Track Selling Times - June 1998
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Track Selling Times
The Voice of the Sales Profession
Issue No. 103
June 1, 1998
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 letter are available at
http://www.maxsacks.com/newsletter.html
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In this issue:
Newsletter Archives
The Partnership Relationship
The traditional role of the old-time business-to-business sales
person - providing customers with product, pricing and availability
information - is steadily being replaced by more cost-efficient
electronic means. With fax services and Web sites now supplying
this data on demand, companies can no longer afford to inflate their
ranks with large numbers of order takers or goodwill builders.
What does it take, then, for you to make it?
To prosper in the sales world, what's really needed is to treat
selling as a profession, learn and practice proven-effective sales procedures, and concentrate on building lasting partnership
relationships with customers.
Donald Keough, former president of Coca-Cola, presents a good
example of this philosophy. He once said that the role of the
Coca-Cola sales person was to be in partnership with his or her
customers, helping them become more successful through the use of
Coca-Cola marketing and merchandising ideas, in order to increase
the sale of other products in their stores that represented an even
greater profit margin to the owner.
The right orientation, therefore, is to concentrate on helping your
customers become more successful. If your product is not achieving
that, something is significantly wrong. But it's not only the
product that heightens the survival of your clientele. A big part
of selling is translating your experience of what's worked for other
customers into solutions that fit the prospect in front of you.
Your own ideas, experience and counsel are a value-added guarantee
of sales success.
To be able to use them, you must become an expert in the fine arts
of listening and questioning. This will help you gain insight into
the needs and goals of customers. Without this understanding, no
partnership relationship will ever develop.
So, do yourself a favor. Instead of becoming part of the sales
tragedy of the second half of the twentieth century, take a Track
Selling seminar. Become a true sales professional and sell happily
ever after.
Integrity Pays: Working With Your Competitors
Victor Stern is senior vice president of QuadraMed Corp, of Woodland
Hills, CA, a provider of financially related software and other
services to the health care industry. He has a very clear
understanding of the role integrity plays in developing a lasting
partnership relationship.
"The 90's means relationship-based selling. And the only way to
grow a business, and form strong partnerships with customers is by
acting with integrity. To do otherwise always catches up with you."
Can you give an example?
"From time to time, we actually accept
software back from clients. Perhaps a salesperson was overzealous
towards a growing business and loaded them up with too much product.
In these situations, we reach out our integrity arm and either
refund the cash or issue a credit. Although it's a momentary loss,
once they get through their growing pains, they always end up
ordering a lot more than they returned."
"Also, if my salespeople don't get agreement on need, they're
instructed to refer the prospect to whichever of our competitors has
the required product. This is so much more honest than pretending
that our solution fits. We even invite the competition to set up
displays at our user conferences. Why? To expose our clients to
the best possible solutions to their concerns. As a consequence, we
are perceived very highly by our peers."
Any other benefits from this approach?
"We're an aggressive company,
initiating four to six mergers each year. In many of these
situations, there's an antagonism towards the acquiring company and,
at times, a mass migration of the sales force. Not with us. Many
of those we acquire turn out to be the very competitors we'd been
referring people to. They are more than happy to be a part of us,
due to our fairness towards them in the past."
World Class Sales Management:
Distinguishing Yourself from the
Competition
By: Drake Pruitt General Manager of Nextel, Bellevue, WA
The wireless communications business is incredibly competitive.
There is a tremendous similarity between the range of products on
the market and the companies selling them. The quality of the sales
effort is all that distinguish one from another. Sales, therefore,
are won or lost on the strength of the efforts of direct sales
people and very little else. That's why I'm so enthusiastic about
Track Selling. It gives sales management the compass to follow en
route to greater sales success.
There are three factors I use to monitor my sales area.
Almost all
of them involve the partnership relationship.
1. Productivity. If this is down, it's either a lack of effort
(calls and interviews) or some aspect of Track Selling is not being
applied.
2. Customer Satisfaction. I watch customer satisfaction surveys
and the number of complaint calls to see how happy our clients are
with our services and sales efforts.
3. Churn Rate (the number of customers who leave us). This lets me
see if our sales are wearing well. If not, something is out in the
way our salespeople are applying the Track Selling process towards
developing long-term partnership.
I also require my sales managers to spend a lot of time out in the
field. Not only does this keep the salespeople performing better,
it establishes better relationships with our clientele, as they have
come to trust our sales managers over the years.
Focus on the Professional - Jim Watson
Jim Watson is senior vice president of North American Insurance Co.,
of Chandler, OK. He spent twelve years selling property and casualty
insurance, before moving into a managerial role. He was introduced
to track selling in 1976 and has used it since with great results.
"In my first couple of years as a salesman, I really struggled. I
worked hard, but had no understanding at all of the importance of
the partnership relationships or that selling was actually a
profession. Instead, I put all my attention on calls and talking to
people about my product. I did all the talking. Big mistake. I
never formed a relationship, never took the time to listen to
prospects and often didn't even ask for the sale."
What did you get out of Track Selling?
"It taught me that it's all
about people, being interested in them, their needs and getting the
sale to 'wear well' with them. Once I completed my training, sales
skyrocketed. I apply the sales process every day. That's how you
help people make the right buying decisions."
Any stories about the importance of the partnership relationship?
"Many years ago, I developed a strong bond with a client from
Wisconsin. The key was listening carefully and correctly
determining his needs. Over the years, several negative situations
have emerged that have challenged the partnership - like someone
else coming in with a better price. Without Track Selling, I would
have panicked. But now I know that price is not the primary driver.
I concentrated, instead, on the needs of the customer and the
benefits of the product. I kept the business. Over the last
fifteen years, that company brought me $95 million in insurance
business. The bottom line is that people do business because they
like you and you're easy to deal with."
Ask Roy
Shirley Melvin from Tempe, AZ asks,
"I attended one of your Track
Selling System workshops and try hard to help my customers and
prospects. But the rest of my company just doesn't seem that
interested. Delivery is sloppy, marketing is irrelevant to the
concerns of the customer and management seems more interested in the quick buck than in long-term loyalty. What should I do?"
Roy's Answer:
You're right to be very concerned about this
situation, Shirley. The salesperson of today cannot afford to
disregard customer satisfaction. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to find another job. The thing to do is to start communicating - with your sales manager, with any of the top management people who will listen. But remember to appeal to them to do it for their reasons, not yours. Find an ally in high places, and make him or her aware of the problem. Chances are, top management's already feeling
it in customer dissatisfaction and reduced revenue, and is trying to
figure out what to do about it. But if you can't resolve it, you're
betraying your customers by continuing your employment with that
company. It's up to you to ensure your clients needs are met. If you can't get sales and customer satisfaction on the same page, find a sales position with a company that cares.
Reader Survey
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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150 Nickerson St., Suite 109
Seattle, WA 98109-1634
Tel: (206) 217-0288
Fax: (206) 217-0286
Copyright: please distribute this e-letter freely
Credit any excerpts as follows: © 1998 Max Sacks International
Please obtain written permission from MSI before citing Track
Selling Times in any promotion material
