I am often appalled by the ‘sales call’ I receive or the salesperson’s pitch, I am on the receiving end of. This is a humble approach towards sharing my learning from the sales effort over 2 decades, across various platforms and industries.

The author has been a sales professional, a sales trainer and a sales consultant across geographies, timelines and industries - over a decade and half.

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE QUANTIFY Having sold my fair share of commodities, services, and equipments, I cannot recall one

time, when I was ‘target phobic’. In later years, I was a sales trainer and in the earlier part, professional training had helped me understand - the science of dealing with numbers.

Thanks, also to the SSP (Selling Skill Program), with Modi Xerox Ltd. , the appreciation that Sales was an outcome of a method driven approach, vis-à-vis the belief that it was ‘luck by chance’.

POOR SALES PERFORMANCE OR SALES PITCH IS USUALLY THE RESULT OF LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE MARKET PLACE.

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE QUANTIFY Our daily lives can be quantified. 24 hours in a day. From 8 to 10 hours,

on the average (daily work life), to ‘X’ number of hours commuting, just about everything can be quantified, if we chose to!

 SALES PARADIGM, IS NO DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER ASPECTS OF OUR LIVES.

Frequently the archetypical sales approach, is without factoring the market place and absolutely abysmal knowledge, of the target market.

 

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE RESEARCHInfrequently the sales person, does little or no research in appreciation

of the market. Whether it is the telemarketer, shop sales person, door- to-door sales person or B2B sales person - all need to appreciate the market dynamics!

Typically in the age of the Internet, getting market information with a little research, is a piece of cake.

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE BUSINESS ANALYTICS Not long ago, while selling telecommunication connection (to small communities) in Australian outback, I had the team research, each community (many having less than 100 households), for the demographics.

The CRM Portal was linked to the data on the community being called. The data was updated, in real time.Demographical dataCustomer Buying AnalysisCurrent Local Weather Condition Any information which was of relevance

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE TELEMARKETING/CHAT BASED SALESFor the Australian Telecom B2C sales mentioned earlier, the telemarketers had a fair idea of the racial mix and earning vs. expenditure.

In addition they also had information about the local geography and the weather, etc. This enabled the individual to call with a lot of confidence and intelligent approach, resulting in a record number of sales.

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE RETAIL OUTLET SALESSimilarly in a shop sales situation, if the sales person intelligently probes the prospective customer, the resultant would be a plethora of information and frequent closure of sales. It can be argued, that typically in a increasingly hurried world, the customer doesn’t have time.

Everyone loves attention! Human behavior pattern is in a constant state of change, yet the basics across timelines/geographies/racial types have remained the same.

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE B2B SALESIn a B2B sales prospecting, the effort has to be much detailed as the sales cycle is long; usually involving many individuals and departments. Mapping the following, among other details is pertinent to the sales effort. Post Sales Service ProcessVendor Selection/Listing ProcessOrder Placement & Receipt ProcessMapping and documenting ‘Customer Need’Availability or sanction of the budget (sanction is usually process driven) ‘Decision Making Process’ (identifying the Key Decision Maker and Influencer/s),‘Purchase Document Flow’(typically the internal ‘Purchase Intent’, would either have a provision or would need sanctioning)

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE While this may sound like a lot of work, consider poor returns due to ordinary sales effort - in the absence of information!

Each of us desire to be treated with respect and understanding as an Individual, and prefer not being treated as a unit of faceless milieu.

The effort of the sales person has to be genuine, towards forging a relation and understanding customer need. Probing is a practiced art, which gets honed with use. Fakes can be spotted, across a mile!

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE Customer information can be begotten from multiple sources. Census DataInternet researchIndustrial DirectoriesWork place colleagues Company’s Annual ReportCompetitors Customer Analysis.Non-conflicting sales person (those who have the same market).

There are a multitude of sources, which can be used for information gathering.Documenting the information, ensures that it becomes a part of organizational Knowledge repository.

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FEAR OF NUMBERS (TARGET) Work the numbers, backwards.The arithmetic of sales is rather simple. Each industry has it’s own benchmark. SALES RATIO An intelligent sales approach is to work out a ratio of Suspect : Prospect : Sales. This can be worked out by an individual, over a period or simply by soliciting the information from peers.  Typically the ratio could be, 12 Suspects:4 Prospects:1 Sale.

A sales person should ensure that the requisite number of suspect and prospect base is in the ‘Sales Funnel’. It will be wise to measure the average time of the cycle, i.e. from Suspect to Sale.

All of us have heard the oft repeated adage, “the world is a customer”. Going against the conventional logic, “Yes, the world is customer, however not everyone is buying”. The intelligent approach is discerning – who is!

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FEAR OF NUMBERS (TARGET) QUALITATIVE PROSPECTING – Xerox practiced an intelligent and simple approach on Prospect Qualification – the concept of ‘M.A.N.’.Having used it over 2 decades, I still vouch for it across multiple sales platforms.

 M = MONEY. While a customer (individual or organization), may be desirous of purchase, do they have the requisite financial resources? It is important that the sales person establish this at the earliest in the sales cycle.

A = AUTHORITY. Does the customer have the authority to make the purchase decision? Is an approval required? Are there individuals, who will influence the decision making? All of the above need to be answered before the sales is closed.

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FEAR OF NUMBERS (TARGET) N = NEED. Needs exists! I have always been at loggerheads with individuals who opine - that a need can be generated by a clever sales person. Need/s exists, some which we are aware of (and thus may act upon) and others we may not be.

Quite often a individual or an organization, may not be aware of their own need/s (and may have notions about the need/s) as it is not explicit. A resourceful sales person, through the intelligent probing, tries to uncover the need.

Once ‘the need’ is uncovered, it is equally important for the prospective customer to actualize the need/s (accept that the need/s exist).

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VARIANCE - Factor in aspects of seasonal variance, sales promotion activities and market condition to achieve the target.  Well begun, is half done! In reference to the subject, if the sales person does a little homework, the sales pitch will never go wrong and will result in higher sales closure and customer delight.  Happy Selling!

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