Sales | Sales and Marketing Strategy for Your Business

The First Three Months As A New Sales Manager

Monday, March 5th, 2012 - by admin - No Comments

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Article by Richard Stone

Some sales people are lucky because they are prepared by their company for promotion into a sales Management role with appropriate management training. Others find themselves promoted into their new position without such support. Whatever the situation, the first few months in any new managerial role can be daunting. What managers do in their first few months is important, particularly for those in sales management, because how you manage during these first few months will influence your future success. In particular it will influence how you will cope later on with your new sales team, colleagues and superiors.

You should not fall into the trap of assuming that everyone will welcome you with open arms. Indeed, many people may initially observe you in a critical light. You are likely to have to manage anxiety from your sales team, colleague envy from those who attended the same management training as you but who were passed over for promotion, as well as resentment from people in other departments. Everything you do and every decision you make will be subject to scrutiny. Rumours will be rife. The tips that follow will assist you in making the move more easily.

Whilst it is important that you quickly aquire an overview of the sales situation, it is equally important that you do not rush into things. You should move forward instead in a systematic way. To do this we suggest you divide your first three months into an “orientation”, a “concept” and a “profiling” phase. What to focus on in these phases is described below.

The orientation pahase is the initial phase in your new position. It will probably last about four weeks. Aim to spend much of these first four weeks as possible away from your office and not in the company building. Arrange to accompany your new team on client visits for half days or longer. Have a personal chat with each of your sales people to get to know them.

In this first phase you should set the following goal for yourself: to listen, take on board the problems encountered by your salespeople and gain impressions of the market and your clients.

Never give your point of view on decissions your predecessor may have made as doing so will damage your credibility. If such matters are raised you should appear interested, but remain reserved.

During your first few months, avoid making any decisions that go beyond your day-to-day responsibilities. Defer making far-reaching decisions.

The next month in the job should be considered as the concept phase. You should spend most of this second month at your desk drawing up a list outlining the problems you noticed during your first four weeks.

Start by drafting a rough concept for your future sales strategy and sales policy. This would include, for example, the competitive situation, sales routes, condition policy, offer programme, area structure, management of the external sales department and sales promotion.

To round off your information, have discussions with representative customers, large-scale buyers and colleagues – such as the Head of Marketing, the Production Manager, the Head of Logistics, etc. Limit your contact with the sales force during this phase to telephone conversations. Remember to constantly discuss your thoughts and ideas with the company management.

Your third month in the job should be considered as the Profiling phase. Now is the right time to publish your “profile” and discuss the concept phase and explain your objectives in detail with your organisation’s management. It is important that you set priorities jointly and secure moral support. Keep your colleagues up to date with regard to your plans and intentions. Agree the “ground rules” for future co-operation. Assure your department colleagues of your willingness to co-operate.

You should also arrange a team meeting with your sales team. You will need to inform your salespeople of your conclusions from observations made during client visits and tell the sales force about the goals you have set and the expectations you have of them. Ensure you take time to respond to any questions they may have. Also, let them know about any pending decisions or any decisions you have already made.

If you apply the above three month action plan you are more likely to be successful. If, however, you feel you need more support – as many new sales managers do – you can always attend a specialist sales force management training course which will help you build the specialist skills needed to do one of the toughest management jobs around – managing a sales force.

About the Author

Richard Stone is a Director for Spearhead Training Limited that runs management training programmes aimed at improving business performance.

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Sales Management for the Next Decade

Friday, March 2nd, 2012 - by admin - No Comments

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Article by Bob Morrell

One of the consequences of the recession that has not been properly recognised is the effect of the downturn on the sales processes of nearly every organisation. The development of sales strategiesand techniques over the last 150 years has been well documented. Selling has developed from aperformance based interaction, through more technical and aspirational modes into its currentform; that of problem solver and account manager. However, no-one anticipated an economicdownturn that would transform the natural development of sales.

A company sells advertising into magazines. The magazines are circulated to an audience that theadvertisers want to influence into buying their products or services. It has been important for themto attract that audience for years and they have had to form a relationship with that magazine as aresult. Suddenly the flexibility of their bank has disappeared and they can no longer afford to makebad marketing decisions. So the easiest and worst thing to do is to do nothing. They suddenly cutback on advertising. They tell their contact at the magazine they have assessed their response totheir adverts and now feel that the response has not been worth the money. Due to the economicconditions the sales person charged with the responsibility of keeping that client, is unable todefend against that decision. They can try all the usual tactics of selling on fear, discounting, offeringalternatives but they cannot seem to get around the fact that the world is in recession and the clienthas taken a strategic decision to pull their adverts. The Sales manager for the magazine only sees adrop in revenue and berates the sales person for losing the business. The truth is they were nevercapable of keeping because they’ve have never been shown how.

