Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2008 - (Page 6) BRIAN TRACY UNIVERSITY Leading the action, both through words and deeds ous about achieving your sales goals. First, there are more sellers than buyers today. The competition is fiercer and more determined. Any prospect or customer your salesperson calls on has already been called on by numerous other competitors … or soon will be. The second reality is that selling has become more complex than ever before. The customer is more complex. The offerings are more complex. The prices, features, benefits and other factors that enter into the sale are more complex. The third reality is that customers are more demanding. They have more choices and are better informed. And these days, they have less money, which means they’re more cautious about making a buying mistake. them. Listen while your salespeople talk to customers and listen to what customers say. This direct experience will greatly aid your mentoring efforts. The most important single quality to determine sales success is self-esteem. When the sales manager continually gives praise and approval to his salespeople, asks them questions, listens and gives them feedback, salespeople see themselves in a better light. The more confident they are, the more calls they make and the more effective they are in each of those calls. In addition, they bounce back quickly from rejection and keep striving toward the next sale. Perhaps the most important attribute of top managers is that they set very high standards for themselves. Ask yourself, One of the largest single expenses in the operation of any business is the salaries, wages and commissions paid to the people who work there. These can represent as much as 85% of the cost of being in business in the first place. The basic rule of sales management is to earn the maximum return on the company’s investment in people. Salespeople can be made to appreciate in value. By working with them closely, upgrading their skills, giving them regular feedback and coaching, and recognizing their successes, you can cause a salesperson to sell more and more. According to staffing firm Robert Half International, the average salesperson works at about 50% of capacity. The other 50% is spent in idle chit-chat with coworkers, surfing the Web, reading the newspaper and so on. The responsibility of sales management is to release and channel that untapped 50%. The way you do this is by keeping people focused and busy every day, all day long. There are three realities of selling today you must deal with—if you’re seri- “How do you ‘counterattack’ in tough and turbulent times? Simple: You must increase the quantity and quality of sales activities.” How do you “counterattack” in tough and turbulent times? Simple: You must increase the quantity and quality of sales activities. Your salespeople must call on more people, and be better prepared when they get there. They must be among the best trained in both sales and product skills of any company in the market. Your salespeople must be positive, focused and optimistic. And, yes, all of this depends on you. One of the best ways to increase the confidence and competence of your salespeople is to go out on sales calls with “What kind of a company would my company be, if everyone in it were just like me?” If you are honest, you will see several different ways that you could improve your performance and your behavior. Perhaps you could be a little more punctual in sales meetings. Perhaps you could be a bit more patient when dealing with others. Remember, everything you do has a multiplier effect on everyone who reports to you. You owe it to yourself, and to your company, to be the very best manager you can possibly be. Brian Tracy is one of the top sales and management trainers in the world. He is president of Brian Tracy University online (www.briantracyu.com), which offers certificates in superior sales management and high performance selling. 6 SALES&MARKETING MANAGEMENT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 www.salesandmarketing.com www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com http://www.briantracyu.com http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com
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