A world class company isn’t dedicated to size but to continuous growth–growth and cultivation of sales talent.
Benson Smith, co-author of Discover Your Sales Strengths, presented the findings of the Gallup Organization’s study of 250,000 sales representatives and 25,000 sales managers to attendees of AICC’s Spring Meeting, held at the Registry Resort in Naples, Fla., April 13-16.
Unfortunately, he reported, 30 percent of companies studied by Gallup seem to subscribe to P.T. Barnum’s philosophy, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” That’s a philosophy dedicated to working hard to patent products, then charging as much as possible for them. That is not the mark of a successful company, Smith says. A company’s relationship with its customer is the best predictor of future success.
He advised his audience to avoid traditional ideas of what makes a good salesman. Factors like dress, appearance, style – even experience, are overblown. What counts is authenticity. It’s up to the sales manager to recognize a sales candidate’s real traits and make best use of them in cultivating true sales talent. That’s the talent to engage customers.
A customer’s satisfaction and loyalty aren’t enough to make that customer stay with you.
Thanks and Goodbye—“Satisfied customers will leave,” Smith says. “In fact we often force them to repurchase through contracts. The most important measure of customer retention is what percent of them would be an advocate for you.” Smith expressed good salesmanship in a formula: (Content + Relationship) x Asking. In other words, the gifted sales professional includes a multiplier in his formula for success: the ability to ask for the business.
“People are five times more willing to do something if asked,” Smith explains. However, it takes a special kind of talent mixture to conclude a transaction by asking for the business. Every sales person has his/her own unique mixture of characteristics. The sales manager must recognize these and use them in motivating salespeople to succeed consistently. According to Gallup, 75 percent of U.S. sales forces are either not engaged or they’re actively disengaged. Smith cites this checklist of factors that will help engage the sales force and make it more likely that they will engage customers:
- I know what is expected of me at work.
- I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
- At work I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
- In the last seven days I have received recognition or praise
for doing good work.
- My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about
me as a person.
- There is someone at work who encourages my development.
- At work my opinions seem to count.
- The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my
job is important.
- My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing
quality work.
- I have a best friend at work.
- In the last six months someone at work has talked to me
about my progress.
- In the last year I have had opportunities at work to learn
and grow.
A company’s best salespeople aren’t always the easiest to manage. By finding out who they are, then motivating them accordingly, you may cultivate the talent to keep your company competitive.OBM |
