Sales Strategy- The Best Known Sales Secret in Business
by Dr.Greg Chapman
In any business, there is usually one person who outsells everyone else. You wish that all your sales staff were as good as this person. Often this person is you, the owner, but it doesn’t matter how much training you give the sales staff, or even if you increase incentives, little seems to change. What you have stumbled across is the best known sales secret in business.
On average, most sales people are average.
So what’s to be done?
You could try and find more sales superstars and try and hire them away from a business that knows what they will lose if they leave, so they won’t come cheap, or you could try a different approach.
The best sales people use a sales pipeline. They prepare, they take buyers through their own defined sales process step by step, close and then follow up. This may not have been written down anywhere, but over time, they have honed their process so that it produces excellent results throughout the year.
This is not just about greeting the buyer, or how they close the sale, but all the steps between. Often it’s the little things. Is the appointment confirmation just a rushed off note with date, time and location, or does it also contain information that will heighten anticipation of the meeting?
Is the quote just a whole lot of numbers and list of features, or does it contain information on how the solution will address the problems the buyer is trying to solve, along with results similar buyers have achieved?
What is being described is a sales pipeline. The requires the dissecting of the current sales process and identifying the best way to move a buyer through each stage of the pipeline and achieving the sale, using the best practice experience for your business.
Each step of the sales pipeline, once defined can be tested and refined to improve the outcome. It becomes the way all sales people are trained in the business, and makes it easier to compare results. If results aren’t achieved, what part of the pipeline isn’t being followed? Training thus is focused on the weaknesses of the sales person rather on things already mastered.
With an excellent pipeline, even average sales people can produce excellent results.
http://www.australiansmallbusiness.net.au/
On average, most sales people are average.
So what’s to be done?
You could try and find more sales superstars and try and hire them away from a business that knows what they will lose if they leave, so they won’t come cheap, or you could try a different approach.
The best sales people use a sales pipeline. They prepare, they take buyers through their own defined sales process step by step, close and then follow up. This may not have been written down anywhere, but over time, they have honed their process so that it produces excellent results throughout the year.
This is not just about greeting the buyer, or how they close the sale, but all the steps between. Often it’s the little things. Is the appointment confirmation just a rushed off note with date, time and location, or does it also contain information that will heighten anticipation of the meeting?
Is the quote just a whole lot of numbers and list of features, or does it contain information on how the solution will address the problems the buyer is trying to solve, along with results similar buyers have achieved?
What is being described is a sales pipeline. The requires the dissecting of the current sales process and identifying the best way to move a buyer through each stage of the pipeline and achieving the sale, using the best practice experience for your business.
Each step of the sales pipeline, once defined can be tested and refined to improve the outcome. It becomes the way all sales people are trained in the business, and makes it easier to compare results. If results aren’t achieved, what part of the pipeline isn’t being followed? Training thus is focused on the weaknesses of the sales person rather on things already mastered.
With an excellent pipeline, even average sales people can produce excellent results.
http://www.australiansmallbusiness.net.au/
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The Australian Small Business Blog This Blog has been providing a Forum where Australian Small Business Owners can exchange Ideas old & new and get Advice from experts in Australia on how to Improve their Businesses through better Business Management, Planning & Strategy, Business Systems and Marketing Strategy and Systems for over 10 years. They will also learn about the Small Business Best Practice Benchmarks that are critical for their success. Our Ultimate Objective is to help Australian Small Business Owners take their Business to the Next Level and achieve their Goals whatever they may being about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.
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