Selling For Profit - Five Steps to Help You Focus on the Profitability of the Sale

1. Make Profit Important Get your people in line. All employees need to understand the rudiments of how they can behave profitably. Yes, you can behave profitably! Help all employees to have a regard for the costs they incur in their daily jobs. Share (in general terms) how much of the cost of running the business is represented in the cost of the product or service you are selling. Understand how easily this is given away due to inefficient behaviours, wastage, getting things wrong, letting customers down and so on. 2. Understand Costs As a business you need to know what to charge to cover all your costs and achieve your profitability targets. Whether you are charging for your time, a product or a service, you will need to know how to recoup all costs relating to making that product or service available and what profit margin will sustain your business. Check regularly what the costs of running your business are and your level of sales revenue. Then you can keep track of your viability as a business. It sounds simple and it is! Costs need to be in focus. 3. Define your Pricing Policy Define a process for managing the prices you charge. Many companies use an upper and lower limit as a guide for market pricing. Communicate clearly to your employees what their limits are and measure performance, rewarding good pricing management. It is too easy to let price slip when giving discounts and running promotions, so let employees know when they can stretch to their limits. Record your companies' adherence to pricing policy and take strong measures if you're letting good habits slip. 4. Find the right Price Position Find a position that sits well with your offer. Use the market as a guide in the first instance but intuitively you will know if your charges are about right for what you offer. You might consider the following three observations whilst deciding your price position: 1. Pricing is not going to differentiate your business. Service or quality will make you different, not price! 2. Prices, which to some look like good value, may look cheap to others. Not everyone likes cheap. 3. Try to be premium or low-cost; it's good to be one end of the scale rather than the middle. The centre ground can suggest no position at all! Find a price position and try it. If it doesn't work don't get stuck, look again and find another position that fits. 5. Understand your 'Hidden' Value Many products and services have become commodities and can become labeled with a price. Some businesses on the face of it do exactly what other businesses do. An accountant is an accountant after all. Not so! You may have to work hard to find differences but there will be some. Try hard to find these differences because you can charge for them! You may be bigger, smaller, faster or more experienced. You may wear the right kind of tie! Change your position to become the type of supplier they need. Your 'hidden' value is actually the ability to find what the client values most about your product or service. You will rarely need to be the cheapest if you can discover the 'hidden' value in your offer. KEITH PLACE DIRECTOROXFORD SALES CONSULTANTSHelping you to be better at selling - whatever you sell Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_Place

