Effective Selling Styles as per Customer Need

Salespeople sometimes feel that ‘selling is selling’. There is one set of skills that meet all requirements. That is certainly not the case.

In this course we identify four different selling processes which lie at the heart of professional selling.  The course highlights the current selling model of the organisation and its ideal selling model. It allows you to understand the weaknesses of your current sales processes and to define the ideal.

The selling styles are dependent on categorisation of ‘needs’.

Needs can be categorised into a) Recognised Needs b) Unrecognised Needs

Recognised Needs Selling

’Recognised needs selling’ asks the prospect for his or her needs and then tries to address them. It is essentially reactive. In this case prospects know ‘what to buy’ and are in the process of deciding ‘from whom to buy’. The prospects recognise their needs and

Unrecognised Needs Selling

‘Unrecognised needs selling’ is an attempt by the sales person to add value by bringing something new to the sale. In this case, prospects have a ‘recognised problem’ but have an ‘unrecognised need’. Salesperson needs to create a need to respond to their ‘recognised problem’.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course you will:

• Identify and understand four different selling styles.

• Clearly differentiate between recognised and unrecognised needs.

• Understand the advantages and disadvantages of recognised and unrecognised needs.

• Detect any differences between your current selling model and the ideal one.

• Adopt the behaviour and selling style most appropriate in different sales circumstances.

To Know More About Effective Selling Process please visit: http://www.as-sa.co.uk/course/How+to+Define+the+Right+Sales+Model_31

Advance’s Competency Based Training Delivers Guaranteed Results

Successful organisational learning is now a blend of formal corporate training and real-time informal learning, driving the need for learning solutions that can enable person-to- person learning and knowledge sharing as well as corporate initiatives.

An Advance Academy is a scalable, flexible, cloud-based learning solution that allows you to transition effortlessly to this flexible learning environment, delivering formal learning while facilitating informal, collaborative learning that encourages employee participation, continually develops your salespeople and grows your business!

Advance’s experience in sales training, content development and leading edge learning technology enables us to offer the most powerful, comprehensive and accessible Professional Sales Training in the eLearning market place.

What makes an Advance Dedicated Sales Academy different from other Learning Management Systems?

Continuous Skills Development:

Most LMS are designed for knowledge transfer, but developing a skill requires more than knowledge alone.  Skills are learned through experiential learning ideally with expert coaching and feedback. Once learned, a skill must be repeatedly applied until it becomes a habit.

The Academy has been designed to encompass end to end skills development and our training can be easily embedded into your sales and sales management process to ensure that performance goals are achieved and revenue growth sustained over time.

Individual Skills Development Plan Based on a Competency Framework:

Advance’s online skills assessment generates a personal development programme of sales courses based on competences required for the job role and current skill levels of the learner. Learning Outcomes for each course are tailored to the personal development needs of the individual. This is tailored, objective learning.

Range and Depth of Advance’s Sales Content Catalogue:

Our best in class course catalogue is unrivalled both in extent and depth  in the Sales Training marketplace. Researched and developed over many years, it is continually honed, adapted and growing.

Our content is augmented with accredited Sales and Marketing content. Learners can progress their professional development online, through the Academy and gain Nationally-recognised qualifications, from the Institute of Sales and Marketing (ISMM).

Competency Based Training:

Our Sales Academy uses a competency-based training (cbt) system which aligns employee performance with business results. It is an effective, structured approach to training and assessment. Cbt requires senior management to identify the behaviours required from employee in order for a business to achieve its goals. These behaviours need to be translated into competences (knowledge, skills and attitude) and specified in the Job Profile linked to each job role.

Advance have created a competency framework which specifies the level of competence required, at different levels of performance, for the key competences contained in the most commonly found  sales roles. It can be tailored to meet the precise requirements of any customer organisation and added to with non-sales responsibilities to provide a genuinely holistic professional development too.

Key Uses and Benefits of a Competency-Based System:

• Provides employees with clear direction on how they can contribute.
• Provides employees with a roadmap for building strengths and closing development gaps.
• Ties to career growth and becoming a learning organisation.
• Improves consistency in recruiting and selection, training, performance management and workforce succession planning.
• Streamline and simplifies HR Operations.

This is how Advance's Sales Process Management helps organizations to improve their bottom line and gain a competitive edge.

Insure your Sales Operations from Slippages and Revenue Loss

Is Sales Operation Insurance a New Concept?

No! Not at all, it’s known by all but maybe, all were waiting for Advance Selling Skills Academy (UK) to take it to a whole new level.

