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Table of Conten

hapter 2. Living Your Vows in a Whirlwind Economy..........................................................ection 2.1. FIND THE RIGHT CUSTOMERS.............................................................................................................................................................................ection 2.2. DEFINE A RELATIONSHIP PROCESS.......................................................................................................... .........................................................ection 2.3. BUILD A WELCOMING HOME...............................................................................................................................................................................ection 2.4. LEARN FROM EACH OTHER..................................................................................................................................................................................ection 2.5. TO HAVE AND TO HOLD.........................................................................................................................................................................................

apter 2. Living Your Vows in a Whirlwind Economy. Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Namepared for [email protected], Sumit Solomonyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing Inc.. This download file is made available for personal use only and is subject to the Terms of Service. Any other use requires prior written cons

m the copyright owner. Unauthorized use, reproduction and/or distribution are strictly prohibited and violate applicable laws. All rights reserved.



Living Your Vows in a

Whirlwind Economy

Seleste Lunsford AchieveGlobal

In today’s economy, selling needs to be more like a marriage and less like a whirlwind romance.

The concept is fairly basic: Predictable long-term revenuegrowth requires enduring, mutually beneficial customer relation-ships.

The challenge lies neither in grasping that point, nor in poppingthe question, but in doing what it takes to live up to your vows.

& FIND THE RIGHT CUSTOMERS

To reach and exceed their revenue goals, salespeople need customerswho value what you sell—which is ideally expressed in a clear valueproposition. Whether product-centered (‘‘We sell world-class wid-gets’’) or service-centered (‘‘We grow your business’’), a value propo-sition—like a marriage proposal—frames the kind of relationshipyou want.

Yet a recent AchieveGlobal study found at least two trends that

complicate your customer relationships. Increased competitionhas made commodities of many products and services, and savvycustomers now rely on arm’s-length buying models—requests forproposal (RFPs), reverse auctions, procurement teams, and others.To weather these challenges, it’s important to segment and prioritizecustomers based on the value they find in you, not just the value youfind in them. Then sift this data for the specific customers mostlikely to value what you sell.

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& DEFINE A RELATIONSHIP PROCESS

Even among organizations that sell on price or convenience, few realize long-term success without equally long-term relationships.

Our study found that leading sales organizations now support theserelationships by matching salespeople to specific market segments,allocating resources to the best opportunities, and leveraging multi-ple sales channels, such as distributors and e-commerce.

In addition, these organizations often tailor a relationship pro-cess for each customer segment. As a result, they’re far more likelyto send the right salesperson to the right customer to generate theright return.

Relationships thrive or fail based on defining moments in everycustomer interaction. Make these moments positive with a relation-ship process that matches your activities and resources to the buying

patterns and expectations of each market segment. A tailored pro-cess benefits customers through your solution, of course, and equallythrough the expert counsel of your salespeople. The process benefitsyou through longer-term revenue streams and protection from com-petitors and price pressures.

& BUILD A WELCOMING HOME

Customers tend to stick around when your house is in order. A wel-coming home begins with a coherent sales strategy that tells every-

one what to sell, to whom, and how to sell it. A mismatched sales culture or support system can sabotage even the best-laid strategy.

At the heart of your sales culture, values and beliefs drive deci-sions, activities, motivation, performance, and turnover. Even so,our research found that mergers, acquisitions, other big changes,and related short-term thinking can crush the effort to maintainlong-term customer relationships.

Promote the needed values and practices by making relation-ships a strategic centerpiece and by making learning and devel-opment a cultural norm. Once your team agrees on the beliefs

that guide decisions, reward information sharing and celebratesuccess.

Like cultural challenges, overwrought systems and policiescan weaken customer relationships. For example, if you think yourcustomer relationship management (CRM) or sales force automa-tion (SFA) software hasn’t lived up to the hype, perhaps peoplesimply don’t know how to use it.

