Strategic Direction Blog

Sales professionals would typically be evaluated on their ability to achieve quotas and generate sales. In today’s economy however such clear-cut metrics don’t always reflect true efforts.

Sales/revenue goals are important when measuring effectiveness, but they cannot be the sole determinant of performance in down times. Other criteria such as net activity levels, attitude and motivation are equally important, as they demonstrate an individual’s efforts to keep the company visible in the marketplace.

Are your sales professionals bringing positive outlook? Are they aggressive and proactive at identifying and qualifying new prospects? Are they doing what it takes to close sales in a bad economy by working harder to build out their prospect pipelines to achieve the volume necessary to generate returns?

Top sales professionals with a deep understanding of the company’s products and services remain the best weapons in this economy. The key to success in this economy is to arm them with qualified leads, proper coaching and good training then turn them loose!

Top Sales Professionals never rely on marketing for lead generation. Over the years I have seen and done some creative things to generate quality leads including sending out “birth announcements” to local prospects announcing the launch (birth) of a new product. This not only got a chuckle or two but it moved clients to pick up the phone and call. The best leads (and by best I mean most qualified) come from existing clients/customers. There are some great advantages to referral selling:

1. The leads are/should be pre-qualified

2. Pricing is known and fixed

3. Potentially shorter sales cycle

4. If a demonstration is typical this may get you around it citing the customer as proof of the product’s performance.

The key to successful selling using referrals comes from proper planning..

Coming Soon - Part 2