Let’s understand the concept and Advance’s propositions which has helped companies like Vodafone, Xerox, IBM, Lufthansa and many more.

Insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, damage or uncertain loss. Advance (UK) firmly believes, the best way of damage control is to avoid the damage itself!

What do you mean by sales operation?

Well, as per definition: ‘Sales operations are a set of business activities and processes that help a sales organization run effectively, efficiently and in support of business strategies and objectives. Sales operations may also be referred to as sales, sales support or business operations.’

The set of sales operations activities vary from company to company but often include these nine categories:

1. Sales strategy: design, planning, execution
2. Measurement of results: reporting, analytics & sales data
3. Compensation, sales targets, policies
4. Technology & tools, including CRM
5. Training & sales communication
6. Sales territory design & optimisation
7. Incentives
8. Lead generation/sales campaigns
9. Customer segmentation

Sales Operations can do the balancing act between strategy and execution from the annual, quarterly and monthly planning and analysis to the day-to-day support of the sales force – all the while enabling the front line salespeople to meet and exceed their sales and margin quotas.

How can Advance help you in ‘derisking’ the uncertainties of your Sales Operation?

Here are four ways in which Advance sales operation management can be the sales productivity accelerators for your organisation:

1. Identify the Focus based on the Goal: What is the company’s goal for the period – is it top line growth or bottom line growth? The Advance team can work closer to field-facing sales in times when top-line growth is the highest priority or work closer to internal organization-facing operations in times when bottom-line growth is the highest priority.

2. Provide Knowledge out of the Data: With all the CRM and Social Media tools and technology available to sales today, data collection is not a problem (if you have solved the technology problem that is – Enterprise resource projects are notorious for their low success rates for achieving the intended outcomes – another area where sales operations can support sales leadership in the selection of the right tools, in getting them to perform the way they should and in increasing tool usage and acceptability within sales teams along with ensuring data quality). Advance will help you in extraction of the right set of data, comparing it against trends and benchmarks and providing recommendations to the Sales leaders to help them decide the strategic direction.

3. Process Setting and Ownership:  An effective sales process can go a long way in improving the win rate and increasing the repeat sales. A sales process is effective when it balances the needs of three stakeholders – the needs of the customer, the needs of sales person to meet his/her numbers and the needs of the rest of the organization to be able to execute on the sale. The Advance team can not only help in the creation of the process but also take ownership of its documentation, adoption and implementation.

4. Metrics and Dashboards: One of my favourite topics and pet projects. Metrics need to be aligned to business strategy and objectives – metrics should not only measure the past performance but also act as leading indicators into the future and how it is developing over time. The selection of the right metrics (out of the many sales metrics that are used today) for the sales dashboards also depends on the audience. The Advance team can model the data and propose the right sales metrics to the sales team and sales leaders based on what insights they need to meet and exceed their performance objectives.

Benefits from Advance Sales Process Management:

1. Advance gives you a common language that sets the rules and standards that salespeople need to operate to. These are not vague, “it depends on the person” rules. These are agreed between the manager and the salespeople – but set by the manager.

2. Advance sales process gives you simple and powerful reporting that tells the salesperson and the manager how close they are to hitting the target based on NUMBERS and DATES and not based on opinion, hope or conversation. The Advance process applies a very high standard for determining “what is a prospect” and it’s this high standard that leads to daily – and physical - behavioural change.

3. Advance sales process gives you the practical tools for planning and executing sales - tools that MUST be used in order to consistently deliver the results. Selling is a practical art; the salesperson needs to use certain tools to do it. (Conventional wisdom has it that the “right salesperson” will do it anyway. Interestingly, the “right” salespeople instinctively use these tools.)

4. And finally, Advance sales process gets the salespeople to “self check”. It provides a framework for the salesperson to benchmark their performance against key outcomes and leads to small, but significant, daily, weekly and monthly adjustments in activity and skills that leads to stronger pipelines and more consistent results. In a real sales system, the salesperson actually develops into a much stronger performer, with credibility and standing in their marketplace.

Why Production is more Predictable than Sales?

Have you ever seen a production line or an assembly line? It starts with the raw material, and then the Raw material goes through various stages. At each stage it has its own input and its own output. There is quality verification at each stage of the output and each stage of the input. Atypical manufacturing Process could be a combination of processes with various sub processes, something like…

Process 1->Process 2-> Process 3->Final Process

Processs 1 = Subprocess 1+ Sub process 2+ Sub process 3 and so on, each Process will have sub processes.

