Gone Are the Days… Revitalizing Sales Reps for the New Century
By Rick Johnson, Founder, CEO Strategist
It’s almost 2009 – has selling really changed? Is the evolution of change
something we as sales people in distribution really need to focus on? Is
sales in the ‘new century’ really so different that the concept of
pioneering a territory and then servicing the customer as a life annuity has
gasped its final breath? The answer to those questions is yes. So, now what do we do to prepare
ourselves to pass through this time warp and become ‘A’ players in the ‘New
Century?’
Being an ‘A’ Player in the New Century
As an
‘A’ player in the ‘New Century,’ you must build business-to-business
relationships through channels that other team members can service. The
special buyer/salesman relationship isn’t dead; golf is still allowed;
entertainment is still acceptable, but the degree to which these tools are
used has changed. Certainly, the focus and the gray matter behind the sales
planning process must contribute more to the long-term goals of the
organization. The sales representative in the ‘New Century’ ensures that
their products, their services and their company becomes the channel of
choice. The primary objective is the same: ’First call and last look,’ but
the methodology has evolved to a higher level. Transactions are no longer
managed by the field sales representative.
Focus Has Changed
Focus must now be on planning for the development of new customers and
increased penetration of current high-potential customers. The main
responsibility of the salesman in the ‘New Century’ is NOT TO INCREASE
SALES, but to systematically and consistently increase the number of
customers that call you D.O.C. (Distributor of Choice). If you truly
practice solution medicine for your customers; if you find their pain and
make it go away, you will become their D.O.C. That means you’ll always get
the first call and the last look.
The Reality Test
How do you know if you made it through the time warp? How do you know if you
are or can become an ‘A’ player in the ‘new century?’ Answering the
following questions should give you a clue.
- Do you know the 5 largest customers of your 5 largest customers?
- What are the 3 largest sources of pain in their lives?
- What are your customers’ key profit and growth drivers?
- What are you doing with this knowledge?
- How would the customer describe your efforts to improve their business?
Three Basic Competencies of the ‘A’ Player in the New Century
‘A’ sales people in the New Century learn to develop Achievement
Competencies, Influence Competencies and Thinking Competencies.
Achievement competencies focus on results. They help you understand the concept of planning and creating strategies with effective action plans that support corporate objectives. They help you target high-potential customers and lock onto that customer’s growth objectives with laser-like clarity. They promote creativity, empowerment and initiative.
Sales people in the New Century no longer hit the road trying to meet a quota for the number of calls per day. The ‘A’ player of the New Century focuses on multiple contacts within an account, seeking to match his company resources, including people, to his clients’ needs. He targets his persuasion techniques, maximizes his personal impact and works hard to improve organizational awareness on both sides of the sales equation. The ‘A’ player in the New Century promotes ‘Tier-Level Selling’ in his customer's organization as well as his own organization.
The New Century Salesman is a quick thinker. When he shoots from the hip, it’s from a knowledge base that doesn’t expose his company to undo risk. He can think outside the box and practices scenario planning within his own territory analysis to prepare himself for the future. He is a short-term planner and a long-term strategic thinker.
The ‘A’ salespersons in the New Century are always striving for improvement. They gain the majority of their targeted customers’ business. They increase market share. Transactions flow through a well-managed relationship that they have established. Their time is focused on growth rather than transactional service (the team and the system do the servicing). The ‘A’ players of the New Century constantly seek to enhance their selling skills and the knowledge base of the industry they serve. They no longer focus on product knowledge. They focus on their customers' products and industry knowledge. They have fine-tuned the basic habits of success.
- The habit of prospecting
- The habit of planning
- The habit of using a professionally prepared sales presentation
-
The habit of goal-setting
- The habit of record-keeping
- The habit of efficient time control
- The habit of self-development
- The habit of continuous development of their industry knowledge
- The habit of self discipline
Salesmanship in the New Century has changed. ‘Gone are the days’ of selling features and benefits. Today, you must understand how your customer makes money and match the benefits of your product to his profit-making activities.
‘Gone are the days’ of developing a personal relationship as the key to success. Selling in the New Century still requires that personal relationship, but it must be expanded upon. You must become a business consultant and an advisor to your customer in this century
‘Gone are the days’ when your focus was on your product and services. You must now focus on industry knowledge. You must become an expert in the industry to provide real value to your customer in the New Century.
