Jun 08 2008
The Less I See Of What’s His Name? - The More I Forget Him
Failing to focus salespeople’s activity reduces efficiency and consequently reduces results because there isn’t a salesperson alive that believes they have enough time in their working week to complete all the activities they want to achieve! Time is a huge constraint on salespeople’s activities so that when their manager asks them for more, it’s no wonder that they are overwhelmed.
Poor Quality Activity Achieves Poor Quality Results:
Secondly, but equally important, salespeople often aren’t clear about how to identify the prospects most likely to have a genuine need for their product or service. Without an objective way to prioritise which prospects to contact first and/or an efficient strategy for contacting them, salespeople are doomed to waste a large percentage of their time.
Another huge dilemma for many salespeople is how to divide their time between servicing existing clients and generating new business from new prospects. Existing clients frequently make requests for service that could be dealt with by support staff. But salespeople who lack a disciplined, future-orientated plan for generating new contacts and sales often find themselves spending more time attending to “urgent” tasks for existing accounts instead.
A common approach among salespeople can be summarised in the saying “If you throw enough mud against the wall, some of it is bound to stick”. This approach is exhausting, demoralising, extremely unproductive, and very expensive in the long term.
Speed Of Relaying Customer Information:
The Sales Director provides another interesting dimension to activity management. Apart from product or service knowledge, salespeople require knowledge about prospects, clients, and market trends. Therefore, if the information those salespeople require isn’t relayed in an efficient manner, their “face-to-face” selling activities are dramatically reduced.
Managing Existing Customers:
A vitally important sales activity is that of managing existing customer accounts to consolidate and grow the relationship. Yet, unfortunately, when compared over time, the customers’ interest levels increase while salespeople’s interest levels tend to decrease.
This creates a “relationship gap”.
Today’s News:
I am delighted to announce a brand new initiative that has just been launched by Jeb Blount and myself.
The Sales Book Awards recognize books, authors, and publishers whose work advances sales as a profession.
Advancing sales as a profession is our core mission. All proceeds from corporate sponsorships and entry fees will be used to create scholarships for deserving students enrolled in University level, sales degree programs. We will develop and foster a wide coalition of thought leaders, educators, publishers, authors, and corporations who share our mission.
2008 Winners will be Announced December 15, 2008
On November 15, 2008 we will announce three finalists in each major category based on the aggregate scores received from the judges. On December 15, 2008 we will announce the winner in each category and the Sales Book of the Year.
Winners and finalists will receive:
• a plaque recognizing their accomplishment
• a seal to place on their book cover and website
• recognition on major websites including SalesGravy.com, Top10SalesArticles.com (more TBA)
• a full page advertisement placed in a major trade publication (TBA)
• a scholarship will be awarded in the Sales Book of the Year’s authors name, to the top ranked junior at the 2009 National Collegiate Sales Competition
Nominating Categories:
1 General Sales (open category)
2 Sales Leadership/Sales Management
3 Sales Motivation
4 Sales Method/Process
5 Prospecting
6 Presenting/ Public Speaking
7 Industry Specific
8 Audio Books and Audio Programs
9 Classic Sales Books
10 E-Books
You can find the full details here: www.salesbookawards.org
Tomorrow: Fellow Top Sales Expert, Dr. Tony Alessandra is here on The JF Guest Author Spot
