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Leadership:
Leading the hunt for Sales
Part 2 of 3
"After all is said and done, more is said than done" Aesop
As leaders, we have heard all the terms & phrases: Empowerment, Management by Objectives, Behavioral style communications, Thinking out of the box, be a good coach, lead by example and oldest of all - "Go get more sales"!
When it comes to sales, the majority of people are farmers/order takers, not hunters, and only 10% of those are actually closers. "Telling" your sales staff to get more sales or to work harder, won't give them what they need to transition to become hunters.
A leader that people will follow will not only have a plan of attack but develop new, creative & innovative ways to implement. Most importantly leading by example. Today, a consultative approach works best dovetailed into a CRM system to maximize the ROI. There is no silver bullet solution but just doing more of the same thing you have been may not achieve your goals/objectives.
Start by reviewing what you do well. Then develop an outline of a "new" sales strategy based on the above mentioned, change the way you measure progress and expectations, not just the bottom line.
Relationship building is at the core and that is something every leader already does but now it is time to highlight what you are/can do and challenge your people to keep up.
Sales, today, is more of an art than ever!
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Yes, cold calling thousands to get a 1% return may work, for awhile. It is smarter (ROI) to dovetail your sales & marketing efforts to be laser focused. Better profiling of your customers will help but thinking out of the box and or being creative in new ways is the greatest challenge due to habits. "Seeing the forest for the trees"! There is a formula that will work for you, the challenge is developing it |
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