Now days sales management is the actual headache for Business Owners, CSO’s, Sales Heads and Sales Director’s. So here we are writing this blog to explain you some facts and strategies about actual Sales Management.  This blog is all about suggesting the right content in step-by-step manner for sales management. 

Sales Management – Introduction

Selling is that most important activity which brings money to the company. The main commercial objective of any business is profitability, which largely depends upon successful selling. All marketing efforts are centered on increasing the sales of the company. Following are the objectives of sales management function:

• Set the overall targets for each product or service of the company.
• Achieve the sales targets.
• Ensure 100% collection of proceeds against the sales made.
• Establish long term relationship with the customers.
• Grow the sales of the company every year.

To effectively achieve these sales objectives, this vital function needs to be managed properly. Managing sales function covers the following:

Organization of the Sales Function

It determines how our sales activity will be organized. What will be the role of various manpower resources and channel partners in the sales activity?

Managing the Sales Team

• How our sales team will be formed?
• How will their work be tracked?
• How will they be compensated and their expenses reimbursed?
• How will they be trained?
• What will be our standard sales process?

Managing the Distribution Channel

• How will our distribution channel be structured?
• How will it be managed and trained?
• How will the conflicts be resolved?
• How will their performance be tracked?

Sales Leads Management

• How will we manage the sales leads being generated?

Standard Sales Process

• What will be the steps in the sales process of the company?
• How will these steps be implemented by our sales team?

How To Organize Sales Activity Within the Company

Establishing the Sales Organization

• The purpose of the sales department is to facilitate selling of the company’s products to the customers and build long term relationships with the customers. Depending upon the nature of the product, the type of customers, the market realities and the company’s scale of operations, the organization of its sales team may vary.
• The organization of the sales team will also depend upon our business whether it is B2C (Business to Consumer) or B2B (Business to Business).
• In today’s highly dynamic times of changing market realities, the sales organization must be evaluated from time to time to ensure that we are able to respond to the customer needs and we can continue to grow selling profitably.
• The objective of the sales organization must be to ensure proper attention to all the customer segments and sales channels with the optimum utilization of the company resources to generate and grow sales of the products or services of the company.
• The organization can be based upon
• • The product lines
  • Customer type
  • Geographic area
  • Key accounts

Organizing the Sales Team Based on Product Lines

• If we have more than one product lines, then we may divide the sales team based on the products or services being sold.
• Suppose we are a big hypermarket ourselves and we sell different types of products. Our sales team may be divided as per the product lines in various divisions (e.g. Garments, Furniture, Electronics, Food Products etc.)
• If we are a B2B company, such a product-based division can be useful only if the customers of each product lines are different.
• If the same customer is being targeted for our different products by different sales teams, it may lead to confusion and wastage of resources. So, it must be ensured that as far as possible, no two different sales teams from our company are approaching the same customer.
• g. we make high value garments for men and women both. Our customers are the retail showrooms which sell either men’s or women’s garments.
• Here, as long as our retailers are different, there is no problem if sales teams are different. But, suppose we start selling to big stores who stock garments for both men and women, then such customers must be handled appropriately.

Organizing the Sales Team Based on Customer Types

• Even if the products are same, our products may be bought by different types of customers. E.g. we are a ceramic products manufacturing company. Our products are sold to the retail showrooms, builders and large institutions.
• All types of customers have different needs in terms of quantity, quality, service and terms, conditions.
• The sales approach to each type of customer will be different. Here, it will be advisable to divide the sales team based on the customer types.
• If we sell both in B2C and B2B modes, then also, we may divide the sales teams based on customer types. E.g. Tour operators selling holiday packages to individuals and also to travel agents can have two different sales teams for both the targets.

