Why Sales Productivity Is a Direct Reflection of Leadership
Unfortunately showing this article to the Executives in the corner office prohibits your ability to save your bottom by blaming failed sales representatives for the companies’ short comings. Let’s face it; attitude is a reflection of leadership. If your sales team is consistently missing the mark, the number one person to blame is the one you look at every morning when you get up. Eventually the buck has to stop, and why not here- at the top. Let’s look at the core of the enterprising area of business; research and development, marketing, and sales person as one unit. I’m not writing this manuscript for the sales manager, the sales director, or the VP of sales. I’m writing it for the Head Honcho. You are probably already asking for answers from these guys and getting excuses instead of results. Why? Well, they are sales people at the core. Of course they can sell you on how the big deal is right around the corner, how things are going to improve and how the economy is really bad. In reality, no one can make another person do anything, including purchase your product. They have to want to buy it. They have to need your product. Convincing a person to buy something is convincing them to trade their most precious material asset in exchange for your product or service. There is a warm and fuzzy feeling that must be present in your customer’s hearts before this ever begins. This feeling is driven by human needs and directly or indirectly a successful product should address one or more of these needs in a very serious way. A quality sales representative can help a person recognize the fact that your product addresses this need in a way that creates a value equal to or more than their money. No one can really sell fire in Hell can they? Can anyone really sell ice to an Eskimo? Gouging hurricane victims for a forty dollar bottle of water is entirely possible. Why? Because the human needs are glowing, the supply is limited and the demand is through the roof. If you continue to develop products that are in high demand and market them in a way that appeals to the basic needs of human kind, at a value that is worth the investment- your company will be successful! Research and Development is responsible for not having marketable products. It doesn’t matter how crisp their shirt is or how big their vocabulary- either they commit
to the exercise of perfecting their craft or they don’t. Natural talent in the sales profession does not get it done. Hard work gets it done, resiliency gets it done, communication gets it done, and flexibility gets it done. If your sales people are not studying your products, your competitions products, the market landscape, and real, proven professional sales philosophy- then they are to blame for their own failure. The only way to right that wrong is to clean out their desk. Sadly, I assure you that blanket sales failure is an indicator that your organization as a whole needs to improve. The idea of finding someone to blame for the failure is wasted energy. Sales are a cog in a productive, successful business. These guys deserve respect for their hard work as much as anyone else. The group needs to pull together and communicate more effectively. The sales force needs to inform the product developers about the clients response to the product. Marketing needs to be analyzing the competition and the prospective clients in an effort to cast a net of qualified opportunities. Customer service and Technicians need to be trained to sell, and to give the impression of excellence and appreciation for clients. Everyone needs to have a voice, and everyone needs to have the tools to do their jobs effectively, efficiently, and knowledgably. Failed sales is not a sales problem, it’s a business problem. Until the business gets behind sales and the sales gets behind the business. This problem will not go away. General Motors can be used in so many business examples of what to do, and of what not to do. Unfortunately this century has been a road map for how to waste tax payers and stock holders money while you make tens of millions of dollars annually for doing a bad job. When gas prices were $4.69 per gallon, these guys were still making Hummers. When the country was suffering through a recession, a real estate collapse, an energy crisis and unprecedented unemployment, GM was still trying to sell arguably the most inefficient vehicle ever made. Questions were raised in the minds of customers as to “Why would you buy a Hummer?” not “Why not buy a Hummer?” As much as we want to blame the sales force, the product they were selling did not make sense in the minds of prospects. A Hummer in this economy does not meet the perception of value- and it doesn’t take a genius to see that. Does your business insist on building, marketing and attempting to sell products that don’t meet the needs of your target audience? In contrast to GM, Amazon.com has a product called Kindle 2. This little device makes books purchased on Amazon, which would typically be snail mailed to you, instantly available on an electronic computer screen about the size of a book. It stores as many books as you want to read, so you don’t have to choose what title to bring with you when you travel. It’s being marketed and sold by a book store, not an electronics gadget company- and its one hell of an idea. Only $379 keeps you from paying shipping, waiting, or lugging 4 books onto a plane. Somebody in R&D is earning their money- listening to the needs of customers and developing products that are wanted and needed by clients. The buck stops here. Research and Development should be digging through data to determine the wants, needs and desires of clients. Marketing should be putting those ideas into the minds of clients. Sales should be closing deals. Without any one of these cogs- the machine just doesn’t work. Failure to manage this properly is a reflection of poor leadership.
This article was written by Marcus E Rahming, Independent Sales Consultant. Marcus has spent 12 years experience working in sales, marketing and business development and has sold tens of millions of dollars of merchandise for many small, medium, and large businesses. Marcus has product experience in financial products, Voice over Internet Telephony, Security, Data, Fire, Nurse Call, Sound, Telephone & Data Service, CCTV, and Structured Cabling. He is a Telecommunications Low Voltage Licensee and Mortgage Broker Licensee. Marcus is an expert in the areas of Sales and Marketing of Small/Medium Business, Pipeline Development, B2B & B2C Sales, Direct Sales, Request for Proposal, Request for Quotation, Executive Presentation, Relationship Management, Negotiation, Strategic Sales, Proposal Writing, Sales Management and Sales Training. If you would like to speak with Marcus about sales consulting for your business, please contact him at marcusrahming@gmail.com. Visit www.outsourcesales.net for more information.