News February 2008
The current threat of recession is a major concern for the business community as a whole and the pressure on sales forces in all sectors is growing. But how does management encourage the sales team to perform?
Technology Sales and Marketing Coach, Terry Forsey, is advocating that Directors need to ‘toughen up’ and ask their sales people some searching questions. He has prepared a ‘speech’ that can be used at sales meetings across the country…
‘This has been a tough year. Some of you may make target, some may miss and some may just give up. Currently, I sit in Board Meetings trying to justify the commitments to revenue I made last year. I hold meetings with the accountant to discuss new management controls to reduce our overheads and I listened to daily frustrations on the economy. So, based on these issues and you being my salesmen, I would like to sit down and chat with you to better understand your commitment, direction and activities for the coming year.
- Day in and day out, you tell me you are working hard, but when I review your telephone usage, it appears you make less than 15 calls a day. When will you commit to cold calling?
- When I look at your closing ratio, I am not pleased. You are a professional salesman. What are you doing to increase your level of sales success? Are you continually studying the mechanics of the sales process?
- Your sales pipeline seems inflated. It appears that you are selling to me rather than to clients. What are you going to do to produce a more accurate sales forecast?
- I am here to help, but I am a shared resource. I cannot work with you on every deal. You need to close deals on your own. How will you do this?
- When I look at your sales pipeline, your key contacts all hold titles of Manager. What are you going to do differently next year to sell to Directors since they are the ones who OK purchase orders?
- Your paperwork and sales forecasting is never done on time. We all hate paperwork, but it is a tool to help me to understand your progress and the company's current sales position. Will you commit to do better?
- Looking at your ratio of leads to proposals, it seems low. How will you convert more qualified prospects into proposal prospects?
- Listen, times are tough. But I need my sales staff to be positive and committed. Will you have a more positive approach in the coming year?’
Terry adds; “To succeed, Directors need to be more aggressive in generating leads for their sales force and expect a greater return on investment from marketing resources, they, afterall impact sales opportunities.
"Likewise, sales account executives need to fine-tune their sales skills to close difficult business and not wait for the Company to feed them hot leads.
“These are difficult times for all businesses - we are all in this together and sales teams need the support of the whole organisation. It’s a time for unity!”
For more information call 01536 771440 or email, terry@terryforsey.com.
ENDS
