Category: Articles on Sales techniques

The tools for selling is a lot more than you think

Managing a sales team can be very challenging. So how do we know we are providing the best tools for selling?

Sales management is a lot more than just telling the team to go out there and sell. We may be able to get away without a formalized sales management plan when we are a sole trader or a company with a couple of sales reps. Even at these sizes, I would not recommend the laissez-faire way of doing things. If you do not have a plan, you are planning to fail.

As our company scales, a formalized sales management plan becomes more critical. This plan needs to include the sales tools for selling that we provide to our sales team. 

We will focus on three tools that I find many businesses fail to implement well; Customer Relationship Management system (CRM), reporting template, and Pivot table. Please note that this is certainly not an exhaustive list.

When it comes to sales tools for selling, most sales managers will think of the laptop or phone and product collaterals.

Yes, these tools are critical for them to do their jobs. However, these will not differentiate them from our competitors. The reason is quite simple. Every competitor provides their sales team the same thing.

What does “selling is a form of collaboration” really mean? 

One of the most common failures in selling is the lack of understanding and inexperience of how to implement this concept.

Depending on which industry we are in, selling can be very complex, involving many people, and it can take a long time to close.

The rest of the article focusses on why selling is a form of collaboration when it comes to our internal and external stakeholders. Lastly, we discuss on how do we practice this when we are selling.

“Helping the customers” is a phrase I hear every time I ask entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales reps, why they do what they do. To me, anyone who engages someone to promote themselves, products, or services is already technically selling. These are all salespeople no matter what title they give themselves. And you know what? There is nothing wrong with that.

As a customer and a sales coach, it is wonderful and comforting to know that every salesperson that we encounter has this intent, isn’t it?

It is not easy to get customer to accept our help

So why is it so hard to make our customers accept our help in exchange for money? As I mentioned earlier in my previous post, many of these same salespeople, are fearful of the word “selling” when they are engaging with their prospects. They do their very best to inform the prospects that they are not selling while they are selling. I find this very strange.

The reality is salespeople fail to help their customers even though the customers actually do need their help. So what do you think has gone wrong despite their initial intent is “helping the customer”?

It is getting to a point now that “selling” feels like a dirty word. The unfortunate truth is the perception of selling is very negative.

Sellers are scared of the word

I often receive LinkedIn messages, which formally point out that they are “not selling anything”, but please do check out this link about our product and services.

At several Meetup meetings, the presenters made the point that they are not selling anything. “However, please do check out the brochures at the back of the room”.

Have you heard of the phrase, “Bend like a bamboo in the wind”? It is a Tao Te Ching phrase that always stays in my mind. Do you know why this phrase is so important when leading your sales team or running a business?

Great sales team is the dream

Creating a great sales team is every sales manager’s dream. Imagine an independent team that does the right thing all the time, understands their territory, and requires little or no supervision to find opportunities, and grow their territory consistently.

The reality is, those who are experienced in sales management understand that this is extremely difficult to achieve in the first place, let alone consistently every year. If all the sales manager does every day is to “put out the fire”, something is seriously wrong. However, do not blame the team so early. Lower that ego a bit and open your eyes.

For the past few days, Governments around the world are focussing on easing their Covid-19 lockdown policy and reopening their economies. I would like to first show my gratitude to all hospital personnel who have been working tirelessly and risking their lives to heal those who were infected.

Challenges ahead

Over the last few months, we have been inundated with negative news about the impact of COVID-19. This is a challenging time for many businesses. Many people have either lost their jobs, have a reduction in their salaries or working less time. And most people are working from home.

There are many reasons why you may have difficulties in your sales call.

Believe it or not, it is mostly due to the noises in our heads. 

If we are more confident with the right selling principles, we will have a clearer perspective on how to have a sales conversation with our customers. 

We need to commit to improving the quality of our sales call. Our customers will appreciate it if we stop torturing them.

This blog highlights some of the major causes of less than optimal sales calls.

Is a salesperson born or made? This is an age old question similar to the one for leadership.

People ask me this question many times in my career. More so now since I established my sales training company, Awake By Five AM.

There is a lot of confusion over this because no one seems to have the answer. Furthermore, no one can predetermine whether a person will be successful in sales or not, based on their attributes. Furthermore, how do we know whether a one-year-old child will have a successful sales career in the future?

This blog argues that everyone is born to sell but needs to be made to become better.