How To Make Your Sales Manager Better
Copyright (c) 2010 Mr. Inside Sales
I consult with a lot of business owners, and I hear a common complaint: “The sales team isn’t making their revenue numbers and my sales manager doesn’t seem to know what to do to get them to improve. What should I do?”
After reviewing their sales processes, their training program, sales scripts, etc., I always ask the same question: “How much production is your sales manager generating per month?” And I almost always get the same answer – “My manager doesn’t sell.”
Therein lies the problem.
The problem with most sales managers that they don’t sell. And the problem with that is Read more
“Stop Managing the Pipeline, and Start Managing Your Sales Team.”
Copyright (c) 2010 Mr. Inside Sales
How much time and money do you devote to your company’s sales pipeline? Think about the resources, the software, the meetings, the forecasting, the managing and measuring you do, and the time and effort you give it. If you’re like most CEO’s or VP’s or sales managers, your sales pipeline is your life blood. It’s what you run your company by; it’s how you make decisions, and often times it even drives your stock prices.
While the pipeline is a vital part of the sales process, it is also where the most fundamental mistake is made, and this mistake costs companies millions (if not billions) of dollars every year.
The problem is that most companies spend too much time, money and energy on measuring and managing the pipeline rather than managing and improving the quality of leads that go into – and ultimately come out of – the pipeline.
In other words, most of the leads that go into your pipeline are never going to close, should never have been put in and, as a result, your company wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars generating and then chasing, and measuring and managing leads that will never close. That’s the real problem.
Ask yourself: “What is my sales department’s closing ratio?” I’ll bet you can answer that, can’t you? A typical company will report that it takes an average of 50 cold calls or contacts with decision makers to set 15 appointments out of which 10 will turn into proposals or pitches which will result in 1 or 2 sales. Read more
Why is Retail Sales Online the World’s Greatest Business
The World’s Greatest Business—Retail Sales Online
Retail sales online offer unparalleled opportunity for start-up businesses and for added growth for existing retail businesses.
But are online sales “the World’s Greatest?â€
Check out some of these trends, then you decide.
Looking Ahead
Even in the midst of one of the toughest retail environments in decades, online retail business is poised for solid growth. Forrester Research says online retail business will grow 10 percent each year for the next 5 years. And experts expect online retail sales to hit a quarter of a trillion dollars by 2014.
At the same time, the National Retail Federation is expecting about 2.5 percent growth for all retail sales in 2010. With 4 times the expected overall growth, the online retail business looks strong.
Good Times Now
Predictions of what will occur in the future aside, what is happing right now in online retail is impressive.
Estimates are that in 2009, sales from online businesses hit 5.2 billion. During the holiday season alone, retail business on the Internet topped billion, a 17 percent increase over the previous year.
Watch the Hidden Trends
Whether you’re considering an Internet retail business start-up or you already own a retail business and are considering expanding to the Web, it will pay to look at the hidden trends.
By 2014, Forrester predicts that over half of all retail sales will be influenced by the Internet. That means if your retail business isn’t online, you could be missing out on the chance to attract 1 of every 2 potential customers.
Staying the Course
Some entrepreneurs grow frustrated if their online business doesn’t take off immediately.
But we caution against giving up too soon.
Just think of Amazon.com, the pioneer in online retail. Amazon made its first sale in 1995 and didn’t post a profit until 6 years later.
Your start-up Internet retail business won’t take that long to pay off. But the point is an online business is like other businesses in that they all require work and commitment.
The potential for great reward is there, but you need to understand that all your work is worth the effort.
Share the Wealth
It doesn’t really matter what segment of the retail business you are in.
Electronics? Sales grew 17 percent in 2009 to .6 billion. Clothing? The 2009 total of billion in sales was up 17 percent as well. Computers? They also posted billion in sales, up 7 percent.
Great Opportunity
The following figures might make the case as to why online retail business is the world’s greatest.
Just take a look at the room for growth. In electronics, for example, that .6 billion in sales only represented 14 percent of total electronic sales. For clothing, billion is only 10 percent of retail sales. Think how much room there is to grow.
Stating “The World’s Greatest Business-Retail Sales Online†might seem like a bit of stretch at first. But the potential for growth and the amount of market share still to be gained make a very strong case that this is a true statement.