Sales Managers Top 7 Mistakes

Managing a sales team effectively is difficult. Many sales managers find themselves promoted to the position directly from sales because of their outstanding individual sales performance. They often have no previous management experience and are given little training to develop leadership skills. In the absence of direction and development they're usually compelled to take control of their sales force rather than develop and lead it. Here is a list of the top 7 mistakes made by sales managers, and how to overcome them: Micromanaging. While delegation is an exceptional tool for experienced leaders, it is extremely difficult for inexperienced managers to grasp. In the absence of confidence and self-awareness they frequently attempt to control every facet of a salespersons work day. They often base these instructions on what worked well for them in their own sales careers without taking into account individual strengths, personalities, habits and learning styles. Instead of removing roadblocks they create them, making a salespersons job more difficult and less rewarding. Efficiency, effectiveness and moral all suffer as a result. Creating blanket policies. Issues that arise in management are often specific to an individual salesperson(s) rather than the team as a whole. Individual conversations take time however, and can be uncomfortable. Sales managers tend to avoid confrontation by issuing blanket policies and communications that negatively impact the entire team. The team doesn't understand the reason for the policy/communication and as a result, feels unjustly suppressed. Mean while the individual(s) that was the cause never has the benefit of a direct conversation enabling them to understand the root issue and participate in the discovery of a solution. Requiring excessive paperwork & reporting. Insisting that all team members produce exhaustive reports about their daily activities is both inefficient and ineffective. While call activity might be an important coaching opportunity for a new salesperson, it probably isn't a good use of time for your top performer(s). "What's good for one is good for all" is nonsense. Team members should be assessed on an individual basis and asked to report on information that can positively impact them. Make sure the information tracked is relevant and important to their success and give them access to any tools and technology that can increase the efficiency of their reporting. Allowing mediocrity. There are almost always people on a sales team that will never perform at a high level, regardless of how much training and technology is invested in them. Evaluate people fairly but if it's clear that they aren't going to cut it, get rid of them. Putting off the inevitable is not good for them or the company. Not providing enough 1-on-1 time. We all have different strengths, personalities, learning styles, and needs. For sales people to grow they need individual attention and help. Figure out a way to get time alone with every member of your team regularly and consistently. Review the information you intend to discuss a day in advance - this will help you do a better job of listening and discovering areas of need. It's no different than selling; if you don't understand their needs, you can't show them how you can be a benefit to them. Not spending enough time on the street. To really understand how a sales team is performing managers need to get out on the street with them. There isn't a coach in the world that shows up for practice but skips the game. The field is where we see theory put into practice, and it's where true coachable moments appear. Not listening. Telling team members how to perform better isn't the same as teaching them how. We have to listen to fully understand issues, roadblocks, and what the solutions might be. There is always something to learn, even for managers. Not giving credit. Sales managers too often assume that they have to prove their worth by demonstrating the effectiveness of their own efforts. The reality is that managements effectiveness is reflected in the performance of the team. Give credit where credit is do. Promote the successes of individuals and of the team. It boosts their confidence and moral, and shows that you are more concerned with the success of the company than with your own success. It's difficult to manage a sales team effectively, but by identifying common mistakes and working hard to correct them, over the course of time, sales managers will find themselves capable of elevating individuals and teams to a new level of success. I am a certified professional coach, management and sales trainer, using the science of personality traits and communication, strengths and learning styles to help organizations develop elite teams, and help individuals realize unparalleled success. For additional discussions and insights, please visit my blog at http://trevinwecks.com/blog. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trevin_Bensko-Wecks

How These Four Sales Management Tips Can Reverse the 20-80 Productivity Rule For Your Sales Team

The 20/80 rule (Pareto's Principle) abounds in life and in business. This is a pretty scary statistic as noted by Tom Stein in a posting at the AllBusiness website specific to sales. In his article, he provided five (5) steps to build a powerful and effective sales team where the goal to increase sales is realized. Now what would happen if the sales management could move some of those under performing salespersons in the 80% bucket into the 20% bucket without losing the productivity of the currently performing to over performing individuals? For this to happens requires these steps to be taken: First, referring to Tom Collins in Good to Great, it is critical to have the right sales people in the right seats in the right bus. When you understand their decision making styles to their talents (strengths) you can not only achieve great performance appraisals, but have a cohesive team where all members are rowing with the same energy toward exactly the same target. In other words, you have removed the slackers from your team and have helped the under performing to work smarter and not harder. Second, integrating a proven goal achievement process that unites the following: Personal goals Organizational goals Metrics Alignment to other departments The use of the same tool (goal worksheet) ensures sales goals are achieved as well as improves overall communication. Such improvements only strengthen another inherent weakness facing more organizations and that is consistent execution of strategic goals and initiatives. Sales Training Coaching Tip: Many individuals fail to achieve their own personal goals so how they achieve organizational ones? Third, reviewing the overall organization is necessary as well. The sales department does not work in isolation. Other functions and departments of the firm must all work together. Unfortunately, sometimes the inability to increase sales is just as much about internal obstacles such as structure, processes, rewards and other employees as it is about the individual performance of each salesperson. Sometimes it may also help to take a proven organizational assessment aligned to accepted criteria such as Baldrige. Fourth, results based, not competency based, sales training is also required. This approach to developing the skill sets of your sales team leverages everyone's talents. (See Tip #1). When a competency based approach is used, the strengths of individual team members are devalued because a now accepted competency has been created. This also creates an essentially "more hope to" false philosophy which again is not the best performance approach. When organizations invest the time to truly develop their sales teams including providing effective sales training, assessing for decision making styles and talents and incorporating a proven goal achievement process, then they can move away from the 20/80 principle. This action would increase overall productivity and realize the goal to increase sales. Now doesn't that make more sense? Free sales skills assessment by Results Sales Coach Leanne Hoagland-Smith who helps with sales coaching, leadership to sales management development. Schedule your free strategy session at 219.759.5601 Central Time. Are you Captain Wing It or Captain Focus It when it comes to your business and sales behaviors? Learn how to work smarter not harder by having a simple written sales action plan. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leanne_Hoagland-Smith

