Upbringing of Sales department that profits the organization – Part 2

This article is an extension of the former on sales article.

We formerly talked how one’s inherent nature brings out the maximum potential. We are either more towards logical or the emotional. This is the first thing that our customers associate us with. And this happens to be the strength as well because on following our natural self in dealing with our customers it brings out the genuineness within us.

One’s nature must not be confused with the position one needs to take to tackle a situation. One has to be logical or tackle a situation with emotional presence if it demands so.

The full article can be read here.

Here we will take up the skill one must acquire to become the sales genius we want to be.

Again these skills are not rocket science and can be mastered through discipline.

1. The ability to be a consultant – As a sales professional, if you are good at your deliverable, you would be regarded more than the employ of that company. This kind of privilege is not simple to attain. It has to be earned and it take genuine effort. One cannot just get it by selling one own service or product. It can only be achieved but solving your customer’s problem. And in lot many cases it may not involve just selling you stuffs.

It is important to understand your customer’s plight first and then suggest a resolution. Your client is looking for a consultant and not another salesmen.

This does not imply that you do not sell your product. If your product can solve the problem then it is one’s duty to get through the sales process as smoothly as possible. If your product can solve a part of the problem then do acknowledge that. Use your market knowledge to ensure that your customers can get the complete solution. Let your product or service be a part of it.

This clarity will surely please your customer because honesty is a scarce commodity in sales business.

2. The art of follow up – If you have been into sales then you know that closing the deal is not a simple task. It needs multiple follow ups to get to finally conclude the deal. Even the payment clearance would need multiple follow-ups. Simply put follow-up are the bread and butter of sales profession. One who has mastered the art of follow up surely have the edge over other sales person.

Here are some pointers that would be very helpful.

• The best follow-up are the ones that reduces further follow ups.
• Try giving a call after an important email or the other way round. If you had a meeting confirmation call follow it up with an email.
• Any invoice emails must be followed up with a call, without an exception. Nothing delays a payment more than a mistake in invoice. Get it verified and put it over email.

A good idea is to keep a note of your customer’s interests, hobbies, achievements etc. Sometime you cannot follow up for the same reason multiple time. Just sending a good article on holiday destination in case your client loves traveling. This unofficial update is good enough to remind him what you are following up with him. This can only be applied if you have develop a good rapport with your client.

Good rapport is a mark of a sales genius.

3. Fall in love with chaos – Your client has other commitments apart from attending you. We can never know what’s happening on the client’s side. This makes the life of a sales person really tough. All your efforts and follow-ups seem to be in vain just because your client is not able to give time to your proposal. This will feel very chaotic. A sales genius understands that this is a very common occurrence and learns to makes his/her peace with chaos.

For this very reason it is important to be organized.  And being organized stars from being disciplined. A short note after every activity, like client meet, product – demo, internal –target-meeting etc. will be very helpful. Even the client based follow up needs tracking.

If possible ask you company to use mobile technology to introduce automation in the sales process. As you will be handling multiple clients, sales automation will surely organize a large part of the day for you.

Organising yourself will ensure that you are ready when your client is.

4. Driven by Ownership – This is one of the crucial attribute of a salesperson that makes him or her truly remarkable.

There would be innumerable reasons as an excuse during the sales phase. But the sales person who can take in charge of the situation as if they own them will be the sales genius.

Ownership is a contagious attribute. Sales being an initiation to a business, this attribute is reflected across team when a salesman shows ownership. The quality of ownership seeps into the team that installs, gives support and take order for customization.

This level of ownership can be developed if a person works as if he is in a war front.

Here are the three quality that can help a person to take develop ownership in the profession of sales–

1. Communication – No matter what there has to be a constant communication with the client and cross team. It is the responsibility of the sales person to be the bridge between his organization and the client.
2. Feedback – Even when the complete process is done, the sales person must take the onus of making sure that the service or product sold to the customer is being used effectively. This is not an easy job. Making sure that the product is used to its best will help you get referrals from your clients. Never miss taking a feedback once a month
3. Keeping the client updated – Keep the client updated about the new feature that you have introduced. Do not do a sales pitch. Your client would like to buy your product but hate being sold to.

To summarise

1. Find out your inherent nature – Are you a logical person or an emotional driver. Build on that nature as these nature would be the one that your clients would be associating you with. Your true nature will bring the genuineness in your words and action.
2. Develop the four characters of a sales genius. A sales genius would be a consultant before being a sales person. He knows the art of follow up. He is not stumbled by chaos in the profession of sales and the last, he takes the ownership to genuinely profit his clients

Upbringing of Sales department that profits the organization – Part 1

Sales Genius is not born. They are made with consistent effort.

Every sales genius is unique. This is because they develop their strongest gene or their inbuilt nature and build the other necessary sales habits through discipline.

The fact that developing the sales habit starts with what is already within the person it is not as difficult to start. The difficult part is developing the other skills.

Simply put there are only two fundamental natures that help a person to develop the rest of the qualities that a sale genius needs to develop.

The fundamental natures of a person are –

The logical Sales nature – If you are a kind of person whose thinking process starts with slicing and dicing a challenge into actionable pointers, you have the logical trait. You can look through a situation without getting deviated emotionally. You can come out with suggestion that directly impacts the situation in hand.

This trait is an important as a sales person as in today’s world the options are many. But what clients need is an optimal option for the challenge in hand.

The emotional sales nature – If you are primarily a kind of person who develop a holistic understanding based on both professional and personal scenarios in someone’s life, you happen to have a dominant emotional trait. Your communication involves a balanced approach that goes beyond just a professional solution.

This nature is important as it helps to develop a relationship with customers that goes beyond just professional boundary.

None of the natural trait is better than the other. It is important to identify to what is your primary nature so that you can best develop the other skills based on it. If you are a logical sort of person, your communication will be different from the one who is emotionally driven.

There is no point in superimposing one nature over other because

1. You lose the genuineness your approach displays. Secondly,
2. When you start with a new approach it is not consistent with your past and that shows.

These natures must not be confused with the approach that a sales person needs to take. Approach is situational but trait is permanent. At times one has to be logical in approach to sort a situation. At other times it is better to tackle it emotionally. It is important to understand that at the end the conclusion has to be both logically and emotionally balanced.

The first step for anyone who is looking forward to excel in sales is to identify his or her trait.

We would be taking up the other skills that a sales genius needs to cultivate that will build your credibility and effectiveness in the next article.