Sales Cultures - Is Your Sales Culture Heart Healthy?

I know you've heard someone say, "We have a high performance culture here at Amalgamated. We have high expectations of all our people!" So, if you've been a member of a larger national sales organization how often did the term "high performance culture" turn out to have any benefit for you as the person in the trenches? Did the leadership team have high expectations of themselves on creating a sales culture that was not only good for shareholders, but also good for clients and employees?

Sorry for a little culture slamming, and I won't mention any companies, but here's the facts m'am.

"We have a high performance culture" usually means we are going to expect a lot from you. Okay, fine. But what can I expect from you in return? Can I expect a vibrant lead generation program? Can I expect to have a manager in my corner who will routinely carve time out of their schedule to help me succeed? Instead of telling me that I'm not doing enough can you tell me how to do more? Can I expect to have up-to-date sales collateral so my presentations help prospects visualize the benefits of our programs? When I bust my hump to over deliver can I enjoy even better rewards next year or will I bask in the sunlight with dramatically increased goals coupled with dramatically lower commissions? In other words, will you invest as much in me as I am being asked to invest in you?

First I would like to propose a definition of what an organizational culture is; The quality that arises in a person by virtue of belonging to a group. That person's behavior begins to reflect what they have learned through training and observing others in that group. With time, the members form agreement with what the group prizes as excellence. So with my definition of culture let me disclose something else. I am a huge believer in building a culture that benefits clients, stakeholders and employees equally. I believe strongly that satisfied employees will deliver a superior service, which customers will be willing to pay for...and stakeholders like that outcome.

So where do you begin to build a sales culture that will help develop a sustainable world class sales organization? Essentially there are four drivers;

Sales Effectiveness - A bundle of skills that arm each sales person & account manager with the tools they need to effectively help prospects navigate through a buying process and end up with needs that are satisfied. This isn't just about holding people accountable to having & using these skills. It's really about hiring people with high potential and then provided them with the training they need. This is much more than simply enrolling people in training. This is field managers who are experts in all the skill areas, and providing them the training they need to be excellent coaches in the field.

Reward & Recognition - There is a lot more to reward & recognition than a compensation plan & an annual outing. The compensation plan should produce a target income at sales goal attainment. Your peak performers should earn two or three times what your average performers earn. Why? Because sales people are great understudies and peak performers are the people you want them to imitate. Management reports should be shared throughout the organization and include not just the top performers but also the strugglers. The only people that should not make the standing report should be untenured sales people. Additionally there are all kinds of recognition vehicles formed around peer recognition, Sr. Management recognition and yes, family and friend recognition. For those recognized this affirms their contributions. For those that did not make the grade it affirms what the organization values.

Execution - Do all members of the team understand the sales strategy? Good communication is the key and good communication is not solely reliant upon the message...good communication is driven by understanding. Can people recite a summary of what the strategy is? Do they understand the role they play in the execution of that strategy? Has there been a set of metrics devised that will benchmark how well the organization is performing and how well each team member is doing?

Field Leadership - The Rosetta Stone of the quality of your sales culture is the company's investment in first level field sales managers. If you're expecting for your army of revenue generators to win battles you're going to have to invest in field support. Do your field generals understand their priorities? How should they be investing their time & energy? Is it 50% making sales calls, 30% admin., 15% forecasting and 15% coaching & developing people? If this is the reality of how people are spending their time your organization may never get any better than it is today. I have one question for CEOs and top Sales Officers. How many leadership training courses have you delivered to your field generals in the last 5 years? Don't hold them accountable for moving from a peak performing sales person to an excellent management leader. That's your job.

Is a heart healthy culture worth the investment? Only if you want the best sales people in your industry to aspire to work for your company.

The sales culture that develops in your organization cannot be controlled, but you can influence it dramatically. Your culture will be known for a theme, for it's character, for it's composure, for it's courage and yes...for it's care for people. You must deliver results, but how you go about delivering those results will define your culture.

Sales Performance Advisors delivers field ready tools to help sales people, sales managers, directors and executive management optimize their sales results.

Newsletter Marketing - An Inexpensive But Effective Way To Increase Sales

Want to increase your company's equipment and service sales through marketing and promotional programs but don't have the big ticket budget for advertising or promotion?

