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Getting back to basics
| Guest post by: Sue Barrett |
Article Overview: One of the real challenges is keeping sales momentum while understanding how changes in customers, competitors, markets, innovations, media, technology and all manner of things will impact on our businesses and our people. Getting our heads around all this to find the right ingredients for our plans and strategies will be demanding. We need to recognise the new ‘things’, in themselves, will not make things better, it is how they are integrated and applied in ours and our customers current situation and circumstances. Often with new technologies, new trends, new ideas, and new innovations people become distracted thinking that these new things will promise to make life better, easier, faster, or more effective or efficient, all the while missing 2 key points...
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Getting back to basics
One of the real challenges is keeping sales momentum while understanding how changes in customers, competitors, markets, innovations, media, technology and all manner of things will impact on our businesses and our people. Getting our heads around all this to find the right ingredients for our plans and strategies will be demanding. We need to recognise the new ‘things’, in themselves, will not make things better, it is how they are integrated and applied in ours and our customers current situation and circumstances.
Often with new technologies, new trends, new ideas, and new innovations people become distracted thinking that these new things will promise to make life better, easier, faster, or more effective or efficient, all the while missing 2 key points:
1. In taking on the ‘new’ how does this support our real intentions and purpose as a business and leader?
2. How will these new innovations make our business and, more importantly, our customers lives better in action and deed?
Throwing away the ‘tried and true’ and rushing headlong into the ‘new and shiny’ without considered thought can pose great risks. If we look at this from the customer’s perspective we will see their wary cynicism of the new and shiny, and recognise their desire for transparency, continuity and familiarity as well as their need to be up with the latest. Many have long memories and know from lessons learned often the new and flashy is quickly dated.
Equally being closed off to the ‘new’ is just as bad because we could miss vital signals that may lead us to better places. Either way throwing out the basics or being closed off to the ‘new’ will leave us worse off.
Wise business/sales leaders and people will embrace the ‘new’ but not forget the basics.
The Back to Basics Checklist includes having:
1. A vision with clear intention, purpose, values and actions – what do we stand for and how do we act?
2. Clear sales strategy and tactical plan articulated at a business, state/regional, and sales person level. This would include:
* Sales goals
* Clear market message
* Client segmentation including account management, new business development and service support
* Competitor analysis – direct and emerging
* Go-to-market sales tactics including how we make contact with prospects and customers
* Clear Input and Output Measurements (role clarity, clear performance expectations, team unity, etc.)
3. Sound Sales Processes and Frameworks including:
* Sales management knowledge, skills, and mindset (coaching, performance management, strategy, recruitment, leadership, etc.)
* Sales Planning knowledge, skills, and mindset
* Prospecting knowledge, skills, and mindset (Sourcing Leads, networking – new social media opportunities; Proactive prospecting activities like making telephone calls to new prospects, existing or lapsed clients; doing and monitoring your activities on a daily basis)
* Selling knowledge, skills, and mindset (client meetings, pitching, presentations, negotiation, account management, customer service, conflict resolution, territory management, proposal development, etc.)
* Self Management knowledge, skills, and mindset (monitoring self talk, analysing a situation accurately, taking care of personal health and well being, working with a sense of purpose and clarity)
Keeping our sales basics in tune will help us while we integrate and experiment with the ‘new’ such as social media and other new advances coming into our markets. It’s about finding out what is effective and then weaving in the ‘new’ and trialing it to see how it enhances or detracts from our sales efforts. Investing large amounts of money and effort into one sales approach leaves us vulnerable. It’s about having a blended sales approach and fine tuning it to meet our customers and our needs for being in business.
By knowing who and how to target customers and being well skilled in sales planning, prospecting, and client communication we will keep sales happening. By sticking to the basics and integrating the ‘new’ bit by bit we will work out how Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Sales 2.0, Social media and all the other innovations will work best for us and how we need to keep on selling. With change comes opportunity and challenges.
I suggest we repeat the mantra ‘hasten slowly’ and keep doing the basics while considering, trialing, evaluating, and integrating the new. The focus will be on selective incorporation, based on customers, community, company, and self, while still remembering the basics that got us where we are today.
Remember everybody lives by selling something.
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Article Tags: challenges, current situation, media technology, new innovations, new trends, sales momentum
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About the Author: Sue Barrett RSS for Sue's articles - Visit Sue's website Sue is one of the leading voices commenting on sales today. Sue has a unique way of getting to the heart of the matter - she combines extensive knowledge, research, insight, and practical experience with a deep sense of compassion to bring forth a more enlightened way of thinking and participating in the world. This makes her stand out from the usual crowd of existing business commentators. Her ability to distill complex ideas and relate them to life's everyday challenges and opportunities has audience members and readers leaving with a stronger understanding of "self" and how they can begin to achieve excellence through purposeful action. Presenting and writing on a wide range of topics about the world of 21st Century selling Sue's presentations and articles include sales philosophy and culture, sales leadership and coaching, sales training, selling skills, resilience, neuroscience in selling and more. Sue's articles are some of the most widely read in Australia and she is gaining a following overseas as well. Besides publishing on Barrett Sales Blog site, Sue has been the lead sales writer for www.smartcompany.com.au since 2007, and is also regularly published on other highly regarded publications such as Australian Anthill Magazine, Niche Magazine, Marketing Mag, Business Chicks, and Business Deals. Click here to visit Sue's website   Create your Ideal sales force blueprint Who is your brochure written for Trustbased relationships Selling is not a dirty word How to run a Sales Meeting |
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- [quote="MichelleJ":1856udcj][quote="TannyL":1856udcj]I agree GT.
The basics never change, and if you master the basics the small changes will not alert you.[/quote:1856udcj]
I agree it is important to focus on the basics, just keep doing them consistently and
everything else will fall into place.
MichelleJ[/quote:1856udcj]
I also noticed that no matter which new program or service is released I always go back to the basics and "forget" about the new stuff, unless they really work.
Re: Google No-Follow Issue?
- [quote="TannyL":1cre6app]I agree GT.
The basics never change, and if you master the basics the small changes will not alert you.[/quote:1cre6app]
I agree it is important to focus on the basics, just keep doing them consistently and
everything else will fall into place.
MichelleJ
Re: Google No-Follow Issue?
- I agree GT.
The basics never change, and if you master the basics the small changes will not alert you.
Re: Search Engine Optimization
- I personally would never pay someone to SEO my site. It's actually very easy to do yourself, provided you know the basics. The best way is to learn from a credible source who has experience and results to back up their SEO implementation.
There are a couple of good sources that I know of that know the facts when it comes to SEO. If you're interested in knowing who or would like some resources just let me know.
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Talk To Them
- The back end of this is reducing how often you have to look for people anyway! Many people will stay if you look after them.
Once you have your good employees, make sure that you spend time with them, building realtionships, often informally, every day, if you can.
Larger organizations lose this skill and hence they tend to have more disaffected employees and attrition.
If you have recruited well, hang onto the people you have by ensuring the core basics are right (pay is acceptable and on time, it's warm enough etc.), and then lock them in because they like you!
They like you, because you show an interest in them as real, human being and you show them you value their presence.
Then finding good people becomes much less of a challenge because you need to look far less often!
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