To remove systemic obstacles, streamline your market, territory,account, opportunity, and sales-call planning. Align compensation

Living Your Vows in a Whirlwind Economy 5





and incentives to strategy. Recalibrate coaching and performancemanagement to support desired behaviors. Find and use effectiveCRM or SFA software. Finally, select or create essential collateral,return-on-investment (ROI) calculators, and other selling tools—and

deep-six the rest.

& LEARN FROM EACH OTHER

Strategy, culture, and systems support customer relationships. Build-ing relationships requires salespeople who can demonstrate knowl-edge in a number of areas that affect the customer’s perception of them and of your organization:

Global and national business issues

Industry trends and events affecting you and your customers Product features and benefits

Customers—both organizations and people

Each stage of your relationship processes

Politics in the customer’s organization

Help everyone see the wider context and nitty-gritty details foreach market segment. The payoff is nothing less than mutual under-standing, without which no customer relationship can survive.Besides applying this knowledge, salespeople need to be obsessive

about maintaining each customer relationship. Support that dailyeffort by giving salespeople the ‘‘why’’ behind your expectations.Provide frequent developmental opportunities, and then recognizeand reward the desired behaviors. Just as critical, give people theskills to cultivate long-term relationships—not only in-the-momentsales skills, but prospecting, presentation, negotiation, service, stra-tegic, and other skills as well.

& TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

While it’s mainly salespeople who interact directly with customers,a customer marries your entire family. The truth is, everyone inthe sales organization plays a role in every long-term customerrelationship:

Senior executives define the sales strategy and cascade it to others.

Divisional or regional VPs communicate the strategy, oversee its

execution, and develop sales leaders.

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MASTERING THE WORLD OF SELLING





Sales managers communicate and apply the strategy as they coach

and develop their teams.

Salespeople, service reps, technicians, and other frontline people ac-

quire, grow, and retain individual customer relationships.

So, to retain your valued customers, people at every level—evenexecutives—need to demonstrate your shared values as well as level-specific knowledge and skills.

Like any partner, a customer can change as reflected needs and expectations evolve. That’s why at least one marriage cliche appliesequally to sales: Never stop working on your relationship. Stay intouch with market trends. Revisit and adjust your strategy.

Refine your culture. Restructure systems to support your strat-egy. Provide opportunities for all to learn and grow.

Only then will your customers sustain you, even in the toughest

economy.

Name: Sharon Daniels

Company: AchieveGlobal

Web Site: www.achieveglobal.com

Biography: AchieveGlobal helps organizations translate business strategies into re-

sults by improving the performance of their people. AchieveGlobal has proven exper-

tise in leadership development, customer service, and sales effectiveness.

AchieveGlobal is led by Chief Executive Officer Sharon Daniels.

Ms. Daniels worked in banking prior to joining the training industry. She

has held numerous roles in operations, mergers and acquisitions, branch manage-

ment, and training and consulting.She holds a bachelor of education degree from the University of Florida and a

Master’s in training and organizational development from the University of South

Florida and has over 25 years of experience in general management and sales

leadership.

Selling Philosophy: Relationship-building skills

Best Sellers: PSS: Professional Selling Skills; SCW: Selling in a Competitive World; PPS:

Professional Prospecting Skills; PSC: Professional Sales Coaching

Sales Tip One: Clarify the value you offer your customers.

Sales Tip Two: Find and engage the customers who will value your services.

Sales Tip Three: Develop a consistent relationship process that matters to these

customers.Book One: Strategies That Win Sales

Book Two: Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople

Book Three: Achieving a Triple Win: Human Capital Management of the Employee

Lifecycle

Product One: Professional Selling Skills

Living Your Vows in a Whirlwind Economy 7

apter 2. Living Your Vows in a Whirlwind Economy. Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Namepared for [email protected], Sumit Solomonyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing Inc This download file is made available for personal use only and is subject to the Terms of Service Any other use requires prior written cons

chapter 2 living your vows in

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