Try using an inexpensive but effective Newsletter E-mail Marketing program.

What is Newsletter E-Mail Marketing?

The purpose behind newsletter marketing would be to promote your company's products and services, and to enhance its image and reputation as a professional, dependable, and knowledgeable entity.

Newsletter marketing offers some of the benefits typically gained from On-Hold Promotions, in that it informs the customer about promotional specials or new items and services offered by your company. But an added advantage to you is that your promotional message is delivered to your customers or prospects on a regular basis, rather than your waiting for your customers to hear your promo message only when they call your company and are put on hold. In addition, your newsletter's content gives your prospect motivation to open your newsletter and read it when he receives it.

How is all this accomplished?

A weekly--or monthly--newsletter with your company name, logo, and promotional information is created, along with news, tips, articles, advice, and information which are all selected on the basis of their potential interest to your customers. After your newsletter is approved by you, it is then E-mailed to a list of customers or prospects of your choosing.

Newsletter Format and Content

Your newsletter format is designed with these factors in mind.

• Contents of each issue includes current and of particular interest to business people
• New information, tips, news, advice, include articles and announcements about services, products, and new technology (excluding items which might promote your competitors, their services, or products), is chosen from professional articles and news releases, and replaces old copy from previous newsletter issues.
• Your company name and logo are displayed in a prominent location on each newsletter intended to project the impression that the newsletter is created and published by your company, or at least that your company is an expert in this field.
• Advertisements (except for your company promotions) from other vendors are not published in the newsletter.
• Your Company Promotions

Each newsletter will feature a special column or space designed to promote your company, its products, and its services, such as:

• Monthly equipment or services pricing discounts
• Promotional information about your company, such as new equipment and services you are adding to your line
• Special recognition, awards, or achievements of your company's executives or employees
• Personnel or management changes at your company
• Changes in company policies and services

Newsletter Service

A Newsletter service is one that is in business to help create and mail newsletters. In addition to mailing your newsletter, these services typically include reports that tell you which recipients actually open E-mails containing your newsletter.

How does this newsletter process work?

A simple four-step procedure allows you to choose your newsletter content and send it to selected prospects or customers, without printing costs or postage. All you pay for is a small fee for using the newsletter service (usually $.01 to $.02 per E-mail recipient). Or, if you work with a service that designs your newsletter and writes copy for you, there will typically be a small fee for that.

Step 1: You choose the template and format which you think will be of greatest interest to your prospects who receive your newsletter, along with a format which best represents your company, its services, products, and its policies.

Step 2: You create (and submit to your newsletter design service, if you have one) monthly specials, promotions, or news about your company (such as new products and service, upgrades, monthly pricing specials, etc.) which you'll want inserted into your newsletter template.

Step 3: Your template (if you use a design service) with your inserted company information is submitted to you for your approval.

Step 4: You E-mail your final template to a list of customers and/or prospects you have added to your E-mail list. (You can also print the one-page template to be used as a stuffer, hand out, or prospecting piece)

Using your newsletter for promotion in prospecting or in presentations to prospective customers

By including prospective customers in your Newsletter E-mail list, you keep your company name information in front of prospective customers, so that when they decide to purchase systems or service you can provide, your company will be one which the prospect contacts for quotes or information.

In following these simple steps, even a manager with little or no experience in newsletter marketing will be able to easily create an effective tool in marketing his products and services.

Garry Steck is publisher of Telcom Today, a newsletter for managers of telephone sales and service companies across the U.S., in addition to his 30 years as an independent telecom consultant. Among his most successful marketing programs, he lists newsletters as being near the top. He says a large portion of his new clients came to him as a result of his company's newsletters.

How Sales Managers Can Make Meetings & Sales Teams Far More Productive With This One Strategy

Sales managers spend a lot of time in meetings and attempting to motivate their sales teams. Much of this time is truly wasted and not invested because the focus is on existing problems such as failure to increase sales, declining customer loyalty, etc instead of focusing on solutions.

Problems in any organization are far easier to identify and in many cases re-identify. However, determining solutions and then executing those solutions is far more difficult. Possibly that is why there are endless meetings and far fewer results happening in many businesses. Sales Coaching Tip: Problem re-identification is another word for insanity - doing the same thing over and over again hoping for different results.