‘Gone are the days’ that you dribble from the mouth, creating rambling conversations and making unsolicited scripted presentations. ‘A’ players in the New Century listen more than 80% of the time. I mean really listen and understand the customer’s real concerns. They look for opportunities to solve problems, to take the pain away.
‘Gone are the days’ of salesmen being high-paid apologists. Sales in the New Century require quality and service as a given to enter the game.
C2 = Sales Success
C2 means knowing and understanding your customer’s customer. To become an ‘A’ player in the New Century you must get involved with your customer’s customer. New Century Sales requires that you strive to bring your customer more customers. It requires an understanding of their capital structure and suggestions on your part to make them more efficient. It requires your help in introducing them to new markets.
‘Gone are the days’ that you compete with price, service and quality alone. Sales in the New Century depend on your understanding of the difference between price and cost. More importantly, sales success in the New Century depends on your ability to educate your customers on the ‘difference between price and cost.’
‘Gone are the days’ of ‘three bids and a buy.’ The purchasing mentality of your customers has changed. Innovations in their purchasing practice forces innovation in your selling practice. Today, you must seek, document and get signed agreements from your customers on cost savings. You must focus on working capital reductions, direct expense reductions, indirect expense reductions (redevelopment of personnel), system reliability, inventory management and logistics solutions that contribute profits to their bottom line.
Reduction of Your Gross Profit Is Not an Acceptable Cost Reduction.
Must I Become Bionic?
‘A’ players are not super humans. They simply focus their efforts on success. Ask yourself the following questions.
- What are your customers’ key skill sets? (What are they really good at?)
- What would your customer’s customer say they really value from your customer?
- Ask these same questions of your own company.
Remember, in some cases ‘Loser Customers’ deal with ‘Loser Distributors.’
They often form a mutual admiration society. ‘A’ players in the New Century
quickly learn to recognize Loser Customers and refuse to waste valuable time
on them.
Take the time to really understand value-added selling. Recognize its power
in generating much more volume than the Old Century approach. The key is to
completely separate selling goals from being genuinely helpful and
understanding your customer’s business. Real value-added selling focuses on
helping customers solve their problems, without trying to make a sale.
Remember that 'value-added' is defined by the customer, its goals and its
business.
Beam Me Up Scottie
This may all sound inter-galactic, overwhelming and you may even think,
“What’s The Use? I know how to sell. I’m good at it and I’ve been doing it
for years.”
Well, chances are, you may be absolutely correct. You see, things didn’t
change overnight. When the clock struck 12:01 am at the turn of the century,
there wasn’t a ‘big flash,’ ‘a sonic boom’ or ‘a major revelation’ on how we
as distributors were to change our practices or the way we go to market. The
truth of the matter is that we have been going through an evolutionary
process throughout the nineties, accelerated by improving technology and
information distribution. The point is, if you were an ‘A’ player sales
person in the ’90s, then chances are you have learned and practiced many of
the techniques discussed in this article. Now, all you have to do is to
continue to learn and refine your skills. If you haven’t changed your style,
learned new practices based on improved customer intelligence and if you
still believe in the sales model developed in the old century, you are
probably struggling to maintain market share. Seek out additional training
and advice. Look for a mentor. I’m betting that the majority of the readers
fall into the first category. You have been involved in the evolutionary
process and you are eager to face the challenges of the new century.
To paraphrase Wayne Gretsky, “You want to skate to where the puck’s going to
be.”
I’ll add, “Seek to arrive with an attitude – an attitude of success.”
Rick Johnson is Founder of CEO Strategist, an expert in wholesale distribution consulting and strategic leadership working with executives to create and maintain competitive advantage. As a veteran of the wholesale distribution industry with more than 30 years of executive management experience, he knows exactly what it takes to create leaders within a company, and how to maximize every sale to its full potential. Starting out on the ground floor, Rick spent the first 10 years of his career employed by the largest steel distributor in the world. Then challenging himself to take what he had learned and forge a venture of his own, he built a $25M wholesale distribution business in less than 10 years (before earning a college education!). After selling his business, Rick decided to share his success secrets by taking the helm of troubled businesses as a ‘turnaround’ expert. He helped set new directions for companies with revenue from $50M to $400M, leading them from loss to profit. More recently, Rick has brought his expertise to the business consultant arena, where he utilizes his unique formulas for making businesses profitable. For article feedback, contact Rick at rick@ceostrategist.com