Why the Sales Process Never Stops

The other week, a client expressed an unfortunate but too frequent complaint about certain salespeople: "Salespeople tell you whatever they think you want to hear to close a sale. But once you've signed off and the tech people come in to fulfill it, they say you can't have the product as promised! Their justification, if you can call it that: 'Well that's salespeople. They'll tell you anything.'" We often hear stories such as this. But there's also a universal truth for any company that operates this way: they're doomed to lose customers and fail. As a customer, why would you ever give your business to them again? Companies like this fall into the trap of believing that the business sales process stops with the first order. In reality of course, it doesn't. Nor does it stop with the fulfillment of that order. Nor does it stop with the next order, or the fulfillment of that. The selling process, in fact, never stops. And it's businesses that understand and embrace this that are the most enduringly successful. These businesses understand that the sales process is about building a relationship that extends far beyond the sales person. Every person in the organization is in fact part of this process; the very reason their job exists is to solve customer problems and fulfill customer needs. In essence the salesperson has point duty on behalf of every member of the company. You may ask: How do other people in the organization, like customer service, engineering, finance or technical support, sell? In the narrowest sense of the word, maybe they don't. But they do communicate with customers in many different ways, because at its heart effective selling is nothing more than effective communication. So every contact with a customer has implications either on the next potential order or what they'll tell others about their experience with your organization. And it will make or break you as a business because the facts are it's far more profitable to retain customers you already have than it is to get new ones. Happy customers are one of your best assets, so you need to look after them. Which is why every person in your business should participate in some form of a sales training program. They need to understand how to sell so they can appreciate why effective 'communication' with customers is critical to business success, and the role they play in that sales process. But none of this absolves your salespeople of responsibility! In fact, the most responsibility still lies with them, because selling isn't only making a promise, but delivering on it. If they can't work in tandem with others in your business to ensure that this happens, then the sales process ceases to be effective and you've lost a customer. Andy represents The Fortune Group, which provides leadership development, sales training and change management solutions for management, sales and business teams. Integrated programs combine customised workshops with in house coaching tutorials to reinforce and accelerate the learning process. Visit us at http://www.fortunegroup.com.au Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_G_Klein

What Do Customers Want Now?

