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 selling 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 21^st 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 which will result in a greater incidence of selling value in sales.

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