 Track Selling Times - August, 1999
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Track Selling Times
The Voice of the Sales Profession
Issue No. 117
August 1, 1999
Published by Max Sacks International,
Home of 100% Guaranteed World Class Sales Training, and
Developers of the Track Selling System™.
Author/Editor: Roy Chitwood, President, MSI
Archives of this Newsletter are available at
http://www.maxsacks.com/newsletter.html
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In this issue:
Feature:
Sections:
Focus on the Professional: Larry Anderson
Ask Roy
Survey
Newsletter Archives
"E-commerce and Sales"
by Roy E. Chitwood, CSP, CSE |
Gone are the days when bands of "salespeople" roamed the countryside, taking orders from the customers within their territories. Instead, fax machines, telemarketers and especially the Internet, are replacing many of the time-honored tasks of our profession, resulting in a weeding out of the sales force.
Yet despite this encroachment by the World Wide Web, few sales
organizations know how to use it to their own advantage. Instead, many companies simply put up a Web site and consider themselves prepared for the new millennium.
To have any sales value, however, a Web site must be more than a static
announcement of your business purpose and products.
Here are a few of the essential ingredients and functions that could transform a
technological burden into a sales bonanza.
- Sales Support
An obvious use of the Internet is to provide sales support in the form
of information that customers typically want to know. Yet many sites are
severely deficient in this regard. Is there a thorough 'frequently asked
questions' page or detailed product information including prices, specs, applications and volume discounts? Take a look at your own site from the viewpoint of the average buyer.
What kinds of questions would that person ask?
Does your site provide answers?
You'd be surprised how data challenged most Internet addresses can be.
- Visual Sales Aid
Has your site been designed to be useful to salespeople as a visual aid
in sales? When using the telephone, salespeople benefit from highly
visual Web pages that focus and direct prospects' attention to relevant
features and benefits.
Prospecting Heaven
A couple of years ago, the best you could hope for in identifying and
gathering prospect data, was to request an annual report or marketing
brochure. Now you can tap into vast stores of information, including
historical background, press releases, financial reports, executive
profiles and much more. Use the Internet to gather vital data on your
prospects before calling, and watch sales soar.
- Communication Preferences
Not everyone these days wants a phone call or 'snail mail.' Particularly
among high-tech companies, there is a strong shift towards e-mail as the
communication medium of choice. Find out how your customers and
prospects prefer to communicate and respond accordingly. As a tip, those
companies that favor electronic messages tend to have a Web page
promoting the e-mail addresses of staff. Alternatively, the Web master
is almost always listed, and that person is usually willing to provide
e-mail addresses.
- Promote the Site Address
Type in the word 'sales' and see how many sites Yahoo throws at you.
Now, get more specific and type in a key word from your own industry.
Chances are, hundreds or thousands of sites emerge, yours not among
them. This common occurrence has two sides.
First, use a professional to design your site so that it is picked up by
search engines. There is a whole technology to site positioning that,
when applied, prevents you from ending up in a remote area, far away
from the hub of the Internet galaxy. Secondly, promote your site with as
much, or more, passion that you have in marketing the company name.
Find
out how to gain entry to all the search engines, give the site address
in all product literature and form strategic alliances with other sites.
In short, take responsibility for high visibility on the Information
Superhighway.
- Contact Information
Make it easy for people to contact you by phone, fax, mail or e-mail.
You'd be surprised how many sites bury their contact information or omit
some vital part of it. In some, you can't find an e-mail address. In
others, there is no phone number or physical address. After going to all
the trouble of putting together a first class Web site that people can
find, make sure the finishing touch is there - a clear-cut way of either
ordering the product online or contacting sales for more information.
Integrity Pays:
"Staying True to Yourself"
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Paula Graber is Vice President of Communications at Forest Lawn
Memorial-Parks and Mortuaries, based in Glendale, California. Here, she
tells a story about staying true to yourself and not compromising with
your integrity.
"A few years ago, I ran an advertising agency. I began to have trouble with a major retainer account due to internal struggles between the owners. I ended up in the middle, doing triple work because they
wouldn't talk to each other. As you can imagine, this severely reduced my ability to perform well for the client."
What happened?
"Being in the middle of this emotional seesaw had a
detrimental effect on my health any my productivity. At first, I tried
to resolve the communication problem between the partners, but that
failed miserably. It became clear that I'd either have to live with the
game playing or lose the client. Unfortunately, however, they
contributed about 25 percent of my total business, so I couldn't afford
to lose them."
How did you resolve the situation?
"Although it was frightening to lose
a quarter of my livelihood, I finally decided to resign the account.