If you are facing the endless meeting behaviors as a sales manager, have you considered this one simple strategy to reverse those non-productive problem identification meetings - a proven goal achievement process reinforced with a proven goal setting tool.

For example, the weekly sales meeting discusses the ongoing problem of inability to increase revenue. Instead of beating this dead horse, write a goal statement that the sales team will increase sales by 2% during the next week. Sales Coaching Tip: Break large goals into smaller ones. Remember to eat the elephant one bite at a time instead of attempting to eat the entire elephant at one setting.

Before you jump into the action steps, invest the time to build the emotional buy in from each team member. List all the gains for achieving this objective as well as all the pains associated with failure.

Next work through all the known and unknown (potential) obstacles preventing that goal from being achieved. This is the time for active brainstorming. If your selling team is large, break them up into smaller groups.

Now bring the sales team back together and list all the possible obstacles on a white board or flip chart. Either collectively or again in teams start thinking about possible solutions for each obstacle. Then as a group determine the best solution for each obstacle.

Finally, identify time frames (dates) and delegation if necessary. At your next meeting, track your progress and make any course corrections. If the sales goal is achieved, set another. Use this goal achievement process to provide solutions and make those sales meetings truly valuable to everyone.

Chicago Sales Coach Leanne Hoagland Smith helps with sales skills to management development.

Read about Leanne's new book on sales coaching book. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, the Keys to Unlocking Sales Success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leanne_Hoagland-Smith

3 Tips Regarding the Right Dollar Store Merchandise For Your Store

If you are about to start a dollar store one of the challenges you will face is determining exactly what dollar store merchandise to initially order for your store. Then there will be the challenges of decided which items to always carry, and which can be allowed to run very low if required by your ordering process or cash flow. To make this management task a little easier to handle, consider developing a set of rules for the ordering in your store. In fact consider incorporating the 3 tips that follow to make it even easier.

Tip #1) If you start a dollar store be sure to make consumables a top priority. In fact, always without exception make consumables a top ordering priority for your store. Items in this dollar store merchandise category include dish soap, auto dishwasher soap and other household cleaners, paper products including paper towels, bathroom tissue, and facial tissue, and health & beauty items such as toothpaste, hand soap, deodorant, and shampoo. These are the products shoppers need and will come back time and again to buy. However these items must be in-stock at all times to retain your shoppers and to keep them coming back.

Tip #2) Consider developing a plan to purchase replenishment merchandise for departments based on their sales. For example toys are always a big seller so don't ever allow them to run low. Make sure seasonal toys are in-stock as the season approaches. Party & gift is another department that always ends up as one of the top producing departments. This area generates a lot of store traffic, and the overall profit margins will often be among the highest in your store. Never allow core items to run low in these departments.

Tip #3) A valuable tool to use in the buying process is open to buy. That means you have an overall store budget that is based on a percentage of sales. Next track by-department sales and allocate money back to purchase replenishment merchandise based on the sales-by-department results. If one department ever needs extra money, reduce allocated spending for another department to cover. That way replenishment was always managed to your sales level.

If you start a dollar store be sure to incorporate these tips into your initial and follow-up ordering processes. They will make the challenges of carrying the right dollar store merchandise much less challenging for you to handle.

To your success when you start a dollar store!

Learn how you can Start your own Dollar Store Business.

Bob Hamilton is an entrepreneur, author, writer, business consultant and trainer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Hamilton

Sales Lead Management

Sales lead management is a business activity that tends to be cast aside when the going gets good. When the current revenue stream is flowing great, sales lead management is the farthest thing from people's mind. Unfortunately, when marketing activities are put on hold the likelihood that they need to be used increases.

One of the most dangerous things that happens to professional service businesses when they start generating lots of revenue, is that sales lead management suffers. Typically what happens is the owner starts to work more and more hours. This results in lots of billable hours. But, an increase in billable hours often comes with a decrease in marketing hours.

Poor Sales Lead Management Is Poor Business Practice

Sales lead management is neglected when there is less time available. Attending networking events and doing follow-ups and sales calls almost disappear. Phone calls from leads remain unreturned for days, even weeks at a time. Slowly, concern for the business diminishes and is replaced with concern about writing invoices.

