Sales Management Mastery

Turn Your Sales Effort Into a Rocket Ship of Results

By Chet Holmes

There's a war in today's business world—it's called "sales." And, if you want to win the war and get more market share, you must get yourself some true warriors. You need top producers.

It's the top producers respond perfectly to rejection by becoming more effective. They become more aggressive when someone is brushing them off. They're more persuasive if someone isn't buying. Top Performers know that the sales process is a science. They understand that they must operate like scientists, constantly moving toward the sale.

If you want to achieve maximum productivity and double your sales in less than 12 to 15 months, you must think like a scientist. So start drilling down like a scientist each and every aspect of your sales process.
Here are some top ideas to help you create your step-by-step battle plan for sales success:

1. Prospecting Stage

• Do you have minimum standards for the types of accounts your salespeople should go after? Does every rep have some "dream clients" they chase constantly and relentlessly? What is the minimal size accounts should your reps be going after?

• What will be your sales reps first approach? The second? The third? What do you say if you get the prospect on the phone right away? What are your procedures for getting around gatekeepers and assistants?

• Did you establish the minimum number of accounts your team will go after (per rep)? How much time each day is going to be dedicated to this effort? Did you set a minimum amount of rejections your team will face per client?

Make sure you include in your battle plan what your sales reps should do after each rejection and how this process is going to be monitored. If you don't set standards here, 52 percent of all salespeople will give up after a single rejection. Yet studies show it takes 8.4 rejections today to get the client to at least meet you.


2. The sales call

• What are your sales reps going to present? What are the top five strategic objectives you want to achieve from every interaction with every buyer? What and how many questions are they going to ask? How will your reps own personal credibility?

The sales call is a terrific strategy but 99.9 percent of companies never address this on purpose. Have you seriously sat down and talked about the sales call and planned out each aspect? Did
you practice it, role-play it and polish it to a fine luster? Are you leaving nothing to chance?

Think of sales like a war: You need to plan every step. Marketing with direct mail, advertising, trade shows and Internet Marketing are like your long range bombing. They soften the market and make it more receptive.

Your salespeople are your foot soldiers. When they get into hand-do-hand combat, how well do you want them trained? By perfecting every aspect of the sales phone call, your clients will be able to win sales over your competitors.


3. The actual pitch for the product or service.

• What's your pre-emptive strategy to block competitors? What's going to motivate your prospects to buy right now?

Pretend you had to present to all your prospects all at once, what kind of experience would that be? Are you ready right now? If not, your sales process is sloppy.

Sorry, but it's true. You need to plan out the sales opportunities to the letter to the extent that your reps would know exactly what to say if you put them in a room with all their prospects at once. Figure it out, then role-play it.


4. The offer

• Can you offer something for free that gets you deep into your clients' world? Can you offer a free audit related to your type of product or service? Can you sweeten the inducement to buy with a bonus or free gift?

Creating a compelling offer is an art form. Role-play your offer again and again until the reps do it with ease and complete comfort.


5. The follow up

• How will you recognize and plan your objectives after a sales interaction? Do you want to get referrals? Do you want to keep the client coming back again and again?

• How are you going to build a bond? Did you get emails addresses? Can you open a relationship that is so worth having they can’t say no? What's follow up step one, step two, step three and so on?

By continuing the bonding process, your res wil find opportunities to network and win future sales.

That being said, it's the procedures, role-playing, constant training and working on the sales process—and not just in it—can help even regular salespeople perform like top producers. Remember—if you're not leading, you can't close.