Tweet

Your Salespeople Call on the Wrong People and Expect Them to Buy

Written by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: How many sales opportunities fail to convert because your salespeople failed to meet with the individual(s) in the company that could do something about it?

Your Salespeople Call on the Wrong People and Expect Them to Buy

I speak quite often to groups comprised primarily of CEO's and Presidents. Yesterday was a good example of that, with about 100 people in the audience. There were 35 No-Shows, most of whom did not have the title of President or CEO.

I speak about sales force issues that are meaningful to Presidents and CEO's. At the end of these keynotes I learn who is interested in getting some help driving sales excellence in their company. The historical data from about 14 years of these keynotes show that about 80% of the Presidents and CEO's say "yes" while about 80% of the sales managers and Sales VP's say "no". Surprised?

Let's translate this to your business. How many sales opportunities fail to convert because your salespeople failed to meet with the individual(s) in the company that:

1. cared the most
2. had the power to cause change;
3. had the ability to spend money despite a spending freeze;
4. had the ability to spend more in the face of "buy low" policies;
5. was committed to solving the problem;
6. didn't have to run your proposal UP the food chain.

Will you ever do business with some of the "wrong" people? Yes. And that's the problem. If it worked once, maybe it will work again so your salespeople continue to hope against hope when they should be doing whatever it takes to meet/speak with the right people, those who actually have the ability to do business with you.

I can count on one hand the number of sales managers or sales VP's that made the decision to do business with my company over the years. In my world it always begins with a CEO or President and then, after we have evaluated their sales force, we work with the VP or sales manager. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the sales managers and VP's who felt it was THEIR job to provide the expertise for which CEO's and Presidents hire my company. Their job is to manage the sales force. They are not experts in sales force evaluation, sales candidate assessment and selection, sales training and coaching, development, leadership, and the development and deployment of sales systems and processes. If they were, that work wouldn't make up such a huge part of the work we do with them!

Even after engagement with a CEO/President, most sales managers and VP's do their best to prevent us from helping although once they begin working with us they come to embrace our help.

Back to your world. Identify all of the ways in which the wrong people your salespeople call on can hinder, delay, stall, block, interfere or otherwise screw up your salespeople's ability to get the business.

Make your list here.

Got yourself a good list? Have five to ten items on it? Good - Live by it! It's very low percentage selling so don't allow your salespeople to sell to those people.

Related Articles
  The CEO Who Needed to Hire Salespeople
  How to Ramp-Up New Salespeople in 90 Days
  Who You Call On is a Conceptual Thing
  A Missing Link to Sales Improvement?
  What Makes Your Customers Wince

Article Tags: audience, candidate assessment, ceo, fingers and toes, food chain, force evaluation, job, keynotes, money, presidents, proposal, sales managers, sales opportunities, salespeople, vp



Related Forum Posts
Quote of the Day - "Expect more than others think possible. - "Expect more than others think possible. Care more than others think wise." - Howard Schultz, goo.gl/SLcI4
Magnetic Ads - Biz Idea - Attn Young Entrepreneurs looking for a Business Idea. This came to me while sitting in Traffic for about 1 hour while looking and laughing at ridiculous bumper stickers. Note: this idea is rough but will help get the idea-momentum going. Idea: Sell advertising on the back of cars in the form of reusable magnetic signs (about the length of 2 or 3 bumper stickers) Most people shouldn't have reservations to participating if they get a cut of the monthly fee you charge the company advertising and it doesn't hurt their car. An example of a Magnetic Ad: Geico: I saved 15% on my Car Insurance. Call 1-800-U-SAVE-15 You don't have to pay the cost associated with creating the Magnetic Ad because you will advise the company that this belongs to them and you can get them in touch with someone who created reusable magnets. So your basically managing two sides: 1. Company's that want to advertise 2. People in your neighborhood (to start) who will put the ads on their car. Bigger cars can have more than one ad. Happy Money Making!
Unsecure Neighbourhood - Instead of knocking on their door why don't you leave a letter in their Mailbox in a hand written envelope. You can advise them via the letter that their internet connection is unsecured and write how an unsecured internet connection can affect them. Note: this is time consuming but I'm assuming that your willing to spend the time to drive neighbourhoods to find your target market. People on this forum may be able to assist you in determining how to make more use of your time. Maybe you can post flyers in the neighbourhood stating "This Neighbourhood is Unsecure!" "Your Internet connections may be at Risk" Call me now for a free assessment of your Wireless Connection at 509-xxx-xxx The free assessment is critical in getting strangers to contact you. I'm sure you'd be able to come up with something more creative and I hope you use this as a launch pad for new ideas. GoodLuck and tell us what you plan on using to attract new clients and the results of your effort - we like helping people that come back with their reuslts (good or not so good).
Re: Why Franchises Fail - [quote="Nana":307g5e63]Another reason franchises can fail is due to lack of effort on the franchisees part. If the franchisee does not give it their 110% and purely imitates rather than innovates they will increase their chance of failure.[/quote:307g5e63] I agree. Sometimes franchisees rely too much on the franchisor. They think the franchisor will run their business. Wrong! The franchisee is responsible for manging day to day operations of his franchise location.
Re: Magnetic Ads - Biz Idea - [quote="jvprosperity":32z4qe9w]Attn Young Entrepreneurs looking for a Business Idea. This came to me while sitting in Traffic for about 1 hour while looking and laughing at ridiculous bumper stickers. Note: this idea is rough but will help get the idea-momentum going. Idea: Sell advertising on the back of cars in the form of reusable magnetic signs (about the length of 2 or 3 bumper stickers) Most people shouldn't have reservations to participating if they get a cut of the monthly fee you charge the company advertising and it doesn't hurt their car. An example of a Magnetic Ad: Geico: I saved 15% on my Car Insurance. Call 1-800-U-SAVE-15 You don't have to pay the cost associated with creating the Magnetic Ad because you will advise the company that this belongs to them and you can get them in touch with someone who created reusable magnets. So your basically managing two sides: 1. Company's that want to advertise 2. People in your neighborhood (to start) who will put the ads on their car. Bigger cars can have more than one ad. Happy Money Making![/quote:32z4qe9w] What a brilliant idea. Please more info about the sticker and money involve.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Resistance to Change and How to Deal With It

Online Business Ideas: A Look At Various Options

Setting Goals for your Home Based Business

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.