Make Your Sales Force “ROI Smart”
Make Your Sales Force “ROI Smart”
As a result, most successful salespeople are financially astute and can show the short and long-term financial benefits of their products. They also have the ability to individually tune the financials to meet the specific needs of each potential customer. Do your salespeople know how to quantify the value based benefits of your product or service and do they feel comfortable answering basic business questions? For instance can your salespeople:
• Understand and explain ROI, NPV and other financial metrics (e.g., TCO, Payback, IRR)?
• Investigate customer’s business requirements and properly use the results?
• Conduct an ROI analysis and run “what-if” scenarios to gain customer buy-in?
• Effectively incorporate ROI analyses and findings into presentations, proposals, and assessments?
• Easily handle customer skepticism and objections (e.g., “Your competition has a lower price.”)?
• Leverage effective financial closing techniques to reduce long sales cycles?
WHY ROI?
Return on Investment is universally accepted because it is used by decision makers, executive management, shareholders, analysts, and investors.
ROI is the benefit of an investment divided by the cost, expressed in percentage terms, over some period of time. If you only use ROI as an end result number you cheat yourself and your company because the true benefit of an ROI analysis goes well beyond the numerical result, and includes:
• Reducing Long Sales Cycles
• Creating a Receptive Customer Environment
• Establishing a Fair Product or Service Selection Process
• Providing Insight into the Customer’s Business Situation
Reducing Long Sales Cycles
An ROI analysis can dramatically reduce the time and effort associated in closing the deal with a potential customer. Demonstrating the business impact of your product or service for the potential customer helps them appreciate the true value of your solution.
Proof: International Data Corporation (IDC) found that the average sales cycle for a million dollar Lotus Notes deal is 18 months. For those companies completing an ROI analysis, 65% reported their purchase process to be 6 months or less.
Creating a Receptive Customer Environment
Purchase decisions by a prospective customer can be made without a full consensus. However, the success of a decision is often based on consensus within their organization. Quantifying the benefits of your product or service can make it easier for potential customers to select you and keep everyone in their organization supporting the decision.
Establishing a Fair Product or Service Selection Process
When you try to get a new customer you often have to compete with an incumbent. An ROI analysis helps to eliminate entrenched vendor bias. ROI heavily penalizes products that require a lot of resources to implement and/or require significant upfront investment with time delayed benefits. An ROI analysis provides financial insight and allows the potential customer to eliminate the emotional elements often found in decision-making.
Providing Insight into the Customer’s Business Situation
Discussions with customers when you only focus on your features and functions are risky at best. Completing an ROI analysis insures that your discussions with the potential customer will focus on their organization's business problem. It also guarantees that you get an appropriate understanding of their business needs and motivations. Your insight will result in them having more confidence in your product or service making their business better.
EQUIP YOUR SALES PROFESSIONALS WITH ROI TOOLS & TRAINING
Properly equip your sales force and watch your sales generated revenue increase. It is critical to select and implement ROI tools that are designed to highlight the business value of your product in order to be deemed meaningful by prospective customers. Prospective customers want to work with salespeople who have tools can be used to quickly simulate a range of important product influencing variables that have a business impact, such as:
- Number of records processed. This is a practical measure of productivity.
- Number of sales made, a practical measure for increased sales effectiveness.
- Length of customer support calls, a practical measure for more efficient customer service.
There are many other variables that are unique for each product and service and 95% can be quantified and used in an ROI analysis!
A well designed ROI sales tool can be effectively used at any point in the sales cycle. Consider putting a flash based version on your website, but at least make sure that your salespeople have the tools they need to be successful. Just as important as the tools is making sure that your sales people are properly trained and ready to go. The future of your company is worth doing everything necessary to insure your sales professionals will be successful.
Make Your Sales Force ROI Smart - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Clowney's Website.
