Monday, October 6, 2008

Reader Comment on How to Manage Sales People

A reader wrote:

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE TRIED ALL THESE PRINCIPLES AND STILL NOTHING, WEVE CHANGED STAFF FROM OLDER TO YOUNGER FROM YOUNGER TO OLDER AND STILL NO RESULTS, WEVE IMPLEMENTED INCENTIVES FOR GOOD PERFORMANCE, AND STILL THE SALES TEAM MESSES UP HOW DO WE CHANGE THIS AFTER ALL ELSE HAVE FAILED.

If you have, created an environment of respect and dignity, trained, hired properly, offered fair compensation and supported the sales team at a reasonable level in terms of tools and guidance there is only one element that remains. Product, service, price and value. There is a flip side to having a viable sales force and this is having sufficient numbers of viable buyers. You must have a competitive product in a market with sufficient buyers to generate sales at a level that will support your activity. You must have buyers, you cannot just sell. In my opinion, product viability must come first.

In general, your product must have some wow factor in a competitive market space or be visible and serviceable in a segment that is more mature or has become a commodity. Your sales people can do very little for you if you cannot reach these basic product thresholds. The best sales people in the world can't sell a product that has no market or fails to respect the basic competitive standards for your industry or key needs of your customer base.

If this is the case for your business stop spending money on sales and start investing in your product. Or would it be better to say start investing in our customers other wise your just fooling yourself?

What is it "they" say? A pig in a dress is still a pig. If your product or service is a pig in a dress even the best sales people won't be able to sell it in satisfactory numbers.

Thanks for reading,

Lester

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