Interim management during the sales process

Is it possible to innovate in sales – in the way people sell?

Certainly, most research carried out into the sales departments of the world’s leading companies has sought to identify the factors that define them as sales leaders; more or less in the order listed below, these aspects have included using CRM consistently and with commitment, not selling solely on price, setting targets based on objective and measurable variables, being proactive in securing new customers and new products, and selling through existing customers…; Nothing new, is it? Nevertheless, we must constantly monitor compliance with these principles; there is no room for excuses such as poor salespeople or the economic crisis, etc.

But, for the time being, we continue to view the customer from a certain distance; we believe we have a very rough idea of their needs and of their behaviour during the purchasing process. The consultancy firm Infoteam interviewed more than 100 sales directors and nearly 200 buyers on three fundamental aspects of sales, and obtained the following results:

Why salespeople are hired

Social, communication and decision-making skills; experience with the solution the customer is seeking; professionalism; understanding the customer’s business; consultative skills, etc.

Customer expectations

Experience with the solution they are seeking, understanding of their business, professionalism, consultative skills, decision-making skills and interpersonal skills, etc.

What the salesperson believes the customer needs

Professionalism, understanding their business, experience with the solution, interpersonal skills, consultative skills, decision-making skills”

Conclusions

We can immediately see the dangerous discrepancy between what the customer wants (experience with the solution they are seeking) and what the salesperson thinks (the ability to communicate and persuade); in this very same study, almost 40 per cent of buyers ranked an understanding of their business as their second priority, whilst for salespeople it was fifth.

Less important, but very real, is another conclusion drawn from studies of this kind: the aspects most commonly valued in recruitment are friendliness, communication skills, etc.; however, customers rate these as the least important

This is the perfect moment to state the obvious:

Customers buy what they want, not what we salespeople want

Yes, yes… there’s no need to dwell on it…

And after stating the obvious, let’s do things differently; we’ll undoubtedly improve our sales strategy by focusing on how we interact with customers based on what they actually need.

Let’s innovate by focusing more on the customer’s buying process than on the usual or traditional sales process.

We must focus on adding value at every stage of that buying process (research, selection, testing, decision-making, purchase and post-purchase – or whatever the process may be, which we need to identify).

Merging with the customer to feel and experience their needs – is this not the very essence of interim management?