If the Input unit does not confirm to the quality standards, it is chucked out of the system. Only those input units which are as per the quality standards are processed, others are rejected. If such input units which are not as per the quality standards are allowed to be processed, then end product will not be the desired one and it will have to be rejected at a later stage. So there will be wastage of the resources and hence the production cost increases. So the Manager knows “

(1) What to do in a Production Process

In the production process, if there is any defect in the units processed, then the maintenance person will look into the machine and ensure that the defect in the process is nullified, so that the output unit is as per the standard. So in this case the manager knows what the production process has to do.

(2) How it should be Done

When such a production process is followed, then there is a confirmation at the end of the production process that it is going to give a pre decided output, so there is predictability of the output.

(3) Predictability of the Output

If there would have been

• No detailed process in the production line(Process Roadmap), & in addition to the process,
• Had there been no Quality check(Qualification)
• Mechanism for rectifying/ correcting the sub processes(Decisions, Criteria with Actions)

There will be no control on the intermediate inputs and outputs and the end product will not be in the required quantity/quality.  Hence it is quite obvious that, Production has to have a very strict process, if the process is not strict, there will be problems.

Also since the production process is divided into various sub processes, if anything goes wrong anywhere, it can be identified and resolved at that moment, Else if the process manager would have concentrated only on the main processes, it will be impossible for him to identify the problem in between the main processes and by that time much of the damage would have been done. So in addition to micromanaging, the Production Manager also keeps a Birds’ Eye View of the Entire Process and plans and executes the Entire Production in such a process that he gets the final output, inspite of the aberrations of the production line.

Now compare this with a Sales Process.

A Typical Sales funnel will have a series of events/process like (Typical Sales Funnel Stages)

Stage 1- Suspect

Stage 2- Prospect/Qualify

Stage 3- Lead/Opportunity

Stage 4- Present

Stage 5- Customer

There are other versions of this such as AIDA, Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. All these have the same stages of recognition. So as you see there are 4-5 major stages in this process.

However, there are many sub-stages (process) in between the major stages, moving from one stage to another stage. A Sales manager is aware of these sub stages, but then he inspects only these major stages for Sales Reporting. There is a saying that – People respect what you inspect and not what you expect. So salespersons can very easily show a manager, the number of leads, number of prospects, and number of calls… All these numbers, all sales people are adept at showing the numbers, but then it does not convert to sales. The reason is Sales Managers do not inspect the quality of these stages/processes.

Similar to a Production line, where the number of pieces are passing though each stage of the process, if there is no quality check & If one just checks the numbers of units at each stage, one can be rest assured that his process is fine. It is only at the end of the process that one finds many of the units are rejected and hence resource wasted.

Similarly in Sales Process, after running the account through all the stages, one may find that at the end it may not convert, the reason being, not enough check has been done on that lead and corrective measures have not been taken.

In Sales Process, there are the major processes like Suspect, Prospect… and then there are the sub processes which will be the various meetings with the client. The quality of each meeting is important, in order to validate the success of the meeting. Only if one can have successful meetings, one will have successful sales. It is one of Quality check that similar to production line, where there are quality checks at every input and output. Similarly if one can have a quality check at each and every meeting, one will be able to identify the quality and take steps to rectify it. Else the damage carries on and reflects when after pursuing the lead the sale is not converted-(Rejected Unit in Production)...  It answers what should be done to ensure successful sub processes/sub-stages of sales (1).

But then how do you measure the success of the meeting? Most Sales managers will inspect the success of a meeting on their guesses, there will not be any formal method of doing it, and so it is not sure whether it’s a true successful meeting. So Sales Reps/Managers should have commitment based method of analyzing the meeting. One will inspect not what the Sales rep/manager has done (like doing the demo, meeting with client), BUT what has been the effect of meeting in terms of client action. In this a Successful meeting can be ensured & hence the success of the sub-process (2)

When a series of such stages/processes can be identified and action can be taken, it will only then be possible to realize the success of each stage. If a particular lead does not fulfill the success criteria of the stage/process, definitive rectification actions/steps can be taken. One can identify why the meeting has not been successful and what is the showstopper which can be seen in the progress of the Sale & necessary action can be taken to deal with the showstopper. One will be able to ensure that the Sale/output can be predicted well in advance and with accuracy. Hence Predictability of Output (3)

If there is no

• Detailed process in Sales(Process Roadmap)
• Identification of successful meetings/stages(Qualification criteria)
• Methods/Mechanism for evaluating the Meetings (Commitments from the customer)

There will  be no control on the intermediate inputs and outputs and at the end it may be realized that lead has not been converted to sale.  Hence there is a requirement of a detailed sales process with stages and sub stages and methods to identify and rectify the results of the sub stages in a Lead. So we may say, Sales is a Process, when it’s not a Process, it’s a problem.

