Obsessive?
I know the pressure to "just sell something" is intense. In fact, it can send the most seasoned salesperson into full blown OCD trying to chase rabbits. But, don't do it.
I know it's tempting to just lower your price thinking you're trading for volume, but, don't do it.
I know you want to please your prospects by overpromising just to gain the sale but, don't do it.
I know you want to play the blame game. The company wants to blame the sales force for the drop in business and the sales team wants to blame operations for not meeting customer expectations. But, don't do it.
If your survival mode has been to just limit spending and cut staff without regard to current staff, don't do it.
Instead upgrade your sales skills and maximize potential!
It is a fact that training is essential to thriving during a recession. We all know times are tough (so does your staff) and it's for this reason that you need to show a commitment to your staff. Training staff demonstrates leadership during tough times. By not training during these times you can negatively affect morale. What does morale have to do with anything? Productivity - productivity equals an increase in sales which should equal an increase in profits. Training also provides the competitive advantage you will need today and in the future.
"If you think training is expensive, try incompetence."
We have to get back to training our sales and management team on how to rely less on gimmicks and more on sales skills, sales effectiveness and strategy in order for them to generate the activity levels that were created artificially in the past. We have become complacent over the years thinking that customers would come to us and now it's time for us to go to them. It is truly back to basics, back to a time when you had to be an "order maker" instead of the "order taker".
Most of the training dollars invested over the past decade were spent on rolling out software programs-to improve forecast accuracy and improve the efficiency of the organization. But what about making the individual sales person being more effective? Oops! Seems we forgot about that. Just look around your organization. Even if you have good people, chances are they are each attacking the sales process differently-oftentimes, based on their experience from the past ten years. Oops again! Remember, the economy has changed and we are no longer selling into a market where there are easy pickings.
The days of easy opportunities are over for now and it is time to get 'back to basics' of building your business through your people. That rebuilding means daily attention to the development of your people's skills, sales training, sales effectiveness and the motivation for your group starting with management and flowing to all of your employees.
Contact me today for a free consultation and training assessment.
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