Honing your sales skills can be daunting. You may feel that you are an efficient sales rep in that you are doing all of the "right things" to win an order, and yet it doesn't happen. Or you may be an effective rep, in that you are bringing in deals, but your manager is giving you push-back about the internal cost of your orders.
Sales Efficiency Example:
Jack is a very efficient sales representative. With 22 years of selling under his belt, he delivers outstanding and detailed product presentations. His customers appreciate his professional presentations but often say that the information delivered fails to hit the mark or resonate. Jack's Salesforce.com account is managed perfectly, he submits forecasts/reports on time, and knows everything about his accounts. The trouble is that his share of the market is significantly below the share of his colleagues.
Sales Effectiveness Example:
Jill is a very effective sales representative. Selling for five years, she frequently utilizes quotes, site visits, corporate VIP trips and detailed product demonstrations. Jill makes many visits to her accounts, and often requires deep discounts to win her deals. Her win percentage is high but she expends almost twice as much as her peers in time and resources.
Jack is known as the rep who does things the right way but does not win. Jill is known as the rep who eventually wins despite the fact that she is not doing the right things at the right time.
Which rep would you want to be? Answer: NEITHER. Superstars need to be both efficient and effective. This means you must not only be technically correct in your selling, but you must be able to bring in results.
The sales professional who truly wishes to achieve superstar status must discover and master two things:
1. The best practices and tools for the optimal way to achieve goals
2. The sales methodology which will specify the right tasks to be deployed at the right time
Let's illustrate several examples of each of these two requirements. Here are some tools that may help you achieve your goals:
- CLEAR SLIDE: This web-based presentation program drives efficiency by allowing the sales pro to create on-line presentations that can be viewed anytime, anywhere.
- PREZI: Collaborating with Prezi also helps the sales pro create on-line presentations that can be viewed anytime, anywhere. Prezi's design goes further in that it allows for more logical random access and interactivity with the content (vs. serial access with PowerPoint and Clear Slide).
- JOIN ME: Using this simple screen-sharing app drives efficiency by allowing instant screen sharing to take place in seconds. No downloading of software is required by your client. Your clients merely have to type your custom link into their browser and they will share your computer screen. Customize the name of your link to make the experience that much more professional. For example, my link could be join.me/DanAdams.
- Loss, Win, Close Plan, Disengage Letters, Presentation Prep Script, LinkedIn, and YouTube are other tools for your sales arsenal.
These kinds of tools by themselves can make you more efficient, however, they won't make you more effective unless you know exactly when and how to maximize their use.
To that end, use a proven methodology such as Trust Triangle Selling (TTS) to make you both efficient and effective. TTS employs:
- Methodology - Using the TTS strategic and consultative selling approach helps you guide the client's buying process by putting you in the driver's seat as a trusted advisor.
- TTS Critical Event Timeline - Incorporating a timeline as a roadmap will help guide your client down a mutually agreed-upon pathway to success.
- TTS Sales Strategizer- Strategizing with this major opportunity sales app drives effectiveness and efficiency. It insures that sales professionals are approaching their accounts using the appropriate strategy and tactics to win the deal.
Using social selling tools in concert with a high quality, proven trust-based selling methodology will help you become more efficient and effective. For more info on the latest tools and Trust Triangle Selling methodology, navigate to The Future of Sales is NOW.
Good Selling!
