By Julia Ewert
Many businesses owners start their businesses because they are excellent ‘technicians’ but are often not trained or experienced ‘salespeople’. However, a key (THE KEY) function of a business is sales – if you can’t sell your service or product, or if you can’t sell it at a feasible rate and margin, you won’t be a business for long.
If your business is lacking a structured sales process, then this is equivalent to leaving your revenue to chance, or hope.
Sales is the business function of bringing in revenue. Irrespective of whether you refer to this as “business development”, “client liaison”, or “account management”, on the most fundamental level, this is “sales”. Sales is necessary and a planned approach offers the strongest confidence for revenue generation.
Many businesses are already highly systematised when it comes to the components of their profession, but few apply the same diligence when it comes to systematising the process to convert a prospective client.
Michael E. Gerber, author of best-selling and world-renowned books The E-Myth and The E-Myth Revisited, perfectly describes how business can be much more successful,” “the system runs the business, and the people run the system”.
He talks about the importance of a sales process in every business, across every industry, which is the same as having a revenue machine.
The stigma of the used car salesperson still exists however, sales no longer needs to you or your prospect feel unconformable!
When the sales process is conducted successfully, here’s what you’ll notice:
• Conversation feels calm and free flowing
• Prospect share lots of helpful information
• Trust is built early, and with strength
• You’ll have more business on, with the right type of clients
• You avoid the price war and margins increase
• Your revenue is predictable, sustainable, and constantly increasing
• Your team enjoy doing sales, sometimes for the first time ever
Here are FOUR attributes that are crucial to sales success:
1. Sell Yourself
The phrase that usually calls this out is “I don’t like talking about myself”. Or even “I don’t like the selling part of my role, I just want to help people with financial advice.
One of the most fundamental elements of sales is the ability to sell yourself. If you or your employees are unable to sell themselves as a representative of your company, how will they sell your product or service?
In addition, how will they convert prospects to customers if they are ever challenged on price or quality?
2. Understand what problem you are helping to solve
If your team were asked “what problem do you solve?” what would they say? Then, if it was suggested that your competitors do the same thing, how would they respond?
There are plenty of people in business who can’t answer this question. They can explain their product or service, but cannot articulate what problems consumers would experience if their service did not exist. Having clarity on this question will make you laser focused on how you serve your market.
3. Don’t “show up and throw up”
Whilst your team likely believe that your company is a market leader or has a unique point of difference, your prospective client does not care for that upon their first interaction with you.
Some professionals get caught up in vomiting their product, company, and technical information all over a prospect during the first interaction, after all, they’ve come in to hear about that, right?
Wrong.
Your customer has come in with a problem and your role is to give them the right information so they can make an informed decision as to whether your service is the right fit.
How do you know your product is the right fit if you don’t ask the right questions?
Most people in sales are unskilled in their knowledge of questions. Not just what questions to ask, but the type of questions, the number of questions and the order in which they are asked.
4. Use a sales process
Ask any unsuccessful business about sales processes and they will tell you “I don’t need a sales process because every client is different”, and “we don’t do sales, because we’re in professional services”. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
Like any framework, its benefit is to help you stick to a process of ‘best practice’. A sales process is a repeatable system that starts when the enquiry comes in (or the meeting is held) and ends with a paying client. It is designed to bring out the best in your prospective client, so they can share what is important to them, and also to showcase that your practice is best-placed to assist them.
A sales process will also shorten the amount of time it takes for prospects to decide to become your clients. If you want to maximise your opportunities for sales success, a sales process is crucial.
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