This lack of sales lead management is a sure sign of future death. You need to be constantly adding new opportunities to your funnel. Going to more networking events, getting new people in your database, and getting more proposals out there.

Not all sales lead management activities, though, need to be this time intensive. Direct mail is an excellent sales lead management technique that can run on autopilot. It is also financially affordable.

Regardless of what type of sales lead management you use, you need to be spending much of your time on getting people into your funnel. Qualifying leads as prospects. Getting the prospects and getting them signed up for work. You never know when you will need to turn those leads into paying customers. It is much easier to do so when they are already part of your marketing efforts.

The Bottom Line on Sales Lead Management

The type of sales lead management technique you use is not the most important issue. The important factor is that you use sales lead management consistently, regardless of where your business is at in terms of sales and revenue volume. When you have hardly any customers, to when you have more customers than you think you can handle, your sales lead management will make a difference in your long term success.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting 101. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Joshua Feinberg, co-founder of Computer Consulting 101, helps computer consulting business owners get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too. Sign-up now for your free access to field-tested, proven computer consulting secrets at Computer Consulting 101.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joshua_Feinberg

Customers Don't Buy From People They Like, They Buy From Those They Trust

It is often said that customers buy from people they like. While we don't usually buy from people we dislike, there is one more dimension to this old saying.

Customers buy from people they trust

To illustrate this point further, let's look at how typical prospective customers react to new sales people making the first contact with them (otherwise known as cold-calling):

1. They find an excuse to hang up the phone as soon as possible
2. They make themselves very busy during appointments with sales people
3. They keep their mouths shut as much as possible when sales people ask questions
4. They will not refer the sales people to a higher authority even when such a need is clear
5. They often use delay tactics such as "If there is a need, we will call you" to appease sales people, etc.

These are, just a few examples, of customer's behaviours when they distrust the sales person. As such, to get customers interested and excited about what you have to offer, you first have to win their trust.

A Question of Lust

The reasons that customers don't trust sales people is very simple: they feel that the only thing that sales people care about is getting their money. Sadly, this "lust for the customers' money" is quite true with many sales people out there, AND customers can smell them from miles away.

When customers make purchases, what they really want in exchange for the money they spend, is substantiated value. That is, can the products or services they buy bring better productivity, reduce wastages or simply improve their quality of life.

Hence, the first step to build trust is this: you have to be perceived as being on the customers' side and pro-actively help solve customers' problems.

Here's a simple example. When most sales approach their prospective customers, they will say something like, "Hello, my name is xyz, and I'm from abc company. How are you today? I would like to show you a demo of our latest productivity-enhancing gadget. As I will be around your vicinity on Tuesday afternoon, can I come and see you around 2 p.m. or 4 p.m.?"

The problem with this way of approach lie in how these intended customers respond. They will either just say "not interested", or say yes and then get their secretaries to tell you "the boss has an urgent meeting, please leave your materials on the front desk, and we will call you when we have a need".

The reason for such responses from customers is that they don't trust what you said. They probably have seen just too many "productivity-enhancing gadgets", and hear too many "I happen to be just in your neighbourhood" stories and certainly will be too busy to meet just another peddler of gadgets. Furthermore, they don't trust you enough to tell you their "productivity" challenges, if that is what your product will solve.

To overcome such trust issues at initial contact, both sales people and their managers will have to work together to build trust and allay customers' fears that they will be rip off, or that they will be wasting their time.

From the sales person perspective, she will have to provide the customer what Miller Heiman calls a Valid Business Reason into her opening call, e.g. "Hi, my name is xyz. I understand that many companies in your industry are facing serious challenges due to the sharp increases in raw material costs. I'd like to explore with you if we can help improve your productivity, and thereby reducing your costs."

From the sales managers' perspectives, trust will have to be built beyond the initial cold-call. Customers are likely to increase their trust if they had seen testimonies and case studies of past successes, PRIOR to the initial phone calls from sales people.

Build Credibility, NOT Benefits

Traditionally, many companies focus merely on the "Features, Advantages and Benefits", none of which will work IF the customer does not trust you enough. Hence, sales people would have to build credibility during the course of the sales process, namely:

* Listen
* Do your homework and ask intelligent questions
* Provide Assurance to your customers

Many sales people tend to put too much emphasis on their company, and the products they offer, that they forgot to listen to their customers needs, wants and concerns.