Organizing the Sales Team Based on Geographic Areas Covered

• Depending upon the spread of our target customer base, we can divide our sales team to cater to the customers in various geographies. E.g. The sales team can be organized to attend to customers on the basis of the following:
• • Continents / Regions / Subcontinents / Countries
  • National
  • States / Provinces
  • Districts
  • Towns
  • Suburbs

Organizing the Sales Team around Sales Channels

• In today’s Internet and mobile era, a company’s products or services can be sold through multiple channels.
• Products which were being sold through traditional distributor-dealer network are now also being sold through organised retail or modern retail formats like malls, hypermarkets, supermarkets etc. Also there is a new sales channel through e-commerce web sites and Internet marketplaces.
• Similarly, financial products like insurance, fixed deposits, shares etc. are now also being sold through Internet which were earlier sold only through agents and brokers.
• The challenges and requirements of each of these sales channels are different and hence they require matching approaches by an appropriate sales organization.

Organizing the Sales Team around Key Accounts

• There may be some customers who are much larger than our other regular ones. Sometimes, these large accounts make up the major part of our sales and hence, these accounts need special attention, extended support and service. These are called the key accounts.
• Generally, such key accounts are separated from the other ones and are assigned to special sales teams.
• Government, institutions, big corporate, large organized retail chains are the examples of key accounts for some manufacturing firms.

Guidelines to Set up a Sales Organization in the Company

Answers to the following questions would help in setting up any sales organization:

• Who will head the entire sales team and its major parts down the line?
• What will be the organization structure of the team? How many levels will be there? What will be the designations of various people in the team at various levels?
• Who will report to whom and how?
• How frequently the reporting will happen?
• What will be the responsibilities of the sales team members at each level?
• What will be the compensation for each member? (E.g. If we have a combination of fixed and variable compensations, then who will get what of the variable part?)
• What will the qualification, skills, experience required for each level of the sales organization?
• How will the sales targets and incentives (if any) be divided among the sales team members?

Determining The Size Of The Sales Team

Size of the Sales Team

• The size of the sales team is generally based on the number of customers to be attended or approached by the team.
• If we are a retail organization, the number of salespersons required may be determined by the size of the store, the number of departments and the estimated number of customers visiting the store during peak hours.
• If our sales team must visit the customers outside, then we need to fix up the total number of customers or prospects we wish to be visited.
• Based upon the realistic estimate of the number of customers a sales person can visit and properly attend, and our target of customers to be visited daily, we must calculate the number of salespeople required in the team.
• Every 6 to 8 persons in a sales team must be monitored by some supervisor or manager above them.
• The sales organization structure, our current sales and our target and future plans can help us arrive at the right number of salespeople to be appointed at various levels.
• In case of B2B sales, the size of the sales team must be adequate to ensure proper relationship building with the long term customers.
• For B2C sales, the number of salespeople must be enough to make sure that all customers are properly attended and serviced all the time.

The determination of the size must also consider the cost of the sales team against sales and the potential increase in the sales against our profit margins.

Managing The Sales Team – Hire The Right People For The Sales Team

Hiring the Right People for the Sales Team

• Selling is a tough job. Not everybody can sell. So, hiring salespeople requires careful considerations.
• The attitude of selling is the first thing which must be checked in the prospective salespersons.
• The person should be energetic, enthusiastic, positive, hard-working, people friendly and flexible.
• Selling efforts fail occasionally. So, the sales person must be resilient and self-motivated.
• Successful selling requires good spoken and verbal communication skills. Ensure that the sales person has good communication skills.
• Domain knowledge and technical skills of the person should also be checked.
• For relevant recruitment you can take help from experts like TIGI HR Solution Pvt. Ltd. 

How To Decide The Compensation Plan For The Sales Team?

