Do you get frustrated when your salespeople don’t deliver what they forecast?
Yes? So what can you do to get them back on track?
Salespeople are focussed on what’s best for their customers and what’s best for their pockets. To get their attention you must appeal to both.
There are some issues, such as commission plans and re-seller contracts that we can only change through escalations. But, if personal selling is important for our products we can have more direct influence by making our product training better.
For example, does it start by showing why customers will be interested? If not, then you can’t complain if salespeople aren’t interested either.
Once they’re motivated, then what do you tell them? Make it easy. Tell them which customers will buy, why (what benefits to present to decision-makers) and what the product does. Make sure you’ve answered the fundamental proposition question “Why should I buy from you?”
You might find it effective to ‘spoon feed’ them with standard sales pitches so they’re able to easily prepare for any opportunity.
Do everything you can to help them get their customers excited. Then if needed, tell them where they can go for the next level of support – information on the web or people that can help them close the deal.
Training isn’t a one-off – so do you regularly re-enforce it with case studies and market insights to keep your product top-of-mind.
Another tip is to see them in action. Next time you’re asked to support a B2B sales call or get the chance to visit one of your stores, let the sales guy do their pitch. You’ll learn a lot about whether they understood the training. And, you might find a great salesperson that gives you ideas on a better way to communicate your proposition that you can use in your next training refresher.
A final tip is to look at our proposition crib sheet. We cover this in our training courses as it’s a really effective tool that you can give to your salespeople to help them sell your product.
Andrew Dickenson
Director, Product Focus
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