Extraordinary Business: Step 3 of 7 in " Seven Steps to Thrive in a Down Economy"

Step Three... Upgrade your Sales Process and Sales Skills

If you have done your homework and are marketing your product correctly, you should now have a steady stream of qualified prospects who are at least mildly interested in your product. Now is not the time to be unprepared and blow the sale!

You absolutely need: A Proven Sales Process.

Let's define what I mean. The first word that I use is "Proven." What does that mean? Well, Webster defines "proven" as....

1. tried and tested - done or used before and known to work or be satisfactory
2. proved true - shown to be true beyond any doubt

So, how do you know if your sales process is "proven?" Just as you did with your marketing, you test and measure. You make sure that each step along the way works to move your prospect toward the next step and you carefully measure its percentage of success. For instance, if your business gets 20 leads each week and the next step in your process is to set an appointment, you keep track of how many times you set the appointment. That percentage is the conversion rate for that step. To make sure your entire sales process works, you would measure each step along the way.

Now, let's define "process"

1. a series of actions directed toward a specific aim
2. a series of occurrences that produce change or development

The aim of your process will be, of course, to gain sales. So, if you haven't defined a sales process, do that first. You'll want to identify from beginning to final sale or loss of a prospect, each step that should be followed. For instance, once someone becomes a prospect, one step might be to follow a script during the first contact. You might then mail information and have a particular step to follow up. Whatever your process is, it should be written down in as much detail as possible.

Some companies will have a very short sales cycle and process. For instance, retail locations sell on the spot, but does that mean they shouldn't have a process? NO! Each person "on the floor" should know exactly what to say when they greet the shopper, have a system for showing your merchandise, and even a way to handle closing the transaction at the register.

If you have a longer sales cycle, managing the process becomes even more important as you will likely lose prospects along the way. Analyzing when you do lose them and finding better producing options becomes critical to close as many sales as possible.

Now that you've got a great process you need to: Identify Areas for Potential Training.

Even if you are the ONLY sales person in your organization, there will probably be some areas of the process that you perform better than others. Training will be the key to closing the gap on those areas in which you need to improve and I have suggested some training options below. However, if you do have a team there are additional steps you may need to take.

First, share the process with each team member that MAY come in contact with a prospect. The more your team understands your sales process and the importance of it, the better. Make sure they each have the understanding of each step, its importance and the tools to succeed. Secondly, identify through your "measuring" process, which areas individual team members may be struggling with and help them secure training in those specific areas.

Sometimes training may be as simple as studying a chapter a week from a great book on sales, other times it may involve attending classes, weekly coaching sessions with a sales manager, pairing strong sales reps with those that need help. The most important thing is that you focus on continuous improvement in this critical area of your business.

Bottom Line: In a down economy, we can no longer afford to simply assume our sales will happen. We MUST instead, make a concerted effort to have a system that will optimize our efforts and guarantee greater results.

Great Sales Books:
Action Selling - Duane Sparks
Little Red Book of Selling - Jeffrey Gitomer
SPIN Selling - Neil Rackham
Selling the Invisible - Harry Beckwith

The next step in our series - Step Four: Re-evaluate Your Products and Services

Dawn Drozd

Certified Business Coach

ActionCOACH

www.actioncoach.com/dawndrozd