Compensation Plan for the Sales Team

• The sales team members must be compensated as per the market rate. So, find out what are the prevailing compensation plans for various levels within a sales team structure.
• Some companies follow salary as a fixed compensation method.
• Others organize this as a combination of a fixed salary and variable components.
• Incentives or commission based on the achievement of targets makes the variable component in such cases.
• The incentive or commission scheme is not a rule and it depends upon the company policy, industry practices, affordability, practicality and the challenges on hand.
• If the company management agrees, the sales team may be given incentives for achieving some sales target. But, the incentive must be planned, communicated and executed very carefully. Keep the following in mind while deciding incentives / commission to the sales team:
  • Remember, incentives can boost the morale of a sales team, but a badly executed or confusing incentive scheme can cause a lot of frustration and dissatisfaction among the sales team members. If this happens, the whole purpose behind the incentives will be lost.
  • Also, incentives is a one-way street, i.e. if we start giving it once, it will raise the expectations of the sales team forever. Once started, it will be very difficult to stop. So, if we are not sure of continuing it, we should think very carefully before starting it.
  • Clarify the various terms and conditions of the incentives very clearly and explain to the concerned team members in detail. Also, confirm that they have understood and agreed to it.
  • If incentive is to be given on the sales amount, it is advisable to give it on the realized sales amount, i.e. the sales for which the money is received. If we calculate and pay incentive on the sales bill amount only and then discover that a part of this sales resulted in bad debts, then it will create very unpleasant situation.
  • Be fair and prompt in paying the dues of incentives. If we delay in payment of incentives, it may demotivate the sales team.

How To Track The Activities Of The Sales Team?

Tracking Activities of the Sales Team

• If the salespeople are stationed inside the company premises (e.g. retail setups), then their performance on the floor must be monitored. Their supervisor / manager must observe and track their behavior, their customer interaction, successful conversion rate etc.
• If our sales effort happens through phone calls, the supervisors / managers must listen to these calls periodically to ensure the quality and tone. Many companies record the phone conversations their teams have with prospects or customers for the purpose of quality assurance, improvement and training.
• We can implement a process of getting a feedback from the customers, either regularly or occasionally, which may include some points related to the effectiveness of the sales person who attended them. This will give a very clear indication of the performance of the sales person from the source where it matters the most, the customer.
• If the sales team goes to the field to meet the customers, the details of their all visits must be tracked. In sales terminology, a visit by a salesperson to a customer premises is also called “a call”.
• Daily Calls Report or Daily Beat Report or Daily Sales Report must be filled up by every sales team member going to the field. Such a daily report should list the requisite details of the customers / prospects visited or attended by the sales person.
• If the company uses online solution for Sales Force Automation (SFA) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM), then no filling of paper sheets will be needed. The daily visit reports and their progress can be entered by the sales person directly into that software system through their Mobile, Tablet or Laptop. More and more companies are using these Internet based solutions to track and manage the activities of their field sales force.

How to reimburse expenses to the sales team?

Reimbursement of Expenses

• Outdoor sales team members have to spend a lot of time on the field visiting customers and prospects.
• They incur expenses like traveling, food, accommodation, communication etc. during their field visits.
• These expenses must be reimbursed by the company.
• A clear policy for the same must be implemented. The policy must spell out various expense limits for allowances for travel, food etc. and also for the outstation tours.
• The policy must specify persons of which level, grade or designation can travel by which class, which mode of transportation and can get how much of accommodation allowance for their hotel stay.
• Such allowances may vary for bigger metro cities and for smaller cities where the costs are little lesser.
• The sales team must be guided properly about the kind of documents they need to prepare or obtain from various vendors from which they avail of the services.
• The sales person may be given some advance to cover the expenses during the tour, which can be settled later while making the final payment.
• At the end of each tour or at a regular frequency, such expenses must be promptly reimbursed after proper authorization by the appropriate persons.

How to set targets for the sales team?

Sales Targets

• Every person in the sales team must be given a target.  Set quotas for each salesperson for each product or product group.
• A target gives a clear direction to the sales team efforts. It works as a motivation and also as an objective tool of evaluation of a sales person’s effectiveness.
• Without a target, it is very difficult to track the efforts of various members in a sales team. Only targets can help us single out our star salespeople against those who are not doing well.
• The target can be in terms of the amount of sales, number of units sold, amount of actual collection or any other number which finally reflects in sales success.
• Also, the focus must not be on increased sales alone, but also on collection of dues from the customers. Remember, only blind focus on increasing sales may give rise to increased bad debts, because in a hurry to achieve the target, the sales team may end up selling to customers who have a bad credit record. So, the sales target must somehow track the recovery also.
• The achievement of sales target must be taken into consideration while evaluating the yearly performance of the salespersons.

