Jan 25 2007
The Four Component Parts Of Professional Selling………
This week’s piece is fairly long and so I will, if I may, provide you with a taster and if you would like to read the whole article, you will be redirected to the JF site.
When I originally wrote this, it was my intention to identify and prove the four component parts of professional selling, but actually I realised afterwards, that the same principles and the same formula can be applied to any commercial function.
I first began to recognise the need to be able to benchmark sales performance more objectively and more rigorously over twenty five years ago: The motivation to do this was strong because I knew I was wasting thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds on sales skills training programmes which were not providing me with a proper return on my considerable investment. But I needed to prove my theory because without an accurate analysis of my requirements, I would continue to abdicate that responsibility to the training providers, most of whom had only their own interests at heart.
So with this quote from Drucker, “The most effective way to manage change is to create it” firmly in my mind, I set about my task, a task that became a journey, which began in 1981 and is still ongoing.
By taking an analytical approach, I arrived at the following equation:
Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success
My initial reasoning was this: Attitude is fundamental to any achievement because individuals with the right Attitude are far more likely to embrace the essential Skills, recognise the control that Process brings and have the desire to continually expand their Knowledge.
Skills are the ‘tools of the trade’ and have to be developed on an ongoing basis. They also need to be specific, because too much time can be wasted over-burdening employees with inappropriate and irrelevant skills without any identifiable plan for their future requirements.
Process brings organisation, efficiency and control, both for the individual and for management. Effective process provides objective analysis and indicators which can be benchmarked and accurately measured.
Then there is of course a need to build in Knowledge and that must include knowledge of products, industry, market sectors, competitors, business, own company and last but not least, self! – More
Well it has been another incredibly frenetic week: The guys are working very hard to complete the new JF site, which I have to say is looking extremely good and of course they are also on a tight schedule to launch the ASP Profile site – due at the end of February.
Over and above that, a post by Chris Knight on Ezine Articles Blog:
http://ezinearticles.com/blog/2007/01/jf-directory-awards-2006
Attracted an awful lot of comments, particularly on the subject of me possibly ornating a facility to judge the best business articles on a weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual basis. I do believe the idea has considerable merit and as I commented yesterday:
“I have “kicked” the idea around for a couple of days, brain-stormed it, white-boarded it, even produced a consequential analysis and objectively, it works. The time issue really is critical but I am certain I can coerce some of my generous staff to assist me from time to time. Subjectively, it also feels right as it produces so many “wins” for an awful lot of people.
I will open preliminary discussions next week and see how far we get. It will need support from several key communities/directories etc but I do believe that endorsement will be forthcoming as they have so much to gain and it will not be a competitive initiative - in fact totally the opposite.”
Before I take it any further, I will continue dialogue with David Bain from www.buildyourownbusiness.biz who I identified as being the ideal person to use as a sounding board and potential partner in the venture. His initial reaction was very positive and so I do believe we will launch something and I will of course keep you fully updated through this medium.
At last!! The Sales Community is finally up and running – and receiving rave reviews! I do urge you to visit and have a good look round. To enjoy all of the facilities you will need to pay a small annual subscription, but I can assure you it will be worth it.
Very occasionally, I am alerted to a piece of marketing genius and this week was one such occasion: The creator is a really nice guy called Tino Buntic – take a look for yourselves and see if you can spot any familiar faces:
Check out Tino’s, 2,000 bloggers project at: The Faces of 2,000 Bloggers
New articles: On my personal site, jonathanfarrington.com – “The Changing Face Of Sales Management” - “Old ways of doing business no longer work: the increasingly intense competitive challenges of the world economy challenge everyone, everywhere, to adapt in order to prosper under new rules. In the old economy, hierarchies pitted labour against management, with workers paid wages depending on their skills, but that is eroding as the rate of change accelerates”.
On Group site, thejfagroup.com – “The Nature Of Successful Leadership” –“People have been debating the nature of leadership for as long as records have been kept – certainly as far back as Homer and his peers. The topic continues to fascinate and enthral us today, but the way in which we assess leadership roles is changing.
Where once we looked to military and political leaders for inspiration and insight, now it is increasingly business leaders who hold our attention and provide role models”.
As I always say – both highly readable pieces, hopefully but I will let you judge for yourselves.
Finally, I came across another “sales specific community” last week and was pretty impressed with the quality of articles and general sales related information I found there – www.salesopedia.com - based in Toronto. It is owned and managed by a very efficient and responsive guy called Clayton Shold – although with the temperatures he was quoting, maybe it was, Slayton Cold!!
Do pay them a visit as I think you will be impressed at the author line-up.
That’s it, as ever have a great week, keep the comments coming, particularly on whether or not you think the “article of the week/month/quarter/year” is a good idea and if you do, why?
JF
