Issue 1
A Poorly Defined Sales Process, which Dilutes Sales Revenues
Even companies that enjoy the luxury of a clearly superior product line know that their products won’t sell themselves. At a minimum, companies need a sales force comprised of skilled professionals who understand their products and who know both their customers and their market. It also helps to provide the sales force with effective sales support (for example, literature and demonstration kits). But even all these elements together are not sufficient to ensure maximally efficient and profitable sales.
LACK OF DIRECTION
Far too often, competent salespeople are counted upon to channel their own activities into the areas that will produce the biggest and quickest wins. But, left to their own devices, salespeople generally don’t develop and pursue a formal plan for moving a sale tangibly forward during each prospect interaction, nor do they have a clearly defined set of goals against which to measure their progress toward a sale. Instead, they end up "dancing around" with prospects, foxtrot fashion, in the hope that eventually they will get to their chosen point on the floor (the sale).
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
This lack of a plan is often fatal, because, as recent research from The Results Corporation PLC shows, 60% of clients buy after 5 “No’s” yet 44% of salespeople give up after the first “No,” 22% after the second “No” and 14% after a third “No.”
A well-known oil company discovered that it took their best salespeople an average of three visits and five follow-up calls to convert a prospect into a client. Yet, their average sales performers only visited prospects twice and then gave up, costing the company millions of dollars in wasted sales effort and even more in lost potential sales opportunities.
A DISCOURAGED SALES FORCE DIMINISHES SALES EFFICIENCY
When their efforts don’t pay off quickly enough, even fully capable salespeople tend..
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