Sales Control Room

Within a company, there must be somebody or some group or department which is entirely focused on sales and customers. Remember, the purpose of the business must be to solve some problems of the customer. So, a customer has to be in the focus in all the activities of the company. The company must always be alert in responding to the customers’ needs.

Every city has a police control room, which is always alert and which continuously monitors the law and order situation in every part of the city. Just like that, a company must have a sales control room. The primary objective of that cell must be to remain always alert towards all the activities of the company which interact with a customer, be responsive and monitor the quality of those interactions. It should always be watchful that the customers’ satisfaction level with the company is excellent. We may name that cell anything else, but the duties or activities of such a cell must be some of the following:

• Daily sales tracking
• Tracking of customer complaints, requests, inquiries, pending orders.
• Tracking errors or mistakes while executing the customer orders and corrective actions and communication, as required.
• Checking for reasons for the return material coming from customers.
• Daily report checking of all the teams which meet or speak to the customers.
• Month-on-month sales analysis of the company’s top customers.
• Coordination of communication with the top customers (visits, telephone calls, emails, SMSs etc.) being done by various groups within the company.
• Avoiding or resolving conflicts with the customers.
• Planning and execution of the tours of the sales team.
• Tracking receivables from customers and outstanding control.
• Monitoring the progress of the sales team compared to their targets, plans or goals.

How to Implement Sales Control Room?

• The above mentioned activities must be divided into daily, weekly, monthly etc. tasks.
• Someone from the sales team must be assigned the task of running the Sales Control Room.
• The sales control room cell must always be attended by somebody all the time during the working hours of the company.
• That means that there should always be somebody in the company to listen to a customer’s queries, problems, complaints, feedback etc.
• The sales control room activities must be supervised by business leaders themselves or somebody from the top management to whom the sales head reports.
• A common communication process must be established such that all information related to the customers is captured at some common place. This will make the tracking and clearing of the pending customer related tasks easier.
• The people in the sales control room should be trained to focus on enhancing customer satisfaction, strengthening customer relationships and increasing sales by providing prompt and positive response to the customers.

How to train your sales team?

Training the Sales Team

Whether we are a retail organization or a company selling complex projects to other companies, the sales team must be regularly trained in the following areas:

Product Knowledge

• The sales team must thoroughly know
• The features, advantages and benefits of the products or services offered by us.
• The different varieties, models, sizes, colors, assortments, options etc. available.
• The prices and other variables for each variety.
• Warranty, terms, conditions, payment terms, return policies, after sales support etc.
• The sales team must be regularly updated and trained about the latest developments in our industry.
• As soon as any new product or variant is introduced, the team must be immediately updated and trained about the same.

Competition

• The salespeople must intimately be aware of all the competition products available in the market. They should know:
• Where does our product stand as compared to the competitors’ products?
• What is good in other products? What is not?
• Why should the customer buy our product?
• They must be immediately updated about the new arrivals from the competition and our response to the customer query regarding them.

FAQ

• During every sales transaction, a customer asks some regular, typical questions. All such questions should be compiled in a list called Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
• The FAQ should cover all the probable questions the prospective customer may ask and their suggested answers.
• The team must be given a thorough training in answering every question in the FAQ.
• This FAQ must be regularly updated based on the feedback received from the sales team.
• The sales team should also be told to contact somebody senior if they are unable to answer a particular question from a customer, which is not listed in the FAQ.

Our Internal Sales Process
The sales team must know our entire internal sales process, e.g.

• How the customer can place the order?
• When will she get the delivery? What will be the method of delivery? Is there any delivery charge?
• Which are the different payment methods possible?
• Is there any training or installation required? If yes, is there any charge for the same?
• What should the customer do for after-sales service?

Manners and Etiquette’s

• The salespeople must be sensitized to the emotional part of selling.
• The customers must be handled in the right manner such that they don’t feel awkward, offended or neglected.
• Every sales person must be trained thoroughly in dressing, personal hygiene, manners and etiquettes.

