Unfortunately for all buyers, each selling organization and their individual sales professionals are unique and often require immense amounts of energy to build a relationship with. This keeps buyers guessing, which in turn keeps the sales organization guessing. It's a constant game being played out across offices across the country.
To help both sides, it may be prudent to go back to root cause of these ambiguity. The only common denominator across all sales organizations and all buying organizations is the dollar sign. Surprise! Buyers and sellers are concerned about the same thing! The buying organization wants more revenue through decreased revenue; the selling organization wants more revenue through sales. The bottom line-- we all want more revenue.
The item that keeps most C-level executives up at night is how to engage in the global marketplace to increase revenue or reduce costs-that's it. All decisions being made today, whether it's compliance to new laws, expansion into new markets, or whether to lay anyone off, can be traced back to these two sides of the dollar sign. The key for many companies is to focus on aligning marketing, sales, and customer service functions to that common dollar sign--but this is easier said than done. What many companies fail to do is to align these systems to the buying organization and their actual buying processes instead of forcing their process onto the buying organization.
This approach can be summarized as:
(1) Know your customer,
(2) Know your product,
(3) Be ready for the customer to buy, and
(4) Stay engaged with the customer after the sale.
Many organizations train their sales professionals, marketing departments, and customer service representatives on their product, but stop there. As a result, they have spent millions of dollars on training with little results. The problem with this approach is quite simple; they have not first asked "what is the process the buying organization uses in relation to these four phases?"
Believe it or not, the occupation that must understand this question absolutely and definitively is the sales profession. This is because the sales profession has the responsibility for converting market demand into revenue for the selling organization by understanding the desire to increase revenue in the selling organization. Sales professionals fill a critical position in any company by spanning boundaries from one organization to the other. The sales organization (sale professionals, and all supporting infrastructure) must build relationships, understand the customer, and articulate how bring value to the lives of their buyers. This in turn helps the subsequent customer. Sound confusing? Try doing it with a CFO of a telecom firm in the morning, a VP of Marketing in an IT software firm at lunch, and a CEO of a fortune 1000 at night!
The question is not "how do project our sales process onto the buyer?" The real question is "how do we facilitate the customer experience?"
As an example, how would your organization sell to the federal government? Would it be easy to do so if your organization had never done it before? The reason why it is difficult to sell to the federal government lies in difficulty of understanding how the federal government procures their goods and services. By understanding how the government buys obviously helps companies understand how to sell. This needs to happen in every industry, with every buying customer. Unfortunately, this crucial understanding is often overlooked, at the expense of driving lop-line growth.
Brian is the Chairman and Founder of the the United Professional Sales Association (UPSA). UPSA is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington DC that has addressed the concerns and challenges of individual sales professionals. Brian has authored the world's first universal selling standards and open-source selling framework for free distribution. This 'Compendium of Professional Selling' containing the commonly accepted and universally functional knowledge that all sales professionals possess. The open-source selling standards have been downloaded in 16 countries by over 300 people. Over 30 people have made contributions.
Because UPSA is not owned by one person or any company, it is a member organization and guardian of the global standard of entry into the sales profession.
Find out about the membership organization and understand the processes and framework of professional selling at the UPSA Website at http://www.upsa-intl.org. Find out more about Brian at: http://www.upsa-intl.org
experienced cleaning professionals Northbrook ..Running a business on the net these days can be... Read More
Security Professionals provide the products and services necessary to create... Read More
Many companies wish to expand and a few wish to... Read More
Everyone wants to succeed in life. Most people want to... Read More
If you own a small business, then you know the... Read More
Many auto detailers fall short in their sales presentations. I... Read More
Think of all of your business ideas as tiny seeds... Read More
WHEN you are operating or planning a small business that... Read More
Articles abound advising the business community how to properly screen... Read More
Thankfully, most of us will never find out. That is... Read More
How do you make sure you have the business solutions... Read More
Your on-line success is based on your efforts and yours... Read More
I propose this thought on the subject of Franchisee territory... Read More
Increase your profit potential by identifying ? and avoiding ?... Read More
Why should you always maintain a good report with a... Read More
Are the promoters and consultants destroying the market for Reverse... Read More
All franchises must meet the legal definition of a franchise... Read More
Let me get right to the point. The single most... Read More
BioTechs even with the latest news had shed over 1000... Read More
Many of us have noticed how some nearby communities seem... Read More
Would it help you as a real estate investor to... Read More
I only have to point to the 555 plus failed... Read More
The book, "Become the Squeaky Wheel," by New Hampshire author... Read More
Having a successful business means also having a good working... Read More
You can provide affordable health care plans to your employees.... Read More
best value cleaning service Northbrook ..One of the primary concerns all small businesses have is... Read More
How is your pipeline structured?I assume most of you have... Read More
Did you ever have one of those days or weeks... Read More
Many mobile car wash operators would like to add de-ionized... Read More
If you are the boss and you think your job... Read More
Last year, trillions of dollars transferred hands on the internet... Read More
When does your ego get in the way?Let's go back... Read More
Are you -- like 70 percent of small business owners... Read More
Concrete Roof Tile Business: During the 2004 summer season, storms... Read More
Over the years I heard the best way to learn... Read More
Opening a carpet cleaning business is a great way to... Read More
Writing a business plan for your Solo Entrepreneur business doesn't... Read More
What could Seinfeld possibly have to do with marketing a... Read More
If you run a pressure washing company in a rural... Read More
Anyone in business today realizes both the natural dependency on... Read More
Do you like animals? Would you like to work for... Read More
While driving through Pennsylvania farmland, you have probably noticed an... Read More
It behooves every professional mobile auto detailer to stay up... Read More
There are many choices when thinking about a small business... Read More
Why should you do informative talks to smaller groups?Informative talks... Read More
As a company grows, the owner's role begins to change.... Read More
What is the Big Race all about when it comes... Read More
Pet Transportation Services are needed as the number of pets... Read More
Some things in business are relatively easy to measure ?... Read More
What is Business Valuation? The term business valuation is the... Read More
| Small Business |