Getting there
Which sales people did the job and which didn’t? Sounds easy enough to figure out: Just look at wins and losses. But in fact it may be more difficult than it looks. Are you in markets with long sales cycles, or do you have contracts that don’t expire for two or three years? The most telling measure of a salesperson’s success here might not be the number or dollar amount of sales but the number and potential value of new relationships or the strengthening of current ones. A related issue can be the high cost for prospects to switch to a new vendor.
On the other hand, even when the evidence is clear, too many companies keep poorly performing reps too long. Or worse, in our experience, they keep sales people too long without providing them with the consultative selling skills they need or helping them get solid leads and appointments as efficiently as possible.
There are solutions for all of these challenges.
Warning
When setting growth goals, be sure to take customer attrition into account. Even companies that retain customers for several years can need new sales of as much as 12 to 15 percent just to stay even. Growth comes on top of that.
Enjoying the ride
We find that a lot of the fun in selling and marketing comes from testing new approaches. There are many, of course, whether you take the time and effort to do them yourself or opt for more efficiency by engaging professionals: writing a white paper, setting up a blog, spending more time on social networking, attending meetings not only of your trade association but also walking the floor at trade shows where your prospects exhibit. However, be sure to give a new idea a fighting chance. You can’t really do one mailing, for example, and conclude that ‘direct mail doesn’t work for my business.’ The same goes for lead generation and for new sales people. If you’re doing something new, give it your full support!
So, where do the tough go when the going gets tough? Wherever their drive, planning and persistence take them. Where will yours take your company?
Philip S. Krone is the founder and president of Productive Strategies, Inc., a 17-year-old Northfield, Illinois-based management and marketing consulting firm. Productive Strategies provides clients with particular expertise in sales process development, lead generation and appointment setting and marketing communications. Phil can be reached at (847) 446-0008 ext.1 or [email protected].