Communication

• The salespeople must be trained in how to speak to the customers in person or on phone.
• If the team members are supposed to communicate with the customers through mail or another written communication medium, then they must be trained properly about using that medium.
• For each communication method, the team must be trained for the usage, the cultural sensitivities, right practices and dos and don’ts.

Motivation

• Selling can be stressful.
• Dealing with different types of customers can tire the salespersons.
• Occasional rejections or failures to close a sale may trigger the feeling of frustration or disappointment in the salespersons.
• Regular motivation also must be a part of the training process.
• Regular recharging can help the sales team maintain their emotional resilience and enthusiasm.

How to Setup a Distribution Channel?

Distribution Channels

• For any manufacturing organization, the success of its product in the marketplace depends on how well it is made available to its final consumers. Distribution channels play a very important role in this activity.
• The channel partners are also called intermediaries, because of the role they play to bring the company closer to its customers.
• The company must establish strong distribution channel to make the products or services available to its customers and to forge stronger relationships with them.
• The distribution channel increases cost to the company, but it also plays a huge and important role in making the company’s products available in the areas where they can be bought by the customers very fast.
• In the absence of an appropriate distribution channel, all the promotion efforts (e.g. advertising, telemarketing etc.) will fail, because the demand generated by such efforts will not be fulfilled if our products are not made available in the market.
• In case of services also, the distribution channel networks play a very crucial part. (E.g. telecom, insurance, mutual funds etc.)
• To build strong relationships with its customers, the company must also pay attention to build equally stronger relationship with its channel partners. A weak channel can’t build or support a strong customer base.
• These channel partners help the company in the execution of many marketing initiatives locally.
• Along with supporting the company with enhanced customers contact and service, distribution channel also can provide very valuable market information about the trends in the industry, consumer preferences and competition activities. This information can be very useful to the company in shaping its own marketing strategy and tactics.
• If a company sells through its distribution channel, the company’s sales organization must be aligned to support the channel.
• These distributors or dealers may be exclusive channel partners of our products or they may be distributing other competitors’ products as well. Both require different type of handling.

The Distribution Channel Structure

• The distribution channel determines how the products reach the end consumer from the manufacturer.
• The channel structure can have various levels.
• C & F Agents, Super-Stockists, Stockists, Distributors, Wholesalers, Dealers, Retailers etc. are various types of channel partners, with each having different ways of working and scope of activities.
• The structure of distribution channel depends upon the nature of the product, industry practices and priorities of the company.
• Some companies have Franchisees as channel partners, which are generally exclusive outlets of the company.
• Different companies choose different combinations of these channel partners as per their requirement.
• The geographic focus strategy of a company can guide it to develop its channel network spread across continents or countries divided on the basis of smaller geographic regions, states, districts etc.
• The distribution channel structure may be altered depending upon the market dynamics.
• In today’s changing times, it becomes necessary for a manufacturer to have more than one channel structures working parallel to each other. E.g. a company may be selling through its traditional distributor – dealer network on the one part and on the other end, it may also be selling directly to the organized retail customers, who buy in bulk for requirements at their hundreds of retail outlets spread across a geography.
• Answering the following will help in setting up a robust channel partner structure:
  • How many layers will our distribution channel have?
  • Who will bill whom within the channel partner network?
  • Who will buy from the company first and how the product will be routed till it reaches the final customer?
  • What will be the territory/area covered by each of the channel participant?
  • What will be the discount structure to all?
  • Which costs will be fully or partly reimbursed by the company? (E.g. rent, manpower, storage, inventory, marketing activities etc.)
  • What support will each of the channel partners get from the company?
  • What will be the responsibilities of a channel partner? What a channel partner should do or should not do?
  • What are the criteria for selecting a channel partner? (g. Turnover? Infrastructure? Manpower strength? Geographic area covered? Experience? Exclusivity? Technical knowledge? Market reputation?)
  • Will they be our exclusive channel partners or not? If not, what are the guidelines for selling competition products?
  • How will the conflicts among the channel partners be resolved?

