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Thank you for adhering to these four very simple rules.
If you want to maximize your sales performance, take a STRATEGIC
approach to selling. After all, wouldn't you agree that "the
80/20 rule" applies to customers, where approximately 20 percent
of customers produce approximately 80 percent of sales?
The starting point for strategic selling is figuring out a) which
customers produce the bulk of your sales, and b) what they are
buying. Armed with this information, you can strategically plan
how to increase sales.
Critical Data Elements
If you want to sell strategically, you need to have access to
specific data elements. Plus, you need to be willing to perform
data analysis.
Which data elements do you need? This list provides a reasonable
starting point:
* Customer Name
* Revenue by Month by Customer
* Gross Margin or Gross Profit by Month by Customer (this is
only necessary if it impacts your performance measurements)
* Product or Service Name (for each product or service
purchased by each customer)
* Product or Service Quantity (for each product or service
purchased by each customer)
* Product or Service Unit Price (for each product or service
purchased by each customer)
* Product or Service Extended Price (quantity x unit price)
This data can be used to analyze the buying habits of your
customers. Sort it in various ways to answer the following
questions:
* Which customers buy the MOST from you?
* What is the TREND for each customer's purchases? Are they
buying more or less when you compare the current month to
preceding months? How about when you compare the current
month to the same month in the previous year?
* Which products or services are they buying?
* Are the amounts purchased in line with your expectations
and the commitments that have been made by your customers?
* Which products or services are they NOT buying?
* WHY aren't they buying these other products or services?
Once you have completed the first stage of analysis, consider
this next set of questions:
* How much time should you allocate to each customer in your
territory? (Tip: You should spend 80 percent of your time
with the customers that buy the most and/or offer the
greatest potential for sales growth.)
* What is your plan for increasing sales to each of your
customers? (This includes selling more of what they have
already been buying, and selling other products or services
that they haven't purchased from you previously.)
* Which new prospects should you pursue? (Tip: Which prospects
can your existing customers REFER you to? Which prospects
have the greatest potential to produce significant sales?)
It may not be easy for companies to extract the data that
is required to support strategic selling. However, arming
salespeople with this data is the best investment a company can
possibly make. Strategic selling enables salespeople to maximize
their sales, which in turn maximizes the company's overall sales
and profitability.
How frequently should the data be made available to salespeople?
If sales cycles are relatively short, it would be ideal for the
data to be available on demand, with the minimum frequency being
weekly. For longer sales cycles, providing the data on a monthly
basis may be adequate.
Strategic selling begins with data availability. If you are going
to maximize sales, you need to be able to analyze your customers'
buying patterns to determine how to prioritize your efforts.
Which customers should you spend the bulk of your time with? How
much time should you allocate to each customer? How will you
increase sales to specific customers? Which new prospects should
you pursue?
Plan your work, work your plan, and compare your results
frequently against your quota and personal goals. Sell
strategically to maximize your sales, minimize unpleasant
surprises, and maximize your earnings!
Writer's Resource Box:
Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat
the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform
and What to Do About It. His company, 80/20 Sales Performance,
helps business owners, executives, and managers DOUBLE sales by
implementing The Right Formula™ for building top-performing
sales teams. For more information and more FREE sales and sales
management tips, visit http://www.8020salesperformance.com.
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Stand out from the crowds. Educate your prospects and they will turn to you for more knowledge. When they turn to you for more, they will visit your website. It is up to your website copy to sell your products, NOT your article. Provide great information and at your website, address how the prospect will benefit from what you are offering. Using these things in conjuction will help your cash register to ring.
