SALES PEOPLE ANNOY THEIR MARKETPLACE!
Okay, not all do, but far too many do. Yet, in many cases, the sale people are well intended, just don’t know any better. The sales people are being directed by their Sales Managers to “get out there and sell”. The sales people are always hearing about their budgets they need to hit. The sales people are hearing regularly about how many “no’s” they need to hear in order to get a “yes”, and so the key is to bang the market until you get that “yes”. Any of this sound familiar?
Now, I believe in most of the above, but taken in a different light. You see, the sales budgets/goals are important and need to be met. The only way to bring the business in is to get in your market consistently. However, people don’t want to be sold, therefore the sales professional’s job is to help people to buy. This subtlety is important. Real selling is helping people with their needs, opportunities and problems. This requires the sales professional to do their homework before rushing out into the market. The sales professional needs to wear the hat of someone who can bring more than their products/services to their marketplace. The sales professional needs to call on less people and call on those people more frequently. The sales professional needs to sit side by side with their prospect/customer, and not across the table feeling more like an adversary role than a partnership.
Let me use “The Touch System” as an example of how all this should work. The latest stats in this area state that it takes nine touches before your prospect even knows you exist (therefore the mantra “get out there and sell”). Yet, companies and sales people average just five and quit and move on to other targets (they haven’t even heard you). While that in itself is a problem, an even bigger issue is the manner in which too many companies/sales people are performing these “touches”.
All too often the touches can be categorized into two categories: things about the company and things about the sales person. If that’s all your touching your prospects/customers with, then you are better categorized as a pest, an annoyance. Prior to the internet, a sales person had a role of bringing their briefcases stuffed with examples/samples of their products/services. The world today is a far different world. All of that and then some can easily be obtained by the prospect/customer by researching the company via the targeted prospect/company website. While these types of touches can be helpful, they need to be a part of a bigger menu of “touches”.
For example, today’s sales professionals should be touching their prospects/customers with industry information and ideas that could help them in their business. As a sales professional we should “go deep” in being knowledgeable about our potential client’s industry. Joining and participating in industry trade groups. Subscribing and reading the targeted industry trade press. Attending the targeted industry trade shows. Writing educational articles for the targeted industry. Speaking at the targeted industry gatherings. Being active in the targeted industry groups on LinkedIn and being active with contributions. All of these type of actions should not only raise our profile in the industry and differentiate the sales professional from the competitors, but will provide plenty of material to touch our prospects/customers beyond our products/services.
Another example is to leverage touching our prospects/customers with general business information. As my friend Verne Harnish is fond of saying, readers are leaders. The sales professional should be regularly reading current business books, not only for their own personal improvement, but to also provide helpful information to our prospects/customers. The pace of change has never been greater. As a result, many successful businesses will need to make significant changes to the way they bring themselves to market, or be left behind. For the sales professional to bring this awareness to their targeted marketplace is a touch that will be well received and rewarded. As I like to say it, help your customers with their needs, opportunities and problems in the best way that you can, even if it means not ME!
We all know that people do business with people they like. As such, touching people with things you know about them personally can both stand out and be appreciated. For example, people generally know that I am a triathlete, a marathoner, a golfer, a fortunate husband of forty-seven years and a grandpop to two little boys. This is the type of information which can be gold for a sales professional and stored in the contact management system. I’ve helped many folks with tips for their golf game to improve, recommendations for bikes for their triathlon sport, etc. As well, I’ve been the recipient of similar touches. Each time I have been on the receiving end of such touches, my relationship grew deeper with the provider.
Another touch opportunity is in the fun category. While I don’t fly Southwest Airlines very often, they have for decades sent me a birthday card, whereas airlines I’ve flown millions of miles with have never sent a card (the reason for not flying SW has more to do with the places I’m flying rather than the airline; whenever I have the opportunity, it’s SW). How many of you are regularly sending birthday cards to your prospects/customers? I’ve used photo cards that put smiles on people faces, as well as fun pieces over the Facebook platform. And, the list goes on.
The key here is the mix, rather than a steady diet of things about your company/product (blah, blah, blah). Beyond the mix of content, pay attention to the “how” of your touches. Try mixing things up, alternating amongst personal visits, phone calls, emails, voice mails, snail mails, faxes and social media. Our databases of prospects, customers and clients should be ranked in some fashion as to their importance, which will then determine the frequency of contact. All of this can then be systemized in a contact management system, and the maintenance of the system can be delegated to an assistant.
Let your competition “show up and throw up”, while you professionally sell. |
