Managing the Sales Process

Robert Louis Stevenson said, "Everyone lives by selling something."

Yet, most people don’t understand the sales process and their part within it.  Business owners constantly worry about the selling function and how it affects their ability to manage the firm’s cash flow.

"It's sad that something as important to the economy as sales shows up as a footnote in the principles of marketing course at most graduate business schools," says Andy Zoltners, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

"Many people view selling as tactical and haven't taken the broader view that you will need sales skills even if you aren't managing a sales force," says David Godes, an associate professor at Harvard. "If you're going into consulting or banking, how do you get clients and how do you raise money?"

"Even if the students choose not to go into selling, they need multifunctional expertise to get into general management," says Doug Raftery, Procter & Gamble's vice president of consumer business development. "They will also gain a better sense of how to sell their ideas inside their own company."

To 'sell' your idea, product or service, you must pass the ACID test:

A. Gain favorable Attention

C. Inspire Confidence

I. Build Interest

D. Allow Desire to surface.

When 'desire' surfaces, the other person takes the lead in the conversation while you provide the evidence necessary to justify the transaction.

Formula for Success

The formula for both personal and corporate success = your human capital (what you know and can do) times your social capital (who you know and who knows you) times your reputation (who trusts you).

Coach John Agno says, "You can take away all my money and even my customer list, but if I can keep my smarts, my business relationships and reputation, I'll get it all back and then some.  Having knowledge, social capital and trust is the ultimate security blanket in good times and bad."

"Today's economic climate is an excellent time to reach new prospective customers and build better relationships with your present customers.  But building your company's social capital is not about sitting alone in front of your computer trying to come up with a winning marketing formula on your own.  No one I know who is successful in creating a marketing presence does it that way."

"Successful people may have started out going it alone, but as soon as they possibly could, they began to leverage their own and other people's ideas, experiences and relationships. They put into play a proven sales strategy, methodology and training focused on targeted accounts. Email me to learn about our proven Sales by Objectives (SBO) methodology for training and coaching your sales people to success."