Selling Professionally

I have been reading about shrinking pipelines, questions by sales management and trainers on how to focus development efforts, and a number of other general ailments in sales teams. For each one, there are many different ways to approach solutions, but the central question when things are going wrong is, where do I start in order to fix the situation? Without good data on what is currently happening, it is hard to determine what you need to fix in order to achieve what you do want to happen. In my experience, starting with the metrics and numbers is the first place to go. Let me tell you a story... There was a sales team that I had set out to provide some training for, quite a few years ago. They were all grossly under-performing. They seemed to know the product and were all really nice people, but the revenue numbers weren't good enough to support their office. The reps were complaining that there were not enough leads. Common comment. So, I wanted to get their focus onto ...

Let's do a quick little review of my blog in general, so far, to put Howard Stevens' ( http://www.chally.com/thosewho1.htm ) third rule into perspective, along with my focus for this blog. If you checked out this blog on day 1, and again today, you will likely have noticed that my introduction at the top of the page changed significantly . In fact, it changed three times. Why? Because I have been trying to figure out a focus for this blog. Why? Because, as my introduction now suggests, being professional is to do what you do with some sort of intent. You may then ask, "So, why did it change over three days? Did you not have an intent to begin with?" Well, yes, I did have an original intent, and that intent still exists. The reason things have changed is that I have added intent to the original. Let me explain. In the context of Stevens' third rule, "Salespeople use networking to develop quality contacts", my original intent for this blog was to contin...

Customers don't all come in one shape and size. However, depending on what you are selling and what your market is, you are likely to get relatively high consistency in general traits. Particularly in B2B selling. Selling data analytics solutions to auditors? Expect highly analytical people who will want to know everything there is to know about the subject and are not likely to be impressed by a Closer type salesperson. Be ready to have a complete needs analysis mapped out and a proposal that would put War and Peace to shame. Selling iPhones? Be ready for the technical questions and being able to show how the light sabre app works on it, then stand back and let them figure it out for themself. If you try to dig into goals/objectives/pains, you won't get enough of their attention to show them how the lighter works or how they can get a random restaurant in downtown NYC with four stars and two $$. These are just the two ends of the spectrum. There is every infinitely different m...

Howard Stevens writes ( http://www.chally.com/thosewho1.htm ) that there are distinct positions in each sales team. In sales, he suggests that there are Closers, Consultants and Relationship Builders. Stevens continues that each person, if they are going to be absolutely the top in sales, cannot be more than one of these. I know that for myself, the "Consultant" type is front and centre. I don't have to think about it, I don't have to pump myself up to work in this way. It just is there, for me. The "Relationship" type is a very strong second for me and I think fits very effectively in with the "Consultant" type. But the "Closer" type, for me, needs preparation, energy, thought and a pep talk before I start. And that is all well and good. The important element to being a professional salesperson is to know for yourself which is your dominant trait, and make sure that you are working in it. Stevens' analogy is a baseball team, where at...

So, here you have it. My inaugural blog post. And you can say that you were one of the first to see it. Please let me know when you do see it, and subscribe if you want to hear my random ramblings about professional selling. What started me on this? Well, first and foremost is being "temporarily" unemployed. I say temporarily because I am actively working to change that status to "employed". As I work on my networking through LinkedIn and other social settings, I have seen more and more blogs on various subjects, but of course tons of them on selling. I know I have lots to say, but up until this point in time, no soapbox of my own to stand on. I came across this article today. http://www.chally.com/thosewho1.htm I have a feeling I have seen it before, but not having had a place to record it and record my thoughts about it, I can only guess. The site calls it a "classic" article, but I don't know its actual age. What I do know is that it has a...