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Bridging the Sales Experience Gap

Bridging the Sales Experience Gap

(OnTarget. Vol 4, issue 1 2004)

"How do you teach young sales reps how to READ the client, how to understand their personality and only provide the information when the client is OPEN to receiving it?" I received this excellent question recently from an overseas subscriber to our advice service. Some people seem to be much more able at reading clients than others. Such talent reinforces the idea that sales people are born rather than developed. Those who truly have an excess of interpersonal ability together with drive, commercial acumen, and motivation, are rare. If sales managers held off hiring anyone until enough such people presented themselves, they would fail through inadequate coverage of sales opportunities.

Most of us won the opportunity to test our talent by emulating such virtues for the duration of one or two interviews. We then learnt the hard way, via many years of practise speckled with minor failures and setbacks. Is it possible for a training course, teacher, or coach to bridge the gap? If we can imbue new sales people with the experience of a twenty-year professional and the judgement of a high flyer, then the world will become a wealthier place.

Every sales situation is different. This is why the profession continues to defy attempts to systemise it. Unexpected sales situations inevitably undermine all systems that dictate a particular strategy, tactic, or style. If you have the wisdom of talent or experience, you know what works in what situations and so you can adapt or switch your approach to suit.

To help sales people judge sales situations in the same way that the most experienced top performers do, we have constructed a framework concept known as ‘Adaptive Sales Frameworks’ . The frameworks represent models of how outstandingly successful sales people make the choices that lead to their success. So far, our concept encompasses three frameworks - ‘Approach Strategy’ , ‘ Engagement Tactics’ , and ‘Interaction Style’ . The frameworks are simple to understand and adopt. Whether you are in management or sales, there are many ways to use them. In this article I have described the first framework - ‘Approach Strategy’ and some of its uses.

Warrior Selling

From a strategy perspective, it would make no sense to involve the entire company in a simple, relatively low value sale. The value of the sale may be measured in terms of value to the vendor although it might be more usefully measured in terms of value to the customer. People who are easier to engage with, such as first line supervisors or middle level managers, make decisions about low value sales. Success in this arena depends on individual skills, efficiency, and work rate. We call this ‘ Warrior Selling’ . Some sales roles only ever involve one ‘ Approach Strategy’ . For instance, selling third party replacement ink cartridges for printers. End user customer savings and the product costs are relatively low. The sales proposition is simple and easy to communicate. A consistent and proven Warrior Selling method will increase sales in this situation.

Eagle Selling

If a sales person is required to address both low value and high value uncomplicated sales, sometimes he or she will need to call high. The higher the value of the sale, the more senior the decision maker will be. Calling high employs a different strategy and skill set. We call this Eagle Selling. An example would be management consulting. The impact on customer profits can be substantial and it is hard to succeed in selling managementconsulting services outside the boardroom.

Crew Selling

When the complexity of a sale is high, because either many people are involved in the decision or many issues must be considered, it is more efficient to use specialists working as a team. These people may work for the same company or different companies operating in alliance. An example would be the pre sales support technical specialist who often accompanies the sales person leading the sale of businessto- business technology based products or services. Where the value is relatively low, we call this Crew Selling.

Tribal Selling

When the value of a sale is very high, Crewe Selling becomes Tribal Selling. High value sales of services, solutions, and capital purchases require a Tribal approach. Competing for big deals drains resources that cannot be recovered. Losing such a sale may compromise your ability to make target. Complex, high value sales demand the attention of the whole department, division, or organisation. Leaving anything to chance invites disaster. If you were supplying several million pounds worth of new manufacturing machinery, both yours and your customer’ s profits will be dependent on the outcome. The results will affect investors income and careers. The degree of success or failure affects every stakeholder and employee in both companies. Such circumstances bring new meaning to the term ‘ due diligence’.

‘Approach Strategy’ helps with sales campaign planning at all levels. For sales people it clarifies what must be done to win a sale. For example, beginners often become locked in a relationship with one contact at a prospective customer. In some circumstances, only having contact with the decision maker does not hamper conclusion of a sale. You have no way to check information and you cannot gauge or affect the attitudes of others who may be influencing the decision. In the more complex sales scenarios of Crew and Tribal Selling, limiting yourself to a single contact often leads to a lost sale.

Using our ‘Approach Strategy’ framework helps sales managers’ marshal individual sales strengths because it’ s easier to identify the right skills, methods, and techniques needed for each type of sales. Learning or training can be directed at the tasks in hand or talent can be focused on the most suitable type of sales opportunity. Managers can use products sets, geography, named accounts, vertical markets, and even the demands of specific sales opportunities to divide sales responsibility.

Frameworks improve sales effectiveness by speeding up communication between managers and their teams. Teams brought together to address particular sales opportunities gain a better grasp of the wider picture and the purpose of individual assignments. Identifying or justifying resources necessary to win a sale is easier using the ‘Approach Strategy’ framework.

Adaptive Sales Frameworks offer an effective substitute for the insight and perception acquired from experience. Using the frameworks accelerates development of a sales sense that helps people make the right choices and do the right things.

Anyone can create frameworks to communicate rules of judgement learnt from experience. You can assess their value by using them to examine real sales situations. Use ‘Approach Strategy’ to review sales planning at a company, district, territory, or opportunity level. It is a thinking tool that links you to the experience and talent drawn on to create it.

‘Engagement Tactics’, the second of the SalesSense frameworks, helps sales people communicate more effectively by taking into account individual perspectives. The third framework, ‘Interaction Style’ , helps people to recognise and adapt for differences in personality. Next edition. I will explain how our Engagement Tactics framework indicates the best way to increase buying desire and lower buyer resistance.

Clive Miller
Tel: +44 (0)118 933 1357
www.salessense.co.uk

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