I deliver Business Growth, by leading a great team
I show them how team success, helps achieve their dreams
The chance to make a difference and to do something good
The chance to build their skills and grow as as they should
The chance to provide, a future for their family
And build this future on merit, success and security
With all the barriers removed and no reason to hide
They will rise to success on the platform I provide
I start with Customer Profile and a Value Proposition,
Then the team to deliver, Customer and Revenue ambitions
Efficient and effective with tools, training and skills addition
We Begin and Establish Growth and later Optimise our position
From Market Entry to Development, it’s the same approach I feel
Better to use experience and process, and not reinvent the wheel
Diagnose the Challenge first, and then onto Solution creation
And then a project plan, for controlled Implementation
What makes a high performance sales team? What makes a high performance sales person? Can we analyse best practice and use it to improve ordinary sales people? Are relationships important? How important is Value?
To create a high performance sales team it is useful to analyse high performance sales people to understand what makes them successful. Such best practice can then be applied to a scalable sales model that will turn ordinary performers into stars.
Based on research by Sales Performance International and recently Dixon & Adamson in the Harvard Business Review the following was found:
The most successful high performance sales teams use best practice. They learn from high performing salespeople and use this best practice to create a sales model that is used to turn ordinary sales people into stars.
Effort spent in planning will reap rewards in sales effectiveness and efficiency.
Planning tools include Territory Plans , Account Plans & Opportunity Plans. These plans are most effective if stored on a Sales Automation system to ensure that the information is retained and communicated as required.
A Territory Plan focuses on the segmentation of accounts and opportunities in a defined territory in order to prioritize which ones in which to invest sales resources. It will normally include:
Each Opportunity will have its own plan. The size of the plan will be in relation to the size of the opportunity. It will normally include:
Services are invisible, intangible so how best to sell them?
By describing clearly the value that they can bring to the customer.
This is done by estimating the value to the customer, the investment required and describing how a customer reference has received similar value .
The delivery vehicle for communicating value is known as a value proposition and can be used for all kinds of sale but is particularly useful for complex services sales.
It is normally used initially in prospecting to get the attention of an executive and to get agreement from him to assign resources to work together on an evaluation plan. This will include the creation of a detailed business plan to ensure that it is the right decision for the company.
A very simple value proposition example using the services offered by O’Brien Business Solutions is shown below.
We believe that Customer A should be able to
Through an ability to:
We believe that Company A should be able to
Through the ability to
As a result of
For an investment of
Based on the following Assumptions
Value is referenced throughout the sale. It may well start with a straw-man, built using data from a previously successful customer or reference and extrapolated to address this particular customer. It will be developed as the sale proceeds as more detail on the solution is developed and information on the assumptions is discovered. In some cases, some pilots may need to be implemented to test some key assumptions in the value equation.
The best relationships in business have the delivery of value as their foundation. A sales person that is perceived to consistently deliver value (advice, information, solutions) will be better placed to form better relationships.
Selling into the Early Market is characterised by no or very limited customer references that will underpin the value proposition.
Whilst the Early Market is also characterised by buyers that are more innovative and as such prepared to take a risk, they do need some rationale for taking a decision to proceed.
Services do have more difficulties here than say selling a product like a piece of equipment in that a piece of equipment can be tested by a third party and the benefits verified.
Complex services such as BPO require at least one customer reference before the value proposition mat be truly verified. And as such it underlines how important the customer references are and therefore it is worth the company putting a lot of resources into obtaining the first contract an delivering it. It is worth noting also that it will take time before the benefits can be calculated and therefore will take time before the contract can become a true customer reference.
What can be done in the absence of a customer reference? A number of options can be explored:
There are two methods to achieving the market research:
The Target Market or Target Market segment is a list of companies (B2B) or consumers (B2C) that possess the required buyer profile that make them pre-disposed to buy the product.
A territory is a part of the target market which has been allocated to a sales person or sales team.
A lead is a potential opportunity sometimes known as a prospect – For example, a person met at a conference who expressed interest, or someone who filled out a form on the company website.
