eBusiness Weekly
Robert Gonye
I shudder to think what it feels like when the sales director has to explain to shareholders that business is bad, sales are low, and intended customers are not buying the proffered product!
I suppose that is quite a bitter state of affairs to face. My question then is directed to the sales director, sales manager, and yes, the sales representative.
Before accepting excuses which clearly are not growing the business, but are instead reducing our voice as a brand, and share of the market pie we need to have a moment of introspection and ask these sobering questions:
Do we have a sales team which is active; do they know what they sell and what is expected from them?
Do our sales teams have product to sell; yes, sometimes, or no?
Is the product still relevant? This is obvious because we have been in business all this time.
Is after sales support on offer for our product/service. Do clients get feedback during the customer journey?
Are we the lion, or the tortoise in the jungle? Are we the biggest or dominant brand in the market space or are we competing in the market place like everyone else for relevance (If you are in the latter category your needs are such that of a special class. We will come back to it in one of our articles.)
Without addressing the said matters, we are hoping for business to change when we have not done even the bare minimum. From a business stand point let us address the main concerns so that we do not miss out on the new mantra “Open for business” just because we have not set the basics in place. And the basics are spelt out as follows:
- Have a market for your business: have a constant supply and demand for your service offering where people know you as the main supplier.
- Have the right team selling the product, a sales team is the biggest driver for any success because they make the money or revenue. When you have the right teams they make it happen for you.
- Set out the right objectives and expectations for the team. It goes without saying — what gets measured gets done, and what you fail to manage you have no control over. When you set targets and expectations for revenue and performance regards to the team you set the right expectation and it is easy to police. It is not a feelings business. Review with the team. Performance has to be done through the key levers which are Planning, Coaching, and Leading. This has to be agreed on by the team leader with every respective sales member and weekly or regular tracking and feedback is expected.
- Support the team while hunting in the sales field market. While most people assume support means training the team, a quick question is why hire people who do not have sales understanding and then have to support them through every stage; something that will delay the learning curve and performance expectation.
Where you would have hired a sales executive with a probation period of three months in a normal cycle, it is then extended because the new person has to grasp the whole sales process.
It will translate into time and costs incurred versus sales achieved. Internal Sales support for the team within the organisation will entail a buy in and signing an SLA (Sales Level Agreement) with other departments so that they do not frustrate the selling process, thereby derailing the sales expectation.
A classic example would be complaints handling and support by teams which work in silos but feed into the sales teams such as customer service desk or repairs department.
The SLA will spell out the minimum and maximum times allowed for any support expectation and not affect the sales team on the ground.
If no clear expectations or definitions are set out, the sales fulfilment or support will be affected and this will cascade to client dissatisfaction at all levels. We will unbundle this in the next article as we seek to support the sales journey in any organisation.
Robert Gonye is a Business Growth Expert and Influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. Comments and views: [email protected]. The views given herein are intended solely for information purposes; they are guidelines and suggestions and are in no way guaranteed to work in any particular way.
