Sales & Marketing Management - May/June 2008 - (Page 19)

knowing that the effort is going to be rewarded. Still, giving away an annual trip or a quarterly bonus is no replacement for reinforcing to the team how important their efforts are on a regular basis. “In complex deals that take a year or even more to win, it’s easy to forget that one person can make a difference,” Grisham says. “At EDS, that can be even tougher because so many people from other departments get involved, and salespeople sometimes feel like they aren’t in control. So that’s one of the things I reinforce to my team: ‘You are in a leadership position—you matter. One person can make the difference in that deal, and that person needs to be you.’” Of course, there’s more to successful selling than confidence and motivation; you need to prepare your team for success as well. The Marketing Development program that helped Grisham when he arrived at EDS was discontinued in subsequent years, but he’s bringing that back, too. The new Sales Development program was relaunched in January of this year. “The program does more than teach about what we sell and the value of our services. Salespeople actually do a rotation at an EDS customer account so they understand that business and how important it is that we live up to our contract with them. And they aren’t always performing an IT function; sometimes they spend time on the dock, shipping the client’s product. To be an effective salesman, you need to know what things are needed for the customer to succeed, and then find the value you can add to their business.” Finally, Grisham ensures that his team knows where the lines are drawn. Sales is a highly competitive field to begin with, and at EDS, it’s not uncommon to have hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue on the line in a single deal. Booking that business and getting that commission check any way possible is tempting, but absolutely forbidden. That’s a position that sales leaders emphasize to their teams, Grisham says, because the consequences are simply too dire to risk, both for the company’s external reputation and internal sales culture. “I reinforce to my team that it’s 50% what they do, and 50% how they do it. If an EDS salesperson does anything that isn’t straightforward and honest to win a deal, that person will be fired. It’s that simple. We want you to get the sale, but we don’t want you to cut corners to do it. That’s why, if you’re a salesperson at EDS, you’re a leader. You’re better than that, and we expect more from you.” s&mm http://www.sage360.com/crm http://www.sage360.com/crm

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - May/June 2008

Sales & Marketing Management - May/June 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Brian Tracy University Smart Sales Sales Strategy Smart Marketing Marketing Strategy Smart Management Management Strategy The Minister of Culture Become a Value Merchant Incentives/Motivation Streamlining Business Travel Book Excerpt The Way I See It

Sales & Marketing Management - May/June 2008

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