6 Tips to Increase Business & Retail Sales Using Online Auctions
Online auctions offer the opportunity to sell a product to the person bidding the highest price, just like live auctions, which can increase business and retail sales by creating a higher inventory turnover rate. Live auctions also create a buying frenzy which will increase business sales.
Auctions open up sales channels for new products as well as quickly and efficiently liquidating excess merchandise. Participating in an online live auction is a very interactive, fun experience.
Today online auctions are increasing in popularity as a way for businesses to increase their retail sales. Online auctions also provide a business opportunity for people looking for self employment with flexible hours, minimal investment and little overhead. You can also use a spare bedroom, store room or garage to stock inventory and run your online auction business.
There are many to choose from with many different options, so always explore each one thoroughly or even try a couple of different sites to find the most effective avenue to increase your business and retail sales.
These online auction sites attract a lot of traffic which make online auctions an ideal place to capitalize on readily available, widespread exposure. However, popular categories can be very competitive, and your product can easily get lost among the other listings. This makes new online auctions a much better choice to carve out a niche than the older established auctions.
So whatever you’re selling, there are a number of things you must do to take advantage of the volumes of traffic being generated to make the highest profits possible:
1. Investigate online auction options
2. Choose items for auction
3. Compare listing options
4. Choose your category carefully
5. Create detailed ad with pictures
6. Establish trust with fulfillment
Whether your reasons to use online auctions are to liquidate inventory or you are looking for a good home based business opportunity, always explore your options. There are many new and innovative online auction sites.
The main thing to consider in choosing the online auction site that is best to use is the total listing cost and beware of a percentage of sale. There are auctions available for a very minimal per item fee which will increase return on investment.
Taking all these factors into consideration will help in choosing the best site to list items on and increase inventory turnover rate which will increase business and retail sales. This is a tested and proven “Sales Increase Formula”.
Smart Sales: How to Cope with Sales Rejection
Any sales person, business or organization that is involved with any form of sales, whether they are services or products, must understand and learn how to cope with sales rejection. An inability to cope with sales rejection results in defeatism, failure and loss. Developing an ability to cope in the face of sales rejection, results in hardiness, persistence, success and profit. Thus, it is important to understand how to cope with sales rejection. In order to cope with sales rejection, it is needful for sales persons to understand the psychological principles of self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.
Self-Concept, Social Acceptance, and Sales Rejection
The opposite of rejection is acceptance. The need for social acceptance is an innate human drive which Vohs (2008) compared to an analogy of a hungry man. When food is denied to a person, the desire and search for food is intensified. In the same manner, the drive for social acceptance when is lacking, limited or rejected will intensified the need for it. This explains the psychologies of moderately positive and confident persons who are constantly hungry for more social acceptance. Any service or product that can fulfill or satisfy this hunger for social acceptance has a huge market of innately acceptable clients. Besides these, what else do we know about social acceptance? Reese (1961) research found that:
Acceptance was related to the psychological principle of self-concept. Self-concept is what we think about ourselves or the kind of image we have of ourselves. Considering oneself to be an aristocrat with a taste for anything opulent is an example. One of the motivations of such a person would be to own and utilize branded stuff which to the individual represents his / her aristocratic opulent image. That is why certain products that are made in some backyard sweatshop in a third world country but branded with a first world label can be sold for atrociously high prices to brand-conscious consumers globally.
Those with a moderate self-concept had the highest need for social acceptance, while those with a low self-concept had the lowest need for social acceptance. It would be foolish to try to sell a Rolex to vagabond who is worrying about his next meal. It will be equally foolish to try to sell a wooden boat to a billionaire. And yet as I observe some media advertisements in certain countries, this is exactly how they advertise. It only goes to show that many traditional HR departments of many companies are still using worn-out and out-dated criterias to recruit out-dated marketing professionals who produce out-dated advertisements. The service or product must match the status of the client. Thus, social acceptance in this context refers to an acceptance by peers or superiors, whether they are persons, norms, cultural practices or even individual perceptions. Have you ever wondered why certain staffs are required by certain establishments to wear a complete suite and tie and stand in a blistering hot weather with no air-conditioning to welcome clients? It is because in the organizational culture and belief that dressing represents the organizational image of professionalism. And this culture and belief is accepted by their equally image-conscious clientele. Logic, commonsense or the wellbeing of staffs is sometimes over-ridden by the need for clientele social acceptance. In the case of businesses, such behavior is basically motivated by the need for approval by their clientele that affects the organizational profit.