This story is typical of current sales situations and we would argue that the next ten years will seean immense developmental change in salespeople and their managers. The recession has thrown upquestions about credit, price and value, return on investment, accountability and the measurabilityof purpose. The majority of sales teams are not used to selling with these things in mind. Newcentury management techniques suddenly need to be engaged whereas during the good times wecould fall back on 1970′s style sales management, using the carrot and stick to engage enthusiasmand persistence from our teams. The only problem is that new management techniques call fortop down change within organisations and that seem impossible, whereas it is surprisingly simple.

The recession will force us to be more sophisticated in our approach in order to guaranteeprofitability. Which means hiring more intelligent salespeople, or at the very least developing theirstyle and intelligence to cope with the new economy. When you look at many sales teams, theywill have recognisable characters; the ego salesperson, always out for themselves, the personableold lag, working his contacts, the tenacious target hitter, the journeyman and one or two novices.On this description, none of them are truly adapting to the model of the new economy. How canthe old lag suddenly become the true consultant he needs to be to redevelop business from hiscurrent contacts whilst searching for new opportunities? How can the journeyman suddenly findthe energy to change his traditional methods of selling, and adopt a new structure that means hehas to sell with profit in mind? How can the tenacious target hitter maintain her level of face to facevisits when every client is saying they have no money to spend with her? Lastly, how can the SalesManager, hired to inspire and lead, grow his team’s business when he is being required to write andre-write meaningless targets and budget forecasts for board directors and shareholders that are outof date as soon as they are written?

The recession has given businesses a great opportunity to look at their current systems and make adetermined break with the past. How about a sales team that doesn’t work to targets? How about aboard of directors that re-engages with customers? How about a Sales Manager who makes sure hisstaff understands profitability and their true purpose? How about an Account Manager who workswith clients, and demonstrates value wherever possible? How about a sales and marketing functionworking together for a change?

We have heard a great deal lately about companies using the recession as a way to trim down ‘deadwood’. This is an appalling term that says more about the managers who hired the staff than thestaff themselves. There is no such thing as ‘dead wood’. There is only staff that are able to deal withthe new economy over the next ten years and those who require investment and development todo so. Sales managers who can see that developmental need will need to plan for this soon. In ourview, companies who insist on staying with seventies style sales management will be the ones whofall away quickest in the coming years.

Sales Training

About the Author

Bob Morrell is Operations Director and sales trainer for the double act sales training company Reality Training Ltd.

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Hire motivational sales speaker Sydney to enhance morale of your sales team!

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 - by admin - No Comments

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Article by annettelackovic

Are you getting worried about continuous downfall in your sales department? If yes, you must find some effective solutions to bring it up because without getting desired sales output any organization can not grow further. One of the sole and main motives of every organization or business is to achieve sales target to its great heights and if your sales team is unsuccessful in doing so then no use of running it further. To motivate the sales team of your concerned organization in Sydney, you must hire the services of highly skilled professional speaker Sydney who know how to enhance their morale and spirit. Not only this, they deliver motivational speech to all the employees and share real time experiences.

It has been already said that a professional can accomplish a task in more efficient manner than a layman do. No doubt, achieving sales target is the most important goal of every organization because without earning enough revenues management would not be able to pay off the employees and run various other activities required to exist in the market. Most of the times, competitors adopt such kind of sales strategies that can beat the sales of your organization and sales professionals loose their confidence thereon. In these circumstances, some body is needed to bring up their morale and spirit to a extent that they can perform even far better than before. This kind of miracle can only be done with the help of motivational sales speaker Sydney so hire an experienced and talented one to let your business touch the zenith of success.

However, if you are finding it complicated to search for the best sales speaker in sydney then start doing an exhaustive search online where there is a plethora of websites available over web. After reaching to these websites, you may find a large number of professionals ready to offer their services at affordable rates but before hiring the one, do not forget to check his past experiences and feed back by the previous clients. Always go for the one that can meet the requirement of your concern and motivate your entire sales team for achieveing targets even more than expected.

At last, one may conclude from the above details that hiring the services of a professional sales speaker Sydney is not a worthless deal at all for any organization facing downfall in the sales department. So, approach an experienced one and see the output on your own!

About the Author

For more information about professional speaker Sydney please visit-http://www.annettelackovic.com

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High Probability Sales Training and Fifty Additional Sales Training Articles

Saturday, February 18th, 2012 - by admin - No Comments

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Article by Wayne Messick

As business owners we know that sales are the key to our continued success. Of course the type of business and industry we’re in has a lot to do with what we call sales. For retailers the potential buyers are in the store, so selling may simply mean closing or does it?

In other industries the sales person must sort out the potential buyers from the universe of suspects around them. Then, once they’ve been qualified the selling process can begin. The price points of your products and whether they are essentials or luxuries also matters when considering the sales and sales training process.

It was for that reason we located fifty articles for you.

In my opinion the primary reasons to invest in sales training are to make your sales force more effective – what is sold stays sold and increase customer satisfaction – satisfied customers refer their friends, with the results of greater profitability for your customer, your sales person, and your company.