As the Great Recession continues to abate, there are signals that companies are finally shrugging off the siege mentality of 2009 and cautiously looking ahead for opportunities to cultivate markets with new products and services. According to a McKinsey global survey, executives are looking for external funding and actively returning to planning medium and long term initiatives. This is in stark contrast to the "cut and cover" tactics of the past two years. What do these hopeful signs mean for sales teams working with these companies? One implication is that it is also time for sales teams to switch gears. Calling on customers can be more rewarding and productive for everyone if sales teams are in touch with what customers want from them as they plan for growth. So, what exactly do customers want from the sales relationship as signs of growth return? A recent study conducted for an industrial distributor provides some answers. Distributors and dealers were asked to rate what was important to them in the buying process and the frequency with which they saw sales teams demonstrating sales actions that delivered value. The results from 410 respondents paint a picture of customers looking for both basic efficiencies in getting things done as well as stimulating ideas and creativity. On the other hand, the data also reveals that many customers in the sample felt that a significant percentage of sales teams weren't delivering value beyond product and service transactions. When asked to rate what was important to them in the sales relationship, a set of sales actions which had a theme of "getting things done" percolated to the top of the list. The highest rated of these reflected taking steps within the vendor company to fulfill customer requests, solving problems effectively, making sure the customer were getting the benefits of the product or service, and knowing enough about the customer's business to understand their needs. Straight talk about the products and services and how different they were from the competition was also highly important. The customers seem to be saying that what is important to them, first and foremost, is a sales process that matches a need to the right product or service and gets it efficiently delivered and installed. This is a more or less transactional set of expectations that view the sales process as an ends to a means. Why is that so important to customers? One possibility is that this narrow focus serves a hunkered-down economy where expectations are lowered across the board to completing basic functions. Also, it could be that customers don't expect much more than that from sales teams. Have sales teams literally trained customers to view them as "order-takers" that old nemesis label? There is additional data to suspect that might be the case. When customers were asked how frequently these "get it done" sales actions were demonstrated, most of these were highly rated. That is, sales teams were responding to the transaction urgency of customers by performing sales actions that do, in fact, get it done. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that it appears sales people are doing the obvious, the relatively easy and not much more for customers. Other important sales actions are seen less frequently; this is a red flag for sales teams, especially now. While still rated relatively important, this set of sales actions reflect a more consultative selling approach. What customers see less than the transactional skills-in some cases significantly less-are sales actions that revolve around offering unique and fresh ideas and advice, finding other resources, creating alternative approaches to problems, providing business advice, and exploring the future. These and other similar consultative sales actions require more skill, more sophisticated knowledge and business acumen, and perhaps most important, an attitude about the sales team's role as customer ally. The data suggest that at least half or more of the sales teams in the sample infrequently demonstrate these kinds of consultative sales actions. Bear in mind, these were still viewed as important to customers, only slightly less so than the "get it done" oriented sales actions. The risk for sales teams, especially in this fragile market environment, is to be absent from the planning table when those mid- and longer-range plans mentioned earlier are being contemplated and the opportunity to influence decisions passes by. If that is the case, the challenge for sales teams is to re-brand themselves as resources, not just vendors. If sales teams can position themselves as sources of advice and ideas, act as liaison to experts and valuable resources that are connected to industry networks and stimulate thinking about not only product application ideas, but future business solutions, then their immediate value and the value of the sales process goes up astronomically. Do sales people know they need to improve on these more idea-, resource- and network-oriented aspects of the sales process? In three separate studies, a total of 99 sales people were asked to rate themselves on the importance of sales actions to customers and whether they rated themselves as "Do It Well" or "Need To Improve" on each. Ironically, the highest Need To Improve scores provided by these self-ratings were given to many of the same sales actions that reflected a consulting orientation. So, sales people know there is room for growing into a bigger role. What can sales management do to close this gap? Sales people have to be both excellent facilitators, ensuring customer get what they need, but at the same time, they have to offer more than just a delivery service, providing additional value to the customer and differentiating both themselves and their products. There are three routes to the re-branding process. First, training has to go beyond pitching, questioning, objection-handling, product knowledge, and order-fulfillment activities. Specifically, sales teams need industry-oriented education where sales people are taught to think like customers, understand a customer's business priorities and concerns, and evaluate decisions from the other side of the table. Next, sales coaches have to step up to a critical development role. They have to be focused on developing customer-focused business skills in the sales team. Sales meetings can include customer application stories, cost justification models, product configuration examples that demonstrate how solutions can be more tailored to customer needs, and discussion of problems that actual customers are facing in their businesses. The task is to get sales teams to think through all these like a customer, sorting through what fits and what doesn't. Consistently practiced over the long haul, this customer focus will become a sales priority for all sales teams, not just a pocket of engaged sales people who have learned the importance of this point of view. Finally, sales and marketing must work together to create materials and processes that can be built into and delivered through the sales team. While not every sales person will be quick to learn and apply analytic skills, he or she can learn to use an analytic checklist or deliver industry news, present documented application stories and provide access to technical experts and resources. The combined focus of both sales and marketing on enriching the sales experience can be vital in giving ongoing value to customers in ideas, education and connections to industry networks. If the sales team finds itself stuck in the role of facilitator of deliveries and order fulfillment, then it is only providing a portion of what customers want. What customers also want now are sales people to help them engage with the problems and challenges of growing their businesses out of the Great Recession. Michael D. Maginn has been working with and studying selling for over 25 years. He has interviewed hundreds of sales people in many different lines of business in developing custom sales training programs, always searching for the behaviors that define high performers. As Vice President, Research and Development for The Forum Corporation, he completed one of a number of landmark sales competency studies and subsequent best-selling sales programs. Since then, as the president of Singularity Group, Hamilton, MA., he has worked with many sales organizations in defining how the sales process can add value to the customer's experience. He is the designer of C-Lens Index, a sales assessment tool which gathers data on the customer's view of the sales process as well as the author of 5 Skills of Master Salespeople, available from Amazon.com.For more information:http://www.singularitymanagerzine.comhttp://www.c-lensindex.blogspot.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_D._Maginn