Distribution Channel Management

Just like the company’s own sales team, the distribution channel also works as a partner in increasing the sales of the company. The management of a distribution channel requires long term vision, consistency, transparency, fairness and relationship building focus.

Training

• The channel partners must be trained for product knowledge, the company’s sales processes, terms and conditions, competitive comparisons etc.
• Some regular motivation activities must also be carried out to keep up their enthusiasm and engagement with the company.

Deciding the Compensation Structure

• The company must decide the right discount structure which can motivate the channel partners to sell the company’s products.
• The discount must be enough to let the channel partners earn some money after covering all their expenses.
• Periodically, the company may come out with some schemes / special discounts / incentives etc. to motivate the channel partners to boost sales.
• Some companies encourage and support their channel partners in marketing promotion activities by helping them in execution and by sharing some costs with them.
• Some also fully or partially reimburse some other costs e.g. rent, manpower, storage, inventory etc.

Conflicts and Grievances Management

• Because of the complexities of the market and geographic realities, there may arise some conflicts among different channel partners.
• Sometimes, the channel partners may have some grievances against company policies, practices, product quality, prices or its salespeople.
• We should have some well-defined policy to take care of such conflicts and grievances.
• Any delay in sorting out the same may hurt the company’s sales performance, so the company must attend to them seriously.
• The main focus of the resolution approach must be promptness, fairness, long term relationship and transparency.

Tracking

• A weak or non-performing channel partner may damage the company’s reputation; weaken its customer base and which may result into lost time and sales for the company. So, it is necessary that the performance of all the channel partners is tracked by the company.
• There should be some regular tracking method by which the company’s sales team must be aware of the performance of the channel partners. The company must keep its eyes and ears open through its field sales force to check the channel partners’ activities.
• In addition to the sales going to the channel partners, the company must also track the partners’ activities to boost sales and strengthen the network.
• The company’s salespeople must regularly visit the channel partners for troubleshooting, relationship building and market development.
• It should also get feedback from the channel partners down the line to examine the performance of the higher level channel partners.
• The company must act on any negative or adverse reports about the performance and try to improve the channel partner performance.
• If nothing works, the company should switch its non-performing channel partner.

Ordering and Collection Process

• The company must establish a smooth process for receiving orders from the channel partners, dispatching goods for the same and receiving payments from them.
• All the terms and conditions regarding taxation, in-transit documentation, logistics expenses and penalty for delay in payments etc. must be clarified.
• The process for handling the in-transit damage must also be spelled out.
• If due to any reason the channel partner has to return some of the company’s goods, the process, terms and conditions for the same must be specified.

Managing Sales Leads

Sales Leads

• A lead is every positive inquiry which may result into sales. In other words, a lead is a prospective customer, who needs our product or service and may buy it.
• For successful selling, a company must have a comprehensive process for managing these leads. It must properly track the leads coming to it.
• Leads may come through various sources based on the company’s sales process and marketing activities. E.g.:
• • A customer calling our company
  • A customer visiting our premises
  • Through mail, fax, email, SMS etc.
  • Our web site and an inquiry form there
  • Found by our sales team
  • Our events or exhibitions

Leads Management

Following are the guidelines to manage the leads:

a) Establish a Standard Format of Leads Record Keeping

The sales department should decide which details it needs from any prospect who inquires about our product or service, or to whom we contact for selling the same. It should cover

• The name, phone numbers and other necessary contact details of the prospect
• The date of first contact
• Information about the interest in our product or service

b) Determine the Flow of a Lead within the Company

• Where will the lead be received? (It could be multiple locations and sources.)
• Where they will be recorded and stored?
• Who will qualify them and follow up with them? (It could be someone from our sales team or the channel partner.)
• Who in the company will ensure that all leads are properly attended and response recorded for future retrieval?
• How will we find out whether it is a new lead or a repeat one?

c) Ensure That the Leads Are Processed As Per the Standard Sales Process

• Leads may come from many sources and all leads are not same.
• Every lead must be processed in a systematic manner to maximize their conversion into sales.
• The company must formulate its own lead processing method based on the standard sales process, which is described later in this chapter.

