“It’s not the will to win that matters…everybody has that.
It’s the will to prepare that makes the difference.”
— Paul “Bear” Bryant
Sales Training for Louisville Businesses and Executives
It’s fun to make a sale and get a new customer, and new business. Who doesn’t love that? But the process up to that point — the win— can be long and challenging. And don’t let anyone kid you…success in sales is a process that is best accelerated and managed with sales training from a successful business coach with a personal strength in managing sales strategy and teams.
In fact, it’s more like a series of processes which, when done effectively, makes sales less about charisma, charm and coincidence, and more about successfully identifying, targeting and attracting those who are most likely to benefit from —and pay for— your services / products.
Determining your target market and/or customer(s), and developing an effective set of strategies to get your message in front of them (website, social media, more “traditional” marketing, etc.) is where it all starts. Too many businesses have wasted too much money and time because they didn’t have clear targets for which they were aiming. You have a limited amount of time and finances…know how to use them effectively.
Never confuse activity with accomplishment. The quantity of potential customers with whom you interact is important. But it’s only a small —and not the most important— part of the overall formula for getting sales. This formula, often referred to as your “Sales Funnel”, is the key to determining the sales activity and effectiveness levels necessary for your sales team (even if it that’s just one person) to achieve your sales goals.
Momentum Business Results clients are well acquainted with this “Funnel”, and learn to incorporate it into their standard dashboard of key performance indicators. It is typically comprised of:
- Number of new contacts
- Contact to proposal conversion ratio
- Number of proposals
- Proposal to closed sale conversion ratio
- Average amount of each sale
- Average Gross Profit rate for each sale
- Number of repeat orders per year
Your ability to accurately develop, execute, track, and measure this information (and adjust / improve as necessary) is your key to developing an increasingly more effective sales-management system, and to ensuring a steady stream of new customers and revenue into your business.
The actual sales calls are also a process within themselves. Momentum Business Results coaches clients and sales teams on each aspect of this process, because it is critical to winning an ever-higher percentage of your sales opportunities:
- Vetting potential customers
- Asking the best questions
- Listening and responding to the replies
- Explaining, and attracting potential clients to, your unique value proposition
- Developing effective proposals and recommendations
- Effectively drawing out clarifying questions
- Negotiating mutually beneficial solutions
- Securing prompt approval of your recommendation(s)
- Consistently developing repeat business
Sales processes are critical, and none is more important than the others. Your “will to prepare” and become increasingly more proficient at each of them is the key to developing continuously improving sales growth.