If the lead is qualified and the salesperson and decides to pursue it, the lead is “converted,” and becomes an opportunity. ( Note that the term conversion is used somewhat loosely and in many cases in Digital Marketing does not end up with an opportunity but with a (more qualified) lead that still requires further qualification before it becomes an opportunity.
Opportunities are the sales and pending deals that are tracked in that Sales Pipeline or Funnel. The pipeline is built by adding more opportunities will contribute to the forecast.
Opportunity Qualification means that the prospect has provided information and performed certain actions that show that they are at a minimum in the market for the product, have the budget to buy and are willing to do so within a reasonable timeframe.
Qualification is tailored to the specific sales process which is itself aligned to the specific buying process in place.
In a simple B2C eCommerce transaction the qualification is a very simple process.
In B2B solution selling the qualification is a process that may be spread over weeks or months that forms a large part of the sales process due to the relative complexity of the buying process.
For instance in B2B solution selling:
An account is the company or consumer that makes the purchase. An account may deal with several opportunities.
The key to success is to create:
Value = Total Benefits – Total Investment.
The Value delivered by a Digital Marketing Strategy is:
This post will focus only on Customer Sales & Audience Engagement.
Digital (Online) Marketing integrated into the Sales Process
Digital Marketing allows niche markets to be targeted at a comparatively reduced cost.
Use
Use in combination with Offline Marketing in the right blend to enhance success.
Use
Use in combination with Offline Marketing in the right blend to enhance success.
Search has historically been the strongest digital channel for lead generation. It has been found that the yield is improved when combined with other channels such as Display Advertising.
Whether you are B 2 B, B 2 C or non profit your marketing activities can be best viewed using the sales funnel.
Marketing at its heart is geared towards lead generation, but can also help in development and closure. The Value of any Marketing Campaign must be measured in the number of leads generated and opportunities created.
A Marketing Funnel may therefore be added above the Sales funnel. The exact breakdown of the Marketing and Sales Funnels will vary depending on the nature of the customer buying process. In general for B2B, the Marketing Funnel moves the target market members to Awareness, To Lead and To Converted Lead which then becomes an Opportunity for development by Sales. In Small Sales Teams, with no specialized Marketing help, this may well be all done by the sales team.
The actions to create a model are as follows:
Initially, Social Media will be all about building awareness but if an engaged audience can be created then inevitably it will generate leads.
Social Media sites like Linked In are used by Sales Teams as part of their networking strategies.
Measurement and evaluation are very important. Every business is different and requires some testing to achieve the optimum blend of digital marketing channels.
The collateral benefit of Digital Marketing strategy is the creation and growth of engaged audiences (customers and prospects). A more engaged audience delivers the following benefits
Use Value to drive Marketing investment
Value = Total Benefits-Total Investment.
The description of Value delivered by the marketing department will be much more powerful if linked to Value delivered to CEO and company objectives.
For instance the CEO may have a company objective
” increasing the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from £22 per month to £26 per month”
So a Value chain may be created that shows the Value that each department adds to the creation of this overall Value.
1. The Technical & Buying Departments must deliver a new data product for a specific investment
2. The Sales Department must generate a specific number of new sales by converting a certain percentage of qualified leads.
3. The Marketing Department must generate a specific number of qualified leads.
If you are selling equipment for a data product or a means of generating qualified leads then a conversation with the CEO based on the Value delivered in achieving his objectives will be better received and understood.
Equally, the marketing department will secure its budget easier if qualified in terms of delivering Value towards the company objectives.
A High Performance Sales team is created by combining good hiring of sales people with Leadership with a scalable sales model.
The sales model will improve efficiency and effectiveness by implementing:-
High performing sales people (stars) have a unique combination of skills and knowledge. They excel at building customer relationships, developing successful strategies, managing internal resources and beating their targets every year. A sales model will take the best of these skills and experience and turn an average sales person into stars.
Read more at Sales Model.