d) Storing the Leads

• Store the qualified and shortlisted leads somewhere in some easily recoverable way. It can be stored:
• • In a database on a computer
  • In a separate visiting card folder
  • In a notebook / diary / file in hand-written form
  • Scanned and kept as an image on a computer
• Whatever may be the method of storing it, it must be easily searchable and retrievable.
• Also, write comments about the lead, depending upon the last interaction with them. e.g. (“Spoke to Mr. XYZ. To contact in June-2015.”).
• Explain the method of storage, commenting and retrieval to everybody in the sales and back office teams involved in the leads management.

e) Assigning the Leads to the Sales Team and Ensuring Proper Follow-up

• The active leads must be sorted as per the region, territory or sales organization within the company.
• They should be assigned to the right sales person or channel partner, depending upon our sales process.
• The sales team must process the lead as per the pre-determined method and track it till its logical conclusion is arrived.
• If a lead tells us that they don’t need our product now, but may need it after some time, the sales person should note it down in some date diary or some mobile/tab/laptop/online calendar to be reminded on that future date.
• Many web based CRM or Sales Force Automation solutions provide an excellent method to manage and track leads for the field staff. Make use of these solutions. There are many solutions with a variety of features, scalability and cost structures.

If the leads are received at some call center and then they are forwarded to the sales team on the field, it must be done with a very tight coordination. Sometimes, the call center is not aware of the situation on the ground and it makes promises on behalf of the field staff, which the person on the field is not able to fulfill. E.g. without getting a confirmation from the field person, the call center promises the caller that the field person will reach them by 3 pm. It may result into an unpleasant customer experience, if the field person is stuck somewhere and can’t reach the caller on time.

Standard Sales Process

The standard selling process consists of seven steps:

Prospecting

• The first step in the sales process is identifying and finding potential customers. The most of sales success depends upon the kind of customers that we approach. If we focus our target on everybody and anybody, we will face disappointing failures, because all customers won’t buy our product. So, we have to be very clear about our company’s marketing strategy which focuses on some specific types of customers. The sales team must make efforts to find more and more such customers.
• In some companies, leads are received by the back office in the company and then forwarded to the salespersons. Here, prospecting part is taken care of by the back office. When the company does not supply the leads and the salespeople have to find their own leads, they need to have prospecting skills to find their own leads. There may be many sources for prospecting e.g. Internet search, directories, walk-ins, trade database portals, referrals obtained from existing customers and various other sources etc.

Qualifying

• Not all inquiries or leads convert to sales because leads may not be real or potential sales.
• On following up with the leads received, it may be discovered that the caller does not really need our product or service or does not have money or inclination to buy.
• So, first of all, it is necessary to check and confirm whether the lead is real, i.e. whether the lead really can be a prospective customer or not. This is called “qualifying”a lead.
• Many a times, the caller may have “just called up” to know more, with no firm buying intention.
• Sometimes, people call many suppliers to find the “market rate” of something, even when they have made up a decision of buying from somewhere.
• In other cases, some online or telephonic directories or databases pass on junk leads to suppliers which are completely irrelevant. They do such things to show that they completed their quota of promised leads to the advertiser client.
• g. suppose on such a search database or directory, someone makes an inquiry of “Job work agencies for plastic injection molding”, it may send this inquiry to “Plastic injection molding machine manufacturers”. When the machine manufacturer contacts the caller, he may discover that the inquiry was not for a machine, but it was for job work only. This is an unqualified lead. In short, qualifying is to find out whether a lead is a real, genuine inquiry or not.
• Qualifying is a skill salespeople must be good at. They should be able to quickly sort the good and bad leads.

Pre-approach

• After qualifying, if the customer is found to be genuinely interested, the salesperson should try to find out more and more information about the customer.
• Pre-approach is more relevant for B2B, where long term or big value sales which have complex sales process (e.g. Enterprise software, some machinery etc.) are at stake.
• In case of a B2C sale, if the prospect has visited or called our company, we can ask the relevant questions to find out more about her needs. There is not much that the salesperson can do before the customer enters the store or calls up. Detailed pre-approach is not possible or worthwhile for small sales transactions.
• In case of a B2B sale, the salesperson must try to find out the information about the prospect through other sources like their web site, social media, directories, industry literature etc.
• This is required to help the salesperson to research about the prospect and to prepare a suitable approach.

