RECESSION SELLING: New Tactics to Create More Opportunities

Sales Conversation

Recessions are the ultimate game changer for buyers and sellers alike.  Many of your customers now have to reassess their business objectives, rearrange purchase priorities and be prepared to justify expenditures, while under increased budget scrutiny. Sales and business development teams also face new and different challenges in a recessionary economy. Without proper redirection, they often miss-out or burn-up vital sales opportunities by simply increasing their sales activity without changing their approach or the conversation.

Changing the conversation

According to Scott Santucci of Forrester Research, “Buyers are stratifying their suppliers. [Only] 10% of vendors are value added suppliers.”  Customers are moving away from the non-essential and focusing on their mission-critical initiatives. So where does your company sit in the eyes of your key customers?  Is your sales force part of this conversation? Or are they struggling to be heard? Here are three simple, yet powerful questions that each of your sellers should be applying daily in their conversations with prospects and customers:

• What new issues are customers facing in this economic climate?
• What new markets might be available for our customers to tap into?
• What new sell-through opportunities does this create for our sales team?

Now more than ever, sellers need to be creative, resourceful and agile in order to discover new opportunities and help customers see the critical value of what you’re offering. Tell us how you’ve changed your approach or how you’re helping the sales professionals in your organization approach customers differently.

Will Your Top Seller Make a Good Sales Manager?

For companies looking to optimize their sales performance, it’s not uncommon to promote top sales people to the role of sales manager. But not all top sellers have what it takes to manage.  And what at first seems like a natural leap can quickly become a fatal misstep on an employee’s career path.

Lest we forget the Peter Principle, people often rise to the level of their own incompetence. Few career advancements demonstrate this theory better than the promotion from salesperson to sales manager.

What makes for an effective sales manager?

A recent study, conducted by researchers, Dawn Deeter-Schmelz of Ohio University, Daniel Goebel of Illinois State University and Karen Norman Kennedy of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and published in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management offered an insightful look into the key attributes and skills of an effective sales manager.

Researchers interviewed 58 sales representatives and managers and found that both groups believed the following were among the key success factors:

• Communication and listening skills,
• Organization and time management skills,
• Coaching skills, and
• Ability to motivate.

After 30 years of working “hands-on” with sales managers and sales representatives, three additional success factors stand out for me as critical to the role of sales management:

1. Hiring is job #1: If a sales person is inadequate from the start, and simply does not have the aptitude and demeanor necessary for success, there is little you can do to change this. In the end, their under-performance will become your underperformance. The same goes for appointments to sales management. Does the candidate have the aptitude necessary to succeed as a leader of people? Choose wisely and your half way to success.
2. Show the Way: Develop a compelling vision for your sales endeavor and then rally your team around this. This is the essence of real leadership. Keep your vision continuously out in front and align your team to the vision as well as your company’s values.
3. Innovate: Be a leader in new methodologies and tools. Invest in practical innovation, such as sales process improvements and relevant training. Take advantage of new and emerging sales 2.0 technologies such as wikis; blogs and mobile learning technologies to keep “road warriors” engaged and at the top of their game.

If you are currently in a sales management role, knowing how you measure up can be of significant value.  Use the above information as a self-assessment of your effectiveness.  If you are not a manager, and considering the idea of making the leap yourself, this review can help you understand what skills you’ll need to succeed.

How have you or your sales force fared in making “the leap”? Please share your experiences and insights in our comments section.