The sales process is designed with sequential steps that, if followed, should lead to qualification of an opportunity either “in” or “out”. If qualified “in” the next steps should lead to the sale. The sales person should have multiple deals working at the same time each following the steps of the sales process. That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Sales people rely on the support of their entire organization to allow them to achieve the customer satisfaction that will ultimately result in the ’sale’. And, yes you guessed it, the ’sale’ will lead to the achievement of company revenue and profit targets.

If there are obstacles preventing the ’sale’, the true nature of the sales person will mean that s/he will try and fix the issue which in turn will take them away from spending time with the customer OR if the sales person is a top performer you will lose them if you make life too difficult for them.

Complectus was founded to help companies understand what these obstacles are and help them deploy the fixes. Complectus is Latin for ‘Embrace’… i.e. Embrace your sales organization and it will love you back. It’s not rocket science and it’s not just sales training.

There’s no point training your sales people in sales skills, product knowledge or how to get that appointment with the CXO if, when they leave the classroom and return to the field you’re not supporting them effectively. Maximum sales productivity is IMPOSSIBLE without internal alignment.

It’s like organizing the deck chairs on the Titanic or, my favorite, for those of you that know me….. it’s like putting lipstick on a pig! I think I have a pretty good idea what the common obstacles are which inhibit a sales person from selling. But I never cease to be amazed by some of the stories I hear. They come in all shapes and sizes:

· You know the deal is qualified, why is it a harder sell internally than to the customer?
· Why doesn’t my CRM system help to drive sales?
· Why is my technical support person great with Visio, but terrible in front of the customer?
· I thought you said we could deliver it 2 days?
· How can I be strategic when I have all this day-to-day BS to deal with?
· etc, etc, etc

My subsequent articles will be discussing how you can refocus your sales organization to help you drive revenue, profit and customer satisfaction. The answer to the question, why do sales people waste 63% of their time? Lack of internal alignment.

So with this in mind, let’s start with your purpose as a salesperson – to assist your customers in solving a problem they have. Contrary to what you feel about this statement, there is enough evidence and research now available that suggests customers want to buy products and services, not be sold to. So initially, your prospect will want to know your answers to the following questions -

1. Do you fully understand the problem/s I have?
2. Do you have a solution to these problem/s?

You may laugh at how basic these questions are; however, so many salespeople get this so wrong and make very broad assumptions about prospects. Remember, every prospect will have a different set of needs and requirements. Another bugbear of customers is the complete lack of detailed questioning with a prospect. I recently saw this first hand at a car dealership I visited. It was a Saturday morning and next to me was a family of around 5 in total. The salesperson went up to the prospect and asked what sort of car the family were looking at. The father then proudly announced he was looking at the new estate (Station wagon for those of us in Australia and New Zealand). Then the salesperson went off on a complete tangent about a range of features without asking any questions. This salesperson made an assumption that the prospect was looking for a car for his family when in fact; this guy was a vet and was looking for a sturdier vehicle as he was expanding his services to include some rural areas. At this stage I was totally bemused and enjoyed this immensely. After about 30 minutes or so, the prospect and his family decided to head off with some brochures in tow. This is but a simple example of how to totally get off on the wrong foot. By simply asking what the vehicle would be mainly used for, the salesperson would be able to suit his presentation to suit this particular prospect. Always remember that customers may also get confused so take your time here and really listen to what they say.

Once the salesperson has established the prospect’s problem it’s now important to link these issues to a solution you may be able to offer. Oh, and at this point, if you are able to offer a solution, don’t BS the prospect. Simply apologize for not being able to help them and maybe offer an alternative source where they may be able to help. So, assuming there is an opportunity to assist, here you need to be very thorough with your questioning by asking open questions that elicit open and detailed answers. Typical questions could include -

· Tell me about how we could assist you?
· How has this problem affected you?
· What other issues have you experienced?

These questions are so important as they guide you to understand the problems, focus your mind on what to present on and also entice some emotion from the customer. If you can find that little bit of emotion and really drive home some great questioning then chances are your customers will appreciate the time you’ve taken to understand their needs.

Now, you’ve questioned your prospect to understand the issues, and found an opportunity for your company to assist this person. It’s time to offer a feature / benefit conversation. When you offer a prospect some information please don’t do what a load of average sales people do – waffle endlessly about every feature known to man without any benefit statement. Offer the customer some key features that link to benefits that will fix their issues. Customers may ask for more information at this point; which is a sign that they are interested in what you’ve said and shown so far.

Another important aspect of what a customer will want to know is about you and your company. They maybe interested in the solution you’ve discussed but need to know they are dealing with a persona and company they can trust. This is another opportunity to bring out some case studies or testimonials that back-up what you say. Most customers don’t want to be guinea pigs with a new product or company. If you don’t have client case studies or testimonials then start compiling this today – make it a priority!

So to recap of some important key points -

· Always ask open questions to make sure you understand what the prospect is saying or asking.
· If you believe that you can’t provide a solution to their needs, then move on – it’s best for the customer and you.
· Don’t ramble on about technical terms and features that your prospect hasn’t indicated interest them. If they do so, then go for your life.
· Keep asking questions until you’ve found that spot that will get them passionate about your solution.
· Show the prospect how you’ve been able to assist others, perhaps with similar issues.

Tim Hughes is a sales coach dedicated to helping professional salespeople and the sales industry lift their performance through quality training and coaching. Please visit http://www.growmysales.com.au or email tim@growmysales.com.au for further details.

If a sales person is doing many other things other than selling, you can say that the sales person is not doing his job. However, if many sales people are doing so, then perhaps you need more investigation.

While it is true that sales people should commit their time and effort generating sales revenue, that may not be how customers perceive things. Customers want sales people to be “accountable for results”.

Hence, sales staff may make comments, or even overtures, to help improve quality. If a company has got a history of quality issues such as late deliveries, defects or missing parts, the sales staff of such companies will end up spending more time pacifying customers and taking steps (ranging from making complaints to literally monitor the production process) to ensure quality.

Also, if a company has problems maintaining consistent quality, or if the product is not really attractive to customers, it will adversely affect sales results as well.

So while it really shouldn’t be the job of the sales person to ensure quality, there are times that inputs from sales staff about our product features, service levels and quality standards are invaluable insights of what customers’ expectations are.

If management’s concerns are that if sales staff spends too much time on product issues and not enough on selling, then perhaps management should consider getting operations, engineering or other staff to handle customers’ feedback.

If the operations staff are hiding away from customers, or if there’s no one else to address product quality issues, then sales people will have to take on the role of “quality inspection”, NOT because they like to do so, but that’s how customers expect them to do so.

CJ Ng is the trusted sales advisor who have helped international companies achieve quantum improvements in sales profits in China and beyond. So far, c.j. has helped:

* A leading international hotel to produce the equivalent of an additional 5,000 room nights in China in the lull summer months of 2007
* A global leading architectural hardware company to increase the sales revenue of a key account in Shanghai by 10 times within 3 weeks
* The world leader in PC sales to transform their sales force to be more collaborative and solution-focused, and helping them to regain worldwide pole position from their nearest competitor.

Prior to this, c.j. was Asia Marketing Manager for a Fortune 500 logistics company, as well as Corporate Training Manager for Ringier AG, Switzerland’s largest media group, in China, where he was responsible for sales team development, and helped increase the percentage of new hires to close their first sales within 2 months by 30%, as well as increase overall sales targets by more than 50%. Visit http://www.psycheselling.com/page4.html for more details