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Investing in the sales function with ROI tools and financial insight allows today’s sales professional to properly quantify your product’s ‘features and benefits’ in a way that the potential customer can appreciate. ROI is important because potential customers make purchase decisions that are heavily impacted by budgets, risk, and opportunities that are financially measured and ranked within their company.
As a result, most successful salespeople are financially astute and can show the short and long-term financial benefits of their products. They also have the ability to individually tune the financials to meet the specific needs of each potential customer. Do your salespeople know how to quantify the value based benefits of your product or service and do they feel comfortable answering basic business questions? For instance can your salespeople:
• Understand and explain ROI, NPV and other financial metrics (e.g., TCO, Payback, IRR)?
• Investigate customer’s business requirements and properly use the results?
• Conduct an ROI analysis and run “what-if” scenarios to gain customer buy-in?
• Effectively incorporate ROI analyses and findings into presentations, proposals, and assessments?
• Easily handle customer skepticism and objections (e.g., “Your competition has a lower price.”)?
• Leverage effective financial closing techniques to reduce long sales cycles?
WHY ROI?
Return on Investment is universally accepted because it is used by decision makers, executive management, shareholders, analysts, and investors.
ROI is the benefit of an investment divided by the cost, expressed in percentage terms, over some period of time. If you only use ROI as an end result number you cheat yourself and your company because the true benefit of an ROI analysis goes well beyond the numerical result, and includes:
• Reducing Long Sales Cycles
• Creating a Receptive Customer Environment
• Establishing a Fair Product or Service Selection Process
• Providing Insight into the Customer’s Business Situation
Reducing Long Sales Cycles
An ROI analysis can dramatically reduce the time and effort associated in closing the deal with a potential customer. Demonstrating the business impact of your product or service for the potential customer helps them appreciate the true value of your solution.
Proof: International Data Corporation (IDC) found that the average sales cycle for a million dollar Lotus Notes deal is 18 months. For those companies completing an ROI analysis, 65% reported their purchase process to be 6 months or less.
Creating a Receptive Customer Environment
Purchase decisions by a prospective customer can be made without a full consensus. However, the success of a decision is often based on consensus within their organization. Quantifying the benefits of your product or service can make it easier for potential customers to select you and keep everyone in their organization supporting the decision.
Establishing a Fair Product or Service Selection Process
When you try to get a new customer you often have to compete with an incumbent. An ROI analysis helps to eliminate entrenched vendor bias. ROI heavily penalizes products that require a lot of resources to implement and/or require significant upfront investment with time delayed benefits. An ROI analysis provides financial insight and allows the potential customer to eliminate the emotional elements often found in decision-making.
Providing Insight into the Customer’s Business Situation
Discussions with customers when you only focus on your features and functions are risky at best. Completing an ROI analysis insures that your discussions with the potential customer will focus on their organization's business problem. It also guarantees that you get an appropriate understanding of their business needs and motivations. Your insight will result in them having more confidence in your product or service making their business better.
EQUIP YOUR SALES PROFESSIONALS WITH ROI TOOLS & TRAINING
Properly equip your sales force and watch your sales generated revenue increase. It is critical to select and implement ROI tools that are designed to highlight the business value of your product in order to be deemed meaningful by prospective customers. Prospective customers want to work with salespeople who have tools can be used to quickly simulate a range of important product influencing variables that have a business impact, such as:
- Number of records processed. This is a practical measure of productivity.
- Number of sales made, a practical measure for increased sales effectiveness.
- Length of customer support calls, a practical measure for more efficient customer service.
There are many other variables that are unique for each product and service and 95% can be quantified and used in an ROI analysis!
A well designed ROI sales tool can be effectively used at any point in the sales cycle. Consider putting a flash based version on your website, but at least make sure that your salespeople have the tools they need to be successful. Just as important as the tools is making sure that your sales people are properly trained and ready to go. The future of your company is worth doing everything necessary to insure your sales professionals will be successful.
Make Your Sales Force ROI Smart - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Clowney's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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