Instantly, I felt rejuvenated. I was once more excited about the future
and within three months, I'd replaced the business, moving on from there
to more than double it. More importantly, I was no longer bound to one
large client."
The moral of the story?
"Stay true to yourself and believe that if you
do the right things, everything will work out. Why continue in a
position that is compromising your integrity, undermining your health
and ultimately damaging to your long-term business expansion? Instead,
be brave, and you will succeed, no matter the immediate risk."
World Class Sales Management:
"Team-based Selling
"
By
Rex Kohl
Marketing Manager, Schwarz Williams Company
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We operate in three arenas - employee benefit consulting, human
resources consulting and financial planning. Each division has its own
account managers and I run the umbrella organization that markets all of
the company's services. To accomplish this, I have six dedicated account
developers (ADs).
As the ADs find needs for specific products and services, they take them
to the account managers who assist with the final sale. We find this
team-based selling tremendously successful. The ADs do the approach,
qualification and agreement on need steps, at which point the
appropriate account manager becomes involved. They work together to
effect the close and the account managers are responsible for all
deliverables.
I find this approach tends to mirror the basic personality types of
employees. Those who excel in sales often possess attributes that work
against them in account management. They are generally excellent with
concepts and motivation, but poor in detail work and follow-up. As it is
usually the opposite with account managers, by teaming them up, we
create high-quality marketing teams. Consequently, I use personality
profiling tools heavily in recruitment. Things are running so
harmoniously that I've only had to hire one person since we implemented
team-based selling.
The Track Selling System is the perfect complement to our sales approach. It provides us with a common language of sales, by adding formal labels and exact definitions of sales actions. All ADs and account managers have completed at least one workshop.
In actual fact, the Track Selling System is so integrated into our business, that we have designed all of our fact finding, agreement on need and proposal development steps around it. I also maintain an
inventory of cases in progress that identifies where each prospect is at within the sales process. That way, I can assign a value to it. If
nothing is moving, I either know that we have china eggs that must be
dropped, needs that haven't been fully identified or fulfilled, or a
lack of prospects.
| Focus on the Professional - Larry Anderson
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Larry Anderson is President of Excell-Boise Valley in Idaho. Excell
supports and develops leaders who are committed to business and personal growth. It provides a structure and process for the confidential exchange of vital knowledge, resources and solutions. Larry began his sales career in insurance in 1968 and has accumulated over three decades of experience in retail, wholesale and direct sales.
Why did you involve yourself in the Track Selling System five years ago?
"Despite my long years in sales, I didn't consider myself a good closer. My timing was sometimes off because I did not correctly perceive customer cues. I'd press hard when it was inappropriate and not ask for the sale when the prospect was ready to sign. As a result, I was less successful than I could have been."
What did you get out of the workshop?
"By using the seven steps of the
sales process, I can now pick up objections more readily and satisfy or
rectify those smoothly and easily. And when it comes to the close, I
find the line - 'If we can satisfy (needs and objections)... can you think of any reason why we shouldn't ...?' - incredibly effective."
What results did you experience from the training?
"By having an exact
method of selling that actually works, I have much more confidence when
dealing with prospects. That has led to heightened willingness to make
cold calls, schedule appointments and go out on sales calls. And when I
close a prospect, I look upon it as only the first part of success. I
always follow up by asking for referrals; a tool that added a whole new
dimension to my sales.
I'd say that the Track Selling System has directly caused at least a 100 percent leap in production. It is without a doubt, the best educational tool that I have experienced in my entire business career and that includes my college degrees."
| Ask Roy
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Madeline Jenner from Jefferson City, MO, asks,
"
I invested a lot of money on our corporate Web site a few months ago. Since that time, not one single lead, inquiry or order. The boss wants to scrap it as an expensive waste of time, but I am convinced we should persist. Any advice?
"
Roy's Answer:
"You are right to want it to persist, Madeline. Perhaps you
are closer than you think. Consider some of the points covered in the
e-commerce article and see what applies. Take a look at competitors'
sites to find pages that have what you lack. Also, either buy a book on
increasing site effectiveness or hire a consultant to improve your
visibility on the Web. I did that for my own site and the return on
investment was considerable.
"
| Reader Survey
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1. What do you think of Track Selling Times?
2. What else would you like to see included?
3. If you have sales questions for Roy, or know of a salesperson, sales manager or integrity story that should be featured in Track Selling Times, mail it
to:
The Editor, Track Selling Times
c/o Max Sacks International
Canal Place Office Park
150 Nickerson St. Suite 109
Seattle
WA 98109-1634.
Tel: (206) 217-0288 Fax: (206) 217-0286
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