1/27/2012

Professional Selling – Will it Soon be the Survival of the Fittest?

Professional Selling – Will it Soon be the Survival of the Fittest?:

In recent weeks, I have been discussing the future of professional selling, and amongst other predictions, I have suggested that in my humble view, within five years, just 5% of external salespeople will remain.

It will therefore come as no surprise that I have received a number of emails asking if I will clarify what these survivors will look like, what will be their characteristics, and what will differentiate them.

Over the past twenty years I have trained, developed and mentored almost one hundred thousand sales professionals - from foundation right up to “master craftsman” level -and I think this has given me a unique opportunity to formulate an accurate profile of a “Top 5% Achiever.”

So What Is It That Top 5% Players Do?

They:

o Position themselves with the real decision-makers and avoid those without ‘approval power’. They are able to first identify and then access the formal decision making unit – right up to “C-Level” where most of the decisions are being made these days.

o Not only get the order but a satisfied customer, repeat sales, enthusiastic reference sites and constantly increase sales penetration within their accounts.

o Know how to minimise the uncertainties of a cold call on a new account, by careful planning and rigorous opportunity assessment. They concentrate solely on opportunities that they can win – and that they want to win!

o Recognise when to treat an old account as a new prospect and keep the relationship fresh, alive and maintain profitability.

o Never entertain business they do not want because they recognise that it takes just as long to work an unprofitable opportunity through the sales funnel, only to lose it at the death, as it does a profitable one. They trust their own judgement but also rely heavily on objective assessment.

o Readily identify and know how to deal with the three different buying influences present in every sale and they also develop strong allies.

o Understand how to prevent sales from being sabotaged by an internal enemy. They insulate themselves by using those allies.

o Are able to recognise fail-safe signals that indicate when a sale is in jeopardy. This comes from experience but also information supplied by their allies.

o Are rigorous in tracking account progress and are able to accurately forecast future sales because they use proven methodology, which allows them to weight every opportunity in the pipeline

o Avoid ‘dry-months’ by allocating time wisely to their critical selling tasks i.e. Prospecting for new business, covering the bases with existing opportunities and finally closing the best few.

o They understand that the old saying “People buy from people first” no longer applies to personality, but rather to professionalism, commercial bandwidth and superior knowledge

We can then go further and identify eighteen core competencies in which Top 5% achievers generally excel:

o Organisational Skills

o Communication

o Presentation Skills

o Business Development

o Opportunity Assessment

o Interpersonal Skills

o Creative Thinking

o Critical Thinking

o People Awareness

o Integration Skills

o Resilience

o Strategic Approach

o Pro-Activity

o Negotiation

o Key Account Management

o Team Membership

o Process & Methodology

o Political Awareness

If you then add into this mix an understanding of, and familiarisation of the importance that social media now plays, you begin to see just how different these Top 5% achievers really are.

In Summary:

Be assured, the very best sales performers do not achieve that status overnight. They work tirelessly to develop and hone their skills-sets, insist on regular top-up coaching and seek out those who are outperforming them, so that they may learn and improve still further.

They have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of their industry and sector. Finally, they concentrate on eliminating any weaknesses and are anxious to be assessed and receive feedback on a regular basis.

This post is not meant to be a “commercial” but if you are a front-line sales professional and you would like to receive an accurate and objective assessment of how you stack up against Top 5% achievers, or if you are a manager, and you are wondering which of your current team measure up – or indeed could become a Top 5% player, you will be very interested in reading my post on Monday.

News: Over at Top Sales World, we have announced the top ten sales articles for January, and you can check them out HERE

Meanwhile, over at Top Sales Management, you might enjoy my recorded conversation with Ken Thoreson “Sales Leadership – The Changing Role” HERE

Do look out for an exclusive post tomorrow, and be sure to have a great w/e – JF

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