incorporate true best practices into their organization, the question is: “Which techniques are truly best practices and which are merely recommendations by a self-proclaimed expert?” 

Recently an interesting article about best practices in sales was brought to my attention.It starts by defining a best practice is “a technique or methodology which, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result in a specific context.” The author Steve Gielda, partner at Advantage Performance Group (www.advantageperformance.com), adds that a best practice must be: 1) Observable (something top performers actually do as opposed to something they say they do); 2) Measurable (a behavior, not an attitude); 3) Repeatable (something that can be replicated across the sales force); 4) Closely linked with success (if performed regularly, it leads to winning more often than not).

Here are five that truly are best practices:

#1: Understand and develop customer needs. The ability of a sales person to identify a customer’s problem areas. The ability to ask good questions and listen to what the customer says naturally follow this practice.

#2: Gain mutual trust. Top performing sales people work hard at building and maintaining trust. They do it by always telling the truth, even when it might cost them business; by responding quickly to complaints, problems and customers’ expressed needs; by returning calls in a timely manner; and by doing what they say they are going to do, when they say they are going to do it.

#3: Know your customer. This goes beyond uncovering their needs to knowing what they and their organization can do. The best practice is to penetrate deeper to understand the customer’s business. Who are their customers? What are the trends impacting their customers’ market or industry? How do these trends impact the strategic direction of the customer? Who are the customer’s competitors and how do they threaten the customer? Top-performers do not solely rely on asking their customer about these issues, but invest the time to research it themselves.

#4: Access and power to leverage internal resources in creating customer value. Top-performing sales people are expert resource brokers. They not only know what the customer needs to drive better results, but they know the person or people who can best demonstrate that solution. They know when to draw on internal resources and when to partner with other vendors to serve the customer’s interests.

#5: Know who else is talking with your prospect during the sales cycle. You may find yourself in a complex sales process and therefore view one good sales call as one link in a long chain of successful interactions. The goal in each customer interaction is to move the sale forward, sometimes inch by inch. You want to know if and when your prospect is speaking to the competition. 

Now judge for yourself and give us your feedback. Do you agree with any or  most of these? Let me know what has helped you close your best deal yet.  

What is the value of your solution? (is there a problem?)

In my last post I promised to blog something on “What is the value of your solution? (is there a problem?).” I think everyone in sales will at some point in their career have become frustrated with customers or prospects that jump straight to the question, “How much?” after you’ve given your presentation on all the features and benefits your solution has to offer. Naming a figure (say $10,000) will immediately put you and your prospect in a premature discussion about price. And you know for sure what your prospect’s reaction will be. “Oh, that is too expensive!” “Expensive?” you think, “Don’t they understand the value of my solution?” 

So, what is the value of your solution? A solution has no inherent value, really. Your solution derives its value from the problem it solves. If there is no problem you can’t fix it. So, is there a problem that your solution is tackling? Does your solution fill a need or help to achieve a goal? That is the question we should ask ourselves in qualifying our prospect. Once we have qualified, we need to quantify it – in terms of money. How big is the problem we are seeking to address?

Let’s say, your annual sales revenue is $1,000,000 produced by 100 orders at an average of $10,000 per sale. The current cost of sales is 40% making it $4,000 per sale. And the length of your average sales cycle is 40 days bringing the calculated cost of outstanding sales to $100 per day. So each day an opportunity is not closing will cost your company $100 per potential sale. That is the problem! If your solution reduces the average sales cycle by 15% from 40 days to 34 days, you are saving the company $60,000 per year. That is the value of your solution.

 If we present our value proposition in this way, do you think the customer will have the same reaction when coming up with a figure, say $10,000 when asked “How much?” Is there a problem?

Can we get the best of both worlds? Sales, Marketing and the great divide.

Hello and welcome to my personal blog.

This is my first post and I am excited that finally I have my very own personal blog. In this blog I’ll cover topics about sales and marketing, both on- and offline.

If you’re in sales you will be able to identify with many of the issues to come ranging from understanding your client’s buying reasons (unique selling points are a thing of the past), creating and claiming customer perceived value, and closing the deal.

Marketers will finally understand why half of all sales people don’t use the marketing tools provided. “What’s wrong with my presentation? It’s all about how great we are!” Customer focus anybody? Also, expect to find articles about:

Have you taken your business online and had your nephew create a stunning website (at a special family rate of course)? Sure your sales numbers have now sky rocketed, right? If not, then you might ask yourself why people are not finding their way to your website. Where do you start? As a sales and business development manager at one of Holland and Belgium’s leading Search Engine Marketing agencies I look forward to sharing - and receiving - some of the best (and worst) practices in the field. Please be sure to subscribe to our feed and keep yourself updated. Lots to blog about!

Soon,

Rob