Many organizations investing in training are not getting the expected ROI. Why is that? Is it because the vendors chosen are using out of date techniques, or the people you hired and are trying to get trained are losers or maybe (heaven forbid) your products are not competitive in the marketplace.

Before you indulge in the blame game I’d like to recommend High Probability selling. The book, the seminar, and the in house training are worth your time investigating.

Naturally companies that specialize in sales training are listed in the Yellow Pages of your telephone book. When you contact them and you should – have one of their reps come by. Let’s see how good their sales people are. Presumably they will be using their own sales process when they come to sell you.

Many in managers and business owners are of the opinion and I agree; that good sales training starts and stops with the fundamentals. The clever bells and whistles favored by those who practice 1950′s style manipulative selling practices, not only preach what no longer works – but is guaranteed to provide disillusionment to your 21st Century sales person.

The two main reasons I hear for not providing more sales training are that it costs money and takes time. If managers spent as much time, energy, and money developing sales training programs as they do dealing with under performing sales people…

The potential for high earnings combined with the opportunity for personal growth and sales training are yours when you provide sales training for your people. The benefits are very substantial to everyone.

High Probability prospecting teaches how selling over the telephone can increase your business. The unique sales strategies to propel your business growth. Sales is the backbone of your business – without it, your bottom line would suffer. Hiring and educating the right sales people is key to your business’ success. If you want to create a business breakthrough, then this is the book High Probability Selling is for you.

Sales is what drives your business and makes the difference between growing or dying in today’s competitive marketplace.

The articles we’ve collected for you, the insights and contacts to their authors and the High Probability Selling seminars will provide excellent jumping place for you.

Remember, a properly organized training program almost always insures the company’s top position in the marketplace.

About the Author

Wayne Messick’s web site www.iBizResources.com offers over fifty sales training articles as well as free chapters of High Probability Selling

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How To Increase Sales

Friday, February 17th, 2012 - by admin - No Comments

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Article by Paul Hooper-Kelly

In today’s competitive environment, the constant dilemma of webmasters is how to increase sales. The usual response is to throw even more cash at their AdWords account or spending even more fruitless hours performing SEO voodoo, to increase website traffic.

Yet, by adopting a different sales strategy and making a simple, proven change to their sales page, they could double, triple or even quadruple the mileage they get from their existing traffic.

This is no unproven theory, because some of internet marketing’s best known, and well respected, experts, such as John Reese, have tested this new method and found that even sales pages that are already performing respectably, can be made to increase sales by up to three times. Mike Filsaime and Harris Fellman are among other well know marketers to increase sales. Personally, I have enjoyed a 7.66% conversion rate selling a product to first time visitors, whereas using a regular sales letter would have resulted in little more than 2% of them buying on their very first visit.

And the way we all achieved this remarkable turnaround was to simply add a web video in place of much of the sales page. You see, virtually all your prospective buyers have been brought up on television, movies, dvds and video games, so they are far more inclined to watch a video right through, rather than wading through a long sales letter, no matter how clever and beguiling. Even famous copywriters like John Carlton, concedes web video is an exciting new addition to the online sales armory. So the way forward is clear: increase sales with web video.

But, simply making your sales message easier to get across with video doesn’t fully explain the dramatic increase in sales, so here’s the underlying reason.The real marketing magic of video is this: people buy with emotion and the language of the emotional part of the brain is pictures, not words. So using moving pictures, reinforced by the emotional viagra of music, has a subliminal effect on the visitor, because it touches their emotional sweet spot in the way a simple text sales page can never do.

Yet using web video to increase sales on your sales page is merely scratching the surface of what video can really do for your bottom line. So here are a few more areas where you can maximize the value you get from every visitor:

**Add video to your squeeze pages: I’ve found a five second video saying something like “don’t forget your free gift” is all I need to quadruple opt-in rates from my exit pop-up.

**Video testimonials: it’s a well known marketing fact buyers like to have “social proof”, so displaying a testimonial from satisfied buyers is a great way to boost your credibility and increase sales. So just imagine the impact of a video testimonial on your sales page.

**Add value to your existing products: if you sell “how to do” products, you can add a great deal of value by adding video tutorials to your ebooks. Not only will this increase sales, you can also charge more.

**Increase affiliate sales: if you use affiliates to sell your products, you can give each one a standard sales video, designed to send their visitors — having watched the sales video — direct to your sales page, via that particular affiliate’s own unique affiliate link. It’s well known supplying affiliates with effective sales tools is the way to increase sales and this is one of the best tools you can provide.

About the Author

I’ve created a FREE book and video package for you, which shows where to get some awesome free video software, which works pretty much on auto-pilot and how to use it to to create great videos you can put straight on YouTube. Claim you FREE copy right now: http://www.SecretWebVideoProfits.com/How_To_Increase_Sales.html