The need for social acceptance was not significantly different in ether gender or status. Social acceptance that affects self-image, pride, and ego has no borders even in relation to gender or status. Is it possible for an ordinary wage earner who lives from hand-to-mouth to be status conscious? Well, the answer can be seen in everyday life. Just observe the number of fake or counterfeit items that are sold to and purchased by the average wage earner who is image-conscious but can’t afford the real branded stuffs. It doesn’t matter to their self-image even if they are aware that people around them know that they using counterfeit brands. Social acceptance is so powerful that if one can’t afford the real stuff that represents a perceived self-concept even an illusion of it will do.
Acceptance by strangers was considered more important than acceptance by close friends. Have you wondered why a person would pay, listen and accept an advice given by a “professional” while rejecting the same advice given freely by his / her friend or family member? This demonstrates the need for an approval by a stranger rather someone known. We shall see reasons for it later. Let me now extract and emphasis further the four key concepts from the findings of Reese (1961).
What do these findings mean for the business world? It is imperative for the business community and business persons to understand that sales and profit is directly related to people’s perception of their self-concept, social acceptance and sales rejection. A service or product that can create, enhance or magnify the perception of an individual’s self-concept would generate an innate acceptance of it across gender and status. It simply means that any service or product must be designed, tailored and packaged differently to fit the self-concept of different categories of persons. When a person can identify his / her self-concept with a service or product, it automatically and innately generates a tendency of acceptance. If any service or product does not establish this connection to the buyer’s self-concept, that service or product would be innately rejected even before the sales presentation is complete. This is the first key concept in understanding people’s self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.
Business community and business persons must understand that not all persons have an identical self-concept. Those persons with moderate self-concept have the highest need for social acceptance. In terms of sales, these are the type or category of persons that are the ripest sales fruits for harvest, because they have the highest need for social acceptance. When we talk about a moderate self-concept, it includes any average persons who are socially conscious of themselves in terms of image or status. This includes young and newly graduated working adults who due to their newly acquired economic purchasing power become more status conscious. The rich, super-rich, the stars and the celebrities spend lavishly on anything that they perceive as enhancing or magnifying their self-concept in terms of importance, comfort, significance or greatness. The rich and famous are not just interested in money. They also desire universal recognition and power as form of social acceptance. So they way you design and package a service or product for the average image-conscious person and for the rich or super-rich has to be very different. You have to create and built-in a perception of challenge, exclusivity, comfort, universal recognition and power in your services and products to sell to the rich and super-rich. And by the way, most of what you project to the rich and super-rich must be largely real or you will find yourself being sued. This is the second key concept in understanding people’s self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.
I disagree that selling to strangers are more difficult in comparison to selling to friends. Research indicates that people prefer the social acceptance of strangers more than their friends. The reason is very simple. Most people are routinely exposed to the social acceptance of their friends and family members. This creates a psychological satiation in terms of social acceptance. It is like trying to feed a person who just had an eight course meal. Thus, people prefer the social acceptance of strangers as something new, more attractive and desirable. This explains why people prefer imported products over their local ones which can be equally good. It also explains the use of foreign sounding labels and names for products, services and business establishments even in a country where the majority of the population don’t understand basic English and more so a foreign language. Local consumer cultures in many instances believe in the myth that anything perceived as foreign is equated with quality, status and reliability. In these days of out-sourcing, the use of the term myth in relation to certain consumer products is justified. However, from a business point of view, this myth must be capitalized by venturing into new markets globally which are not yet psychologically satiated with certain services or products. Remember that people are in search of social acceptance more from strangers than friends or families. So, be that new person, business, organization, foreign label or foreign establishment to give them the social acceptance through your services and products that have a local twist. If you want to know how to give a local twist psychologically, wait for my next article. This is the third key concept in understanding people’s self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.
Before we look at sales rejection and coping, it is imperative to understand that the psychology of social acceptance is similar across gender and status. In other words, the three preceding concepts are largely applicable to all gender and status. This is the fourth key concept in understanding people’s self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.
Sales Rejections and Coping
If the sales of a service or product have been rejected by a client(s), there will be definite reasons for it. The rejection of a service or product by a client does not constitute a defeat or failure of a sales person or business. It only indicates that the client(s) does not
<>WordPress ·