5 posts tagged “sales”
Here is a short, 3 Min. 17 Sec., video by Tom Peters on sales. His emphasis is that we are all salespeople and we need to know how to sell if we want to be successful. We have all heard that a thousand times but most of us never really get it. No matter what your position or your job function you need to learn the skills of the sales person.
Tom says the same thing only with a passion and intensity that is hard to match.
"Never let go of anything until you have hold of something else." - First Law of Wing Walking
I learned this law many years ago. It is simple to apply.
Right now I am struggling to meet my sales forecast within my territory. At the end of last year I had one of my largest dealers cancelled for what basically boiled down to a personality clash between him and my upper management. I do not want to get into the details, but the basics were they did not like each other or see eye to eye.
That one customer was responsible for 10% of my sales...and income. We let them go with no suitable candidate set to replace them. Was I asked? No, I was told that they were going to be canceled and that I needed to find a replacement customer to make up the volume. There was no replacement in the wings, nor is there a viable candidate today.
Action was taken with no thought to the long term consequences. Sales are down nationwide..it's that recession we say isn't out there, but I started out 10% in the hole.
I will still make my quota, that is what I do, but that really isn't the point.
Actions have consequences. It is important to take these consequences into account when making decisions. It is best to deal from rational point of view rather than from an emotional one, but people rarely do. Also, it is easier to make decisions if the negative effects do not affect you. I have customers I don't like or agree with, but I am in business. My job is to sell to them solutions, services and products that met their needs and that the company I represent sells, not to make sure I am happy with how each of them runs their life.
Sales can be hard. It is managements job to make it easier, not get in the way.
I read once that the difference between a recession and a depression is as follows:
It a recession when your neighbor loses his job.
It's a depression when you lose your job!
So I want to ask, how do you measure the economy? Do you have chart you follow or a methodology? Is Jim Cramer's opinion or that of the talking heads at CNBC enough for you? Or do you simply not think about it at all?
I asked everyone, in an earlier post, is they thought the US was going into a recession. No one hazarded an opinion, which i found fascinating. I realize the people participating in Operation Blog Post and the Inner Circle are, as a rule, more postively focused than the average person, but proper preparation and planning as essential no matter what your endeavor or goal in life.
I checked the Intrade prediction market this morning and the board has the odds of a US recession still tracking with a 35% probability, which I feel is low. Since I believe in the "wisdom of crowds" theory I do give this credence, but it doesn't jive with some of the other data I normally use to make forecasts and construct future scenarios.
US Consumer confidence is at the lowest level since 1992, at 57.2
The Case/Schiller Housing index shows housing prices down 14% since last year. They also predict housing should drop 30% peak to trough so according to them we are about half way through the housing downturn. As an aside, the more I hear about government plans to intervene in the market the more I think things will be worse.
Why does this matter? If you are a salesperson you need to sell into the future environment. You may need to adapt your approach and your product mix. As a leader you need to anticipate the future, construct different scenarios and be prepared to act on new information. Information is the key component to making good and effective decisions.
So, how do you get your information?
I posted on Steve's sales blog today. Please follow the link and comment there. I'm under the weather (damn creeping crude again!) and will go with that as my post.
Oh, I forgot World Renown Hypnotist David Power in my post yesterday. Sorry about that David. I must have been in an hypnotic trance.
Steve Chambers
Sales Trainer and Sales Coach
Yesterday I posted about how important it is to spend your time and effort on worthy targets. Speaking of shooting at targets and hitting them, check out this amazing video:
Fastest and most accurate gun in the west
Today I am going to go on a bit of a rant about selling to customers. Why in the world do companies make it so difficult to sell things?
Did you ever see the movie, Zulu Dawn? No, not Zulu, which is also an excellent movie staring Michael Caine, but Zulu Dawn.
The movie showcases the Battle of Isandlwana, which was the last battle in which native forces defeated a much more advanced army, in this case the British Army...sorry David Power, renown hypnotist. I am not going to discuss the battle in detail.
In the movie the British base camp was attacked by a far larger force of Zulus. The Brits formed a laager, which is basically a circle, and used their superior firepower and weaponry to hold off the Zulu forces. The Zulus would charge forward and the British would mow them down.
Eventually the English front line started to run low on ammunition (there is that word again) and sent back runners to get more. What happened when they arrived at the supply wagons? It's a classic mistake that cost the British their army and often costs businesses profits.
The supply wagons refused to issue the ammunition for several reasons. One, the system wasn't set up to handle the volume needed. They couldn't get the ammo out of the boxes fast enough to meet customer needs. Secondly, the runners did not have the proper forms to requisition the ammunition. The supply personnel were interested in accounting for every round and therefore held up issuing the ammunition until it could be accounted for. Thirdly, the people involved in issuing supplies did not like having to supply the native troops. They were more concerned about keeping them in their place then in meeting the immediate needs. They failed for all these reasons.
We see something similar in business everyday. Businesses often make it hard for people to buy from them. Counterintuative? You bet. But it happens because people involved in the business lose sight of the goal, which is to sell products. Without a sale nothing happens. Sales is everything. Everything else is a cost. Managing costs and tracking inventory is important, but you, and your employees, never should lose sight of the prime objective...selling products at a profit.
Now go out and sell something.
