Are Your Salespeople Planning For Success?
Planning is critical if you want your sales team to achieve a
high level of success, so if your salespeople are failing to
plan, then they are planning to fail or at best underachieve.
Salespeople often overlook the planning stage because they find
it difficult or don't see an immediate benefit to themselves
however if they continue to do more of the same they will get
less of the same.
If you think of developing a sales plan in the same way you
might think about climbing a mountain, the purpose and
advantages of planning become clearer.
When you start up the mountain you never know what to expect,
sudden change in weather, lost or broken equipment, mistakes in
maps, an injury. Planning for these eventualities will allow you
to deal with them and still reach your objective in spite of
temporary setbacks. On the other hand, lack of planning can
spell disaster.
The more careful the planning, the more likely problems will be
anticipated and not allowed to interfere with your ultimate
sales objectives.
Sales Performance & Effectiveness
There are ONLY three (3) ways to improve your sales team's
personal sales performance: 1. Increase the value of their
prospects by cross or up-selling; 2. Work harder; or 3. Increase
their sales effectiveness
The key to increasing your sales team's effectiveness is for
them to spend more of their valuable time with prospects who are
truly predisposed to buy from them.
Why Plan?
Selling is and always will be challenging, but through effective
planning your sales team will be able to find more prospects who
are truly predisposed to buy from them. Developing a well
researched & thought out plan will enable each salesperson to
achieve improved and repeatable sales results.
Planning
The first part of the planning process involves learning from
the company's sales history. Much can be learned by documenting
past wins along with the associated problems that were solved in
a simple reference template. Previous sales wins always provide
a trail of valuable clues to lead salespeople to future success.
The second and most important aspect of the planning process
focuses on drilling down to uncover ALL of the Tangible &
In-Tangible Added Value that your product, service or solution
provides. By empowering salespeople with this knowledge, they
can offer real business benefits to Approvers - the individuals
who matter the most!
The third and final part involves documenting Advantages
Features & Functions. It is not always possible for salespeople
to initially gain access to an Approver in a complex sale;
therefore it is important to have a clear understanding of each
of the remaining member's specific interests within the Decision
Making Unit (DMU). All of the valuable information gathered
during the planning stage can also greatly assist with the
creation of attention grabbing written marketing material.
Summary
Fail to plan and you plan to fail; make your sales team the
exception to the rule - plan, assess and plan some more. You
MUST have a clear goal and a well defined methodology for
getting there. Ensure that each member of your sales team is
investing the necessary time to produce a well thought out sales
plan that will result in them spending more of their valuable
time with prospects who are truly predisposed to buy from them.
To learn more about Deakon and how we can help your sales team,
please visit our website at http://www.deakon.com.au