Similar to a Production Line, in Sales Manager may also require keeping a Birds’ Eye view of the Entire Sales Process of the Lead. The Sales Manager would plan and execute the entire Lead, so he would have a Deal Planning system OR Account Planning System. Else the Sales Manager may leave various gaps for harsh surprises which may fail the Sale.

Also since the production process is divided into various sub processes, if anything goes wrong anywhere, it can be identified and resolved at that moment, Else if the process manager would have concentrated only on the main processes, it will be impossible for him to identify the problem in between the main processes and by that time much of the damage would have been done.

Effect of Process: Suppose there is a plan to convert a lead to a sale in a period of 30 days. Without a well laid process with success measurement of each and every process/sub-process, it may take unpredictable time. Whereas with a Sales process and measurement of success of each and every stage, one would be able to identify the loop holes in the Sale. In this way, he will be able to identify why a sale can be converted and by when & If it cannot be converted, what is the reason and whether he can amend that reason. Hence he would save a lot of time & effort which he would have wasted on non-converting leads and focus completely on leads which are sure would convert. Increasing the hit rate and predictability in Sales is similar to the Production Process. Sales is a process, if it’s not a process, it’s a problem.

Advance can help you,

• Set up a Sales Process Roadmap
• Train your Sales People on making and identifying successful meetings(Not only WHAT TO DO but also HOW TO DO)
• Train your Sales Managers on successful Deal Planning/Account Management
• Train your Sales Managers to achieve better predictability (in quantity, quality and time of sales closure) and improve from 3 out of 10 – TO 8 OUT OF 10 DEALS.

This is how Advance's Sales Process Management helps organizations to improve their bottom line and gain a competitive edge.

Sales Reporting - The Base of a Solid Performance Management System

Many sales professionals often confuse between sales process management and sales management. While sales process management is the entire set of activities to materialise a sales deal, the sales management process involves all the activities relating to maintenance of organisation’s sales operations.

Sales management process involves: Call planning, prospecting, sales presentation, objection handling, negotiation and closing phase’s techniques of a sales deal.

Sales management activities involve Recruitment, Coaching, Managing performance, Decision making techniques to be used by sales professionals.

Managing performance is one of the key activities of sales management professionals and ideally 25% of time needs to be dedicated for this activity. Effective sales reporting tools need to be in place for managing performance and accountability.

Daily Sales Report

Most of the organisations maintain online or offline daily report formats (often called DSR-Daily Sales Report). This is the base of any Sales report. It should be designed scientifically to capture essential activity report of individual sales persons. It should include: planned calls for the day, appointments, and commitments of the day. It requires a daily review.

The Productivity Report

Productivity report needs to built, maintained and reviewed by managers.

The purpose of the productivity report is to keep you informed about the level of activity taking place within the sales organization and to make sure that each salesperson is meeting or exceeding the productivity standards you have established. The data often includes the number of outbound calls, conversations, voice mails, customer meetings, and sales presentations. The report should compare actual results against the benchmarks you have established for each activity.

Productivity reports should be turned in (or run) and reviewed on a weekly basis. Many managers compare the activities on the productivity report to both the phone bill and the daily call report to verify what is being reported.

The Sales Forecast

The sales forecast has multiple purposes including helping to estimate revenue, determining what opportunities need executive attention, and paving the way for post-sale product or service delivery. The accuracy of a sales forecast strongly affects the entire organization and is therefore the most important report generated. This document generally contains prospect names, sales opportunity sizes, indications of where the sales opportunities are in the sales cycle, and what the customers are buying. It is the sales representative's best estimate of which sales will close during the next 30, 60, or 90 days and, in most companies, is due at the beginning of each month with occasional revisions due mid-month if the need arises.

Each sales representative must clearly understand what criteria a potential account must meet before they are allowed to put it on the forecast, otherwise the data will be meaningless. Once an account has been placed on the sales forecast, it must not be removed without the salesperson having discussed it in detail with their manager.

Reviewing these reports is time consuming. But keep on top of them. If the sales staffs suspect that you don't review the reports, they will make a token effort at writing them and you will start to lose touch with the sales organization. Remember the old adage "inspect what you expect." By setting goals and letting your salespeople know you are committed to tracking progress toward them, you will vastly increase the performance and predictability of your business.