If your company uses a contact management or customer relationship management (CRM system), you need to ask one additional key question. Does your CRM or contact management system tie your consultative sales, ROI analysis and proposal production process together?
THE FUTURE SALES FORCE- A CONSULTATIVE APPROACH
Bob Kantin Michael J. Nick Tim Sullivan Salesproposals.com ROI4Sales Sales Performance InternationalBob Kantin THE FUTURE SALES FORCE- Salesproposals.comA CONSULTATIVE APPROACH Michael J. Nick ROI4Sales
Tim Sullivan Sales Performance International
IN THE LAST FEW YEARS SOME ORGANIZATIONS HAVE FOUND THAT THEIR SALES
PROCESSES HAVE BECOME MORE CHALLENGING WHILE THE PERFORMANCE OF SOME
OF THEIR SALES PROFESSIONALS WHO WERE PAST STARS HAS DETERIORATED. SELLING
COMPLEX PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, VERSUS SELLING COMMODITIES, HAS ALWAYS BEEN
MORE DIFFICULT AND SALES PROFESSIONALS MUST HAVE DIFFERENT SKILL SETS,
AS ILLUSTRATED BELOW.
COMMODITY-TRANSACTION SALE COMPLEX SALE. Simple product or service-perceived as a commodity . Complicated product or serviceby the buyer . Multiple consultative calls, demonstrations, and . One or two calls-perhaps telemarketing presentations-perhaps technical sales support. One or two apparent decision makers . M ultiple decision makers-executive committee or . Low risk board-level decision
. R elationships less important-buyer views the sales . High riskprofessional as vendor . Relationships very important-buyer may view the . Technique selling sales professional as a business consultant
. Price quote . Value-based selling
. Price and availability more important . P roactive sales proposal or response to a Request for Proposal (RFP). Return on investment (ROI) very important or requiredTHE FUTURE SALES FORCE-A CONSULTATIVE APPROACH
Other factors in most complex sales also have FOLLOWING A CONSULTATIVE contributed to process and performance problems: SALES PROCESS. The economy-companies don't have the funds to buy. Changes in the buying process since the late 90's- Sales professionals fall into two classi?cations: eagles companies no longer buy products and services without and journeypeople. The majority of sales organizations first completing in-depth analyses are composed of journeypeople who rely on their . R equired value proposition-sellers must prove that knowledge of the company and its offerings in sales their proposed products or services make or calls. journeypeople are most comfortable talking save money about their company's capabilities. They make lots of statements about their products and services, in hopes Most companies recognize that the world and their that something will resonate with the buyer. In general, buyers' buying processes probably have changed forever. journeypeople see their job as a facilitator of transactions But, some companies haven't recognized the need between their company and its customers.to make changes in their sales forces. They wonder if their sales professionals can't sell like he did in the past. While representing less than 20 percent of most sales Perhaps many sales professionals don't have the skills or teams, eagles produce the bulk of sales revenues-in tools needed. Here are some questions a company might some cases, more than 80 percent. What makes eagles ask to assess their sales situation. so much more effective than journeypeople? Eagles focus on the customer and their business issues and Do our sales professionals . . . have intelligent conversations about their customers' . Follow a consultative sales process designed speci?cally challenges. In general, eagles see their job as capturing for our unique products or services? pertinent customer information, diagnosing customer issues, and then prescribing the most suitable solutions.. Have the ability to calculate an ROI for our speci?c products or services that is accurate, unbiased, and Customers view journeypeople as sales agents or vendors plausible? only. However, they view eagles as consultants, because . Write customer-centric sales proposals that help buyers they provide value in every meeting. Customers will buy make informed buying decisions? from journeypeople if required, but in general, they buy a lot more from eagles-as much as four times more and If the company uses a contact management or customer they also like buying from them.relationship management (CRM) system, it needs to ask one additional key question. Does our CRM or contact The good news is that journeypeople can be taught to management system tie our consultative sales, ROI behave more like eagles. The methods and techniques analysis, ... [download for more]
