Question: Is it
possible for me to get say the top 3 or 5 things that a company can do to
increase their sales.
Answer: “The book has two purposes: giving the person who is
interviewing for a sales job the tools to find out if the company has built a
barrier-rich environment which will prevent them from making sales.
And second, it’s written for the CEO who wants to know if
they are making sales difficult for their sales people.
Here are five things a company
can do to increase their sales by preventing barriers.
- Lost Order
Reports. When an order is lost, a report from the sales person is
vital explaining why the sales person was unable to get the order. It is essential the CEO read the Lost
Order Reports personally and not have these insights files away in a
cubicle. These depressing reports can uncover deeply embedded barriers in
a company. Sales people are often scared to admit they lost an order for
fear of being fired. The CEO must make lost order reports thoughtful and
non-punitive. A company without an
informative lost order report system living on faith and positive
thoughts.
- The CEO Sales
Call. Can the company’s leader
go on a sales call by themselves or do they need a support person? If the leader cannot get an order on
their own indicates two things: first, the leader dislikes selling and,
second, the leader probably is unaware of what happens during a typical
sales call. I, personally, will not work for a company with a CEO who
cannot travel to a prospect and get an order by themselves. A business owner who can’t make sales
calls on their own might well believe orders fly in through a magic hole
in the wall.
- What’s the
Elevator Pitch? A friend called up and said he got a job selling “The
new paradigm in Web business accelerators.” I asked what that was and he said, “You’d
know if you were in our space.” I
am in his space and he still couldn’t tell me specifically what his
product does. The pitch the marketing people gave his is useless. Unless
he figures it out for himself, he will be looking for a new sales job in
six months. On the other hand,
another friend said he was now selling an electrical product that reduced
energy bills on commercial air conditioners by 20%. I was immediately was
interested and asked for a price on a unit. What a difference in elevator
pitches.
- Sales Leads –
Where Are Yours Coming From? In
years past the office manager handed new sales people the Yellow Pages
saying, “Dig your leads out of here.”
Those days are gone. If your company doesn’t have an active marketing
program to generate qualified sales leads using the Internet, you are in
the dark ages, crossing the plains in a covered wagon. If the company
doesn’t know how to use keyword marketing tools, start looking for the
Yellow Pages. Cold calling, while
not extinct, is a time-consuming task with low returns.
- Pricing –
Simple or Calculus? Does the
sales force have to call the factory to figure out a price? Too bad. A prospect can find a
competitor using the Internet in five minutes. While your sales people are waiting for
pricing, the prospect can be placing an order with someone else. Make
pricing simple or plan on handing over orders to your competition.
- Check the Corporate Culture – At Lunch See if you can get a lunch
with the CEO or VP of Sales and watch how they treat wait staff: that’s
how they will treat you, my sales friend advised me. I have tried it and avoided two nasty
CEO’s. Business owners need to know the sales people are silently
interviewing them, too.
- Does the
Business Have a Customer Relationship
Manager Software System? Even a business with one sales person
needs a CRM package. If the
business doesn’t have one or the sales personnel don’t think they need
one, there is trouble ahead. Unless you have one customer and everybody in
the company speaks to that customer, you need CRM. Ignorance may bring bliss, but it sure
doesn’t bring revenue.
You can convert anything above into a quote. If you need more, tell what subject you need
expanded on.
Gerry Cullen