Approach

• This crucial step happens when the sales person meets the prospect or speaks on the phone, introduces the self and sets the agenda.
• This step should be handled carefully because it sets the tone of the sales meeting and a lot depends on the beginning of the interaction.
• The sales person must focus on listening to the customer to find out more about her.

Presentation and Demonstration

• In this step, the salesperson shows or demonstrates the product or service or its brochure or literature and explains all its features, advantages and benefits to the prospect.
• Here is when the salesperson explains the “value” of the product or service.
• Here is when the customer should see that the product or service is useful and it can solve some of her problems.
• At this step, the salesperson must clarify the doubts in the mind of the customer.
• Here, the communication skill of the salesperson is tested.
• Salespeople must deliver their messages in more engaging and compelling ways.

Handling Objections

• Before making a buying decision, a customer may have some doubts or may want to make some clarifications.
• This comes in the form of their questions or reactions. This is called the objection.
• The salesperson must try and find out the real reason for the objection, in the most positive manner without offending the customer in any way.
• Sometimes, some more information, credentials, testimonials and convincing data can help overcoming the customer’s objections.
• Handling objections is the most difficult part in the sales process and every salesperson needs training and practice in handling objections.

Closing

• Once all the objections of the prospect are handled, the salesperson tries to close the sale.
• During the sales interaction, the salespeople should know how to recognize the closing signals from the buyer, including physical actions, comments and questions.
• Sometimes, after all the presentation and demonstrations, the salesperson simply does not ask the prospect whether she wants to buy the product or not? This may be because of lack of confidence or not understanding the right signals from the prospect.

Follow-Up

• A sale does not end when the customer buys and pays for it.
• The salesperson should ensure that the customer is satisfied of the purchase.
• For this, he should contact the customer and check whether all that was promised during the earlier steps of sales process has really happened or not, whether all promises are fulfilled or not.
• This may give insight into some problems in our sales process or in the product or service.
• Successful follow-ups result into long term relationships of the customer with the company.

Guidelines for Making a Sales Presentation

For bigger sales transactions like projects, machinery, service contracts, enterprise software etc. the salespersons may have to give presentations to the prospective customers. Here are some guidelines for the same.

a) Be Clear about the Company’s Overall Marketing Strategy

• What is its target customer segment?
• What is its differentiation?
• What positioning the company aims at?

b) Be Clear about the Purpose of the Presentation

• What are the needs of the customer?
• What do we want to communicate?
• What impression the client should get about our company?
• How can we establish the fit between their needs and our solution?

c) Research about the Client

Find out about

• Company (Their products, people, internal dynamics)
• Industry
• Competition scenario
• Their current setup with respect to what we are trying to sell
• Who is going to attend the presentation?
• Who will be taking the final decision about purchase?

d) The Presentation Should Answer the Following 3 Questions to the Customer:

     i) Who Are We? (Our strengths)

• Our Products (Or services)
• Place (Where our products/services are available)
• Price (What is our value proposition)
• People (Our team)
• Process (Our approach to provide the service)
• Proof of delivery (Our clients and body of work that we have already completed)

     ii) Why Choose Us?

• How are we different?
• What is special about us?

     iii) What Is in It for You (The Client)?

• How are we relevant to you?
• Where is the fit?
• How can we add value?

e) Final Word

• Don’t focus on selling products or services of the company for only one time. Focus on the long term relationship potential.
• Don’t only focus on features or benefits, but also focus on the value addition that we bring to the solution.
• Be well prepared. Be confident. Communicate well, with enthusiasm.
• Be on time. Be well dressed.
• Don’t try to hard sell.
• Do a sincere job.

Thank you, 

If you are looking for your relevant sales recruitment & management you can contact TIGI HR Solution Pvt. Ltd. : [email protected] (9081616866)