The most glaring omission among most salespeople is the lack of a process. If you have a sales team but no process, then your team members are all running around doing and saying different things all day long.
If you don't have a sales process, there's no room for improvement because there's no way of knowing what's working and what's not working — only speculation and endless ''what if'' scenarios.
See if this sounds familiar. You run ads simultaneously on TV, on the radio, in the newspaper, and on the Internet, all while conducting a huge incentive program for your salespeople. You have a great month. Sales are through the roof.
Wonderful, right? Well, maybe for the first month…what about the rest of the year?
It's wonderful if you were tracking where those sales came from. What if they all came from only one source of advertising and the rest of your tactics bombed? What if your sales incentive program did well, but only because your sales team was going on calls generated from your newspaper ad?
What if your sales were great not because of your sales team but despite your sales team? Wouldn't that be good to know so you do things differently the next time? Maybe you'll spend your marketing dollars only on the ads that worked. How efficient would you be then? How do you think that will affect your company's cash flow?
Without a process there's only guesswork about your sales team's strengths and weaknesses. You're left theorizing, hypothesizing, and engaging in frustrating and counterproductive trial-and-error methods, constantly reinventing the wheel and hoping for the best the next time.
This is no way to run a sales force, and it could spell disaster for your company's revenue projections in the best case scenario — or your company's future as a viable entity in the worst case scenario.
Believe it or not, only 38% of companies have a formal sales process, and only 10% of small businesses have one.
Your sales process doesn't have to be complicated — just a few steps to make sure everyone's on the same sheet of music out in the field. This will allow you to avoid inconsistencies in your company's overall message, which can lead not only to lost sales but lost credibility, which is even more devastating.
Truth be told, the only companies which experience rapid, high-percentage growth from year to year (consistently) are those that, through testing and close attention to their successes and failures, have found a process that works extremely well and stick with it consistently.
So my advice to you is to develop a process, something that's based on what you believe, at this moment, to be closest to what's working in your company. Get feedback from your sales force and work with it. Get everyone's input on this process so there's buy-in and enthusiasm.
The end result of having a process will be increased employee satisfaction, increased customer retention, increased customer growth, and a marked increase in revenue over the long term.
Make a decision to develop a process and watch your company's sales benefit. But keep track of this benefit so you know how you got there, and evolve your process accordingly. This is how good companies, and sales teams, become great.
Want to avoid the other top selling mistakes? Visit www.theredflagreport.com to learn the top 12 mistakes that lose sales.
About the Author
Henry Pellerin is president and founder of VantaEDGE™ Inc. and co-author of The Strategic Selling Process. VantaEDGE™ Inc. provides customized sales training, consultation, and facilitation services. Henry personally has had more than 17 years of experience in sales, sales management, and business development, which he shares with clients to help them receive the same results he has attained year after year.
You may want to sign up for the VantaEDGE™ monthly sales tips newsletter VantaEDGE Monthly, where you'll receive valuable selling tips each month along with the special report ''Avoid the Top 10 Selling Mistakes that Lose Sales.'' To do so, visit www.vantaedge.com. Henry can be reached at 864-254-9300 or via email at henry@vantaedge.com.
