The DNA of sales – Is it all about value?
Selling value in Sales
In a volatile business environment, sales has to adapt. It is not just reaction to change that we need, it is anticipation of change. That means that a variety of thinking skills are needed:
- The ability to analyse what is happening to customers and what it means for their suppliers,
- The ability to create new scenarios and solutions for them,
- The ability to reflect and learn from failure and consolidate on success.
Whenever do we get time to think about value in sales?
When times are hard, the pressure is on to do, do, do. But if you are doing the wrong things, that only upsets customers more. Sales management in the 21st century is a great deal about leading and coaching the professional development in salespeople that customers admire.
Productivity is always important, but efficiency comes after effective courses of action have been identified.
Has the sales function adapted effectively to commoditisation, globalisation and recession as fast as our counterparts in purchasing? Supply chain management has become a sophisticated science. The purchasing profession has increased its strategic value over the past twenty years.
Meanwhile, sales has been pulled in two directions.
At one end of the spectrum, highly qualified account managers forge strategic plans with major customers, and are supported by cross-functional international teams. At the other end, tele-sales or even streamlined customer portals provide the low-touch, easy-to-use access to commodity purchases. Although some companies still seem reluctant to embrace low-touch channels, they must be an option for customers. Then, of course, there are the exceptions to all general rules. Solution and commodity purchases can co-exist in the same customer, creating challenges for consistency of approach. Also, customers can and will change.
Individual customers are not static and the mix of customers cannot be static. The first step may be to analyse today, but tomorrow needs movement. Even in recession, when the focus of time investment is on customer retention, there must be some investment in customer acquisition.
The initiative to develop customers showing signs of growth is also valuable. I can remember in the recession of the 1980s doing an awful lot of cold calling. Of course, it was better than expecting customers to call me. But not surprisingly, it was an awful lot more successful when I started trawling the business news, looking for companies who were moving, merging, winning contracts or changing senior managers.
From small scale prospecting to large scale account planning, success depends on providing value to customers when they find themselves doing something differently. Alternatives are always considered in the face of change.
Forget those smooth lines on revenue growth charts and start looking at scenarios for chunks of change. Anticipating change leads to more productively targeted activity. Analysis, imagination and reflection are building blocks that contribute a great deal to the effectiveness of Sales DNA. They need both space and time in everyone’s schedule.
A note from Peter O’Donoghue about our guest blogger – Beth Rogers
Beth is a leading sales academic and author of the book ‘Rethinking Sales Management’ which you can get from amazon. Beth is also the programme manager for the MA in Sales Management at Portsmouth University – The premier European postgraduate degree for Sales Managers. Beth adds an amazing breadth of experience and expertise to the blog and I thank her personally for contributing. Why not connect with Beth and learn more about sales through her linkedin page – here
Related posts:
- Your Bloggers Peter O’Donoghue I am a passionate sales trainer who specialises...
- Sales Tip: A christmas poem to help you sell more? Wow – Christmas is coming! It must be because I...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Carroll, marlys Goodrich. marlys Goodrich said: The DNA of sales – Is it all about value? – http://shar.es/aVsNd [...]
A sales persons thinking makes times hard. The look at the pressure rather than the joy of achieving. They then come across to customers as self centered and desperate. Professional sales people will learn adapt and take effective actions that produce results no matter what.
Because the professional never forgets that selling and buying is always People to People.
Great article.
Dear Peter,
I really appreciate your site. Thank you for your insights and guidance.
In the midst of the financial crisis, there’s a lot of bashing and cynicism
towards performance recognition and inspirational efforts in the workplace.
Just check any bar in lower Manhattan! It’s a shame.
As a VP leading over 100 salespeople, I’ve found that the hard fact
is that QUALITY performance recognition works. Not just for morale,
but in dollars. I have been using a couple of different tools to help me retain
good people and to inspire excellence in them, which = larger sales figures.
A#1 tool is a personal, elegant recognition concept called Design Your
Inspiration ( http://www.dyi.successories.com ) . Intelligent, customizable with
any words or great quotes you want to use (such as those on this very site).
All on framed art photography prints.
Again, the quality of these, and the MEANING emparted, makes them
highly effective for me. It has made an amazing difference! So while the
cynics shed tears in their beers, we’re laughing all the way to the bank!
Thanks again. Jim
The look at the pressure rather than the joy of achieving. They then come across to customers as self centred and desperate. The initiative to develop customers showing signs of growth is also valuable. I can remember in the recession of the 1980s doing an awful lot of cold calling. Of course, it was better than expecting customers to call me. But not surprisingly, it was an awful lot more successful when I started trawling the business news and many more stuffs.
I couldn’t agree more with what you are saying in your article. I run a virtual mall ( http://www.gulfcoastvirtualmall.com )which I started near the end of last year. Value to customers is, especially now, right at the top of the list. We added a social network ( http://social.gulfcoastvirtualmall.com ) to add inherent value to our site and offer something for free that has quite a bit of value to our patrons. Anyone will tell you that right now sales are not waht they used to be. All the more reason for thinking “out of the box” and coming up with more creative ideas.