To ensure that customers spend more time talking, sales people would have to ask intelligent questions. Typically, customers expect sales people to have done some basic research on the customers' web sites. Sales people can improve on this by going through customers annual reports (if they are listed companies) or source for news reports about these customers. If a prospective customer is a competitor of a current customer, you can find out more information from the latter. Web 2.0 social networking sites are also a great source of information.

While some sales managers may argue that spending too much time on the Internet will eat into selling time and hence, is detrimental to sales. However, going to a customer and not knowing what are the right questions to ask will make the customer feel you are unprofessional and incompetent, which is worse. Sales managers will have to get the balance right by allocating sufficient time for research as well as for selling.

Ultimately, customers will often have niggling concerns about buying from you. Rather than avoiding those concerns for the fear that addressing them will hurt your sale, the opposite is likely to be true. If customers have got any unanswered questions or concerns about your products and services, they will be:

* Less likely to buy
* Buy less
* Drive a hard bargain on your price

Hence, when you are approaching the closing stages of your sale, look out for symptoms that show the customer is nervous or uneasy. Then seek to address such concerns and provide the relevant assurances.

The Policy of Truth

Perhaps the biggest destroyer of trust is to "over-promise and under-deliver". The causes of this destruction are two-fold:

* Sales people make promises to customers on things that they cannot (or unsure if they can) deliver
* Companies who deliver less-than-expected levels of product qualities to their customers

For the former, sales managers would have to ensure sales people do not over-promise their customers just to get the sale or to reach their sales target. Doing so will severely damage the trust between buyer and seller, and will make it really difficult for future sales efforts to succeed.

For the latter, nothing de-motivates sales people more than having to answer customers' questions that they don't have answers to. No amount of sales effort will succeed if the company does not invest enough in quality to make sure customers get the value they pay for. When companies deliver shoddy quality, not only will there be decreases in sales, there will also be an immediate increase in sales staff turnover. It's not a question of "if", it's just a question of time. After all, who wants to to sell for a company that they can't even trust?

by c.j. Ng

c.j. is an Affiliate with HR Chally Group in China. Founded in 1973 through a grant from the U.S. Justice Department, the HR Chally Group provides predictive and compliant assessment system for management, sales, technical, customer care, and administrative talents. Unlike other assessments that just conducts personality profiles, Chally profiles what is exactly required by specific job descriptions and responsibilities and predict if these talents can succeed in future. As such, you'll get:

* Up to 40% reduction in staff turnover

* Up to 30% increase in employee productivity

* 85%+ accuracy in identifying effective performers

Prior to this, c.j. was Asia Marketing Manager for a Fortune 500 logistics company, as well as Corporate Training Manager for Ringier AG, Switzerland's largest media group, in China, where he was responsible for sales team development, and helped increase the % of new hires to close their 1st sales within 2 months by 30%, as well as increase overall sales targets by more than 50%. Visit http://www.psycheselling.com/ for more info.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=CJ_Ng

Dialer Evaluation - A Guide to Purchasing a Dialer

Looking into buying a dialer and finding a vendor can be challenging, not to mention finding the right one for you. You want everything to be perfect. You should have everything that your company needs in that dialer system and vendor. But how do you do such a thing? You need to research and research well. Even the best of vendors and dialers can't make up for a lack of preparation on your side of the deal. You need to be well prepared for whatever is coming. The researching is your key to success.

Some of my other articles have gone over several of these areas, but I want to stress the point again and again: Research. Its like judging a book by its cover. A vendor might look fancy up front, but within the system, there could be quite a few loop holes and such, and you wouldn't want that running your dialing system. Know what the departments in your company need, and know what you need. Right it down on paper. Don't pay for what you will never use. Keep several vendors in sight throughout the entire process. If you only have one that you are eying and its not what it seemed to be at first, you are out of a dialer and provider.

When investigating, find out everything that you can about the provider. If they are the one that you will use, you will want to know how well they will run your software. Search on line, ask around your company, call the actual provider, question them. Everything wi