Learn Sales Fundamentals first

 PART 1/2

If you want to learn the fundamental of selling then this Sales Fundamental is the right article you clicked just now, as I explained all terms and jargons related to sales in easy to understand manner. This is the starting point of developing your sales skill which is the purpose of this blog site.

Newcomers in the sales profession go through professional training and often fail to embrace the heavy jargons surfeit to them like leads, qualify, funnel, cold calls, capability building, development plan, skill, strategy, tactics, game plan, slowdown, success, teamwork, growth, FoS, KPI, IIG et cetera. An easy way to understand this is to relate it with some passion and build passion in a new dimension.

One can relate it to many of his/her passions. I could see a unique resemblance between two of my fascinations which may be true for many others. One, as an avid lover of football and the other is sales, where I parked my career. I feel the fusion of thought may be interesting for budding sales representatives. Easy to understand and to store in the pleasure centre of grey matter.

What is territory and how important is this?

We can play football only within a certain demarcated area. The same is true for sales; we need to play in a certain demographic area. Keep the ball in your territory. Dribbling out of the territory can result in an offensive throwback against your interest. True when we are selling.

If you are a distributor of a global company or even one of the Indian major companies and sold something beyond the territory demarcated for you, you can lose the agency. Same way if you do so without understanding the local rules and legal binding then also you can be in trouble.

Can you avoid competition?      

The rule of the game is to have a compulsory opponent. Selling too goes with this, that is called a competitor. The most difficult hurdle before success, but one has no other choice in most of the situations.

All strategies revolve around beating them. Important to respect their ability and never to underestimate them. As well as they are not enemies. All are following their objectives, that is all. Today’s competitor can be tomorrow’s friend. The world (read market) is too small to make an enemy.

Unlike games, in some businesses or products competition is nil or very minimal. These are exclusively niche products and many MNCs, especially American multinationals create such products, sell in their terms and earn high profits avoiding competition.

What is the goal for a salesman?

In football, three bars of the goalpost are visible. Same way the goal of the organisation and the goal of the individuals should be clear and visible. All strategies and hard work are to penetrate through the defence and cross the target goal line. A goal may not be always an order but smaller steps to accomplish the final objective that is the order or maximise win.

Everything a person does daily and for a certain period should have a defined goal. Success to meet a customer can be also a goal for the day. Hitting the monthly, quarterly and annual numbers are the major goal in sales.

How important is Sales Skills?

The best team and best players do not guarantee success. The best product or best prices are not the best criteria to be successful in the sales profession but the best sales skills are. Developing Individual competency plays a crucial role for the team. Today’s excellent knowledge and skill can be not sufficient for tomorrow so continuous learning and improvement is important. Or there can be a paradigm shift of the technology and/or market which demands completely different knowledge and skill to be successful.

Sincere people put a lot of effort to learn and developing skills. I am sure you are one of them that is the reason you are reading this article and come to this stage. When you shall complete reading this article I suggest you go for the next one where I shall discuss different sales skills in detail and how to plan a sale.

What is success in sales job?

Success is not how good one played but how many goals a team scores. Similarly, in sales, success is the number one individual or a team achieved which surplus the budget.

However, in football, if the opponent scores more; then even after scoring several goals one team has to accept defeat. Is not this the same in sales? If the number is not adequate or below the market growth of that geography, does it a win or deserves appreciation? If competitors grow faster, then is it a notable success?

So, success is relative and not an absolute quantity. Achieving a rightly set objective is a success. Here the right also can be dynamic with time. So, the mid-term objective setting is very common.

How important is this to follow the rules?

The most painful moment for the supporter or players is when a team scores a goal and within a moment gets rejected because of off-side rules or foul play. It is equally important in sales. Know the rules before you slide your team jersey. Rules are usually not negotiable. More importantly, the rule of the land, rule of the institutes, demographic area, related to products etc need to be known as they may vary.

Following the rules not only mitigate risk but bring peace of mind (for self and the organisation). Ironically the majority of sales and marketing people I have observed are not aware of the rules which is dangerous for the organisation. Salespeople need to study the way we study technologies and other subjects. Also, the organisation must organise training for the employees and make it mandatory.

Knowing the rules of the local area is not enough if someone dealing with global companies or selling their products. One should know the FCPA, UK bribery act at least thoroughly.

Fair play, a must, Salesman’s fundamental !

Mother of all rules. Be careful about Red-Cards. Any deleterious act not only damages an individual’s reputation but puts the team in trouble for the game and the next. Also, it is especially important in business. The slightest greed or unfair aggression can jeopardise the entire organisation’s reputation and plan. Players are to kick and dribble the ball and not to kick the opponent or dribble with ethics.

In short say no to several things like, bribes, wrong information, wrong words, wrong attitude, shortcuts bypassing process.

Groundwork

It is important to have clarity on the strength, weaknesses, and strategies of the opponent team. Environment and field conditions also matter. Positioning of defence and offence critically depends on it. Without background information, the so-called best strategy can revile the worst one. No difference in sales. Market intelligence is a continuous process and needs to be as accurate as possible.

What is the role-play preparation ?

In football, preparation starts with the analysis of the situation and defining the strategy accordingly. The intention is to cross the opponent players. This is not possible using the same skills and same strategy for every opponent. It may fail as the opponent is also preparing to defeat your best skills.

In sales, it is important to practice & use different skills & styles. The need is to improvise new styles beyond the competitor’s imagination. It is important to understand competitor’s products, strengths and styles besides own products.

Sometimes for any critical or major case, it is good to have two teams, one to role-play a customer with all difficult and predictable questions and other to play role of the salesman. And there should be judge (a senior or more mature person) who guide and help the salesman with best set of answers, close probing and open probing questions.

How important is Strategy & Tactic?

Football is a ninety-minute game for spectators. But it is months and years of practice for players to create an appropriate strategy and to design the best tactic to plan the win. 

Sales closing can be a matter of one meeting. But planning starts much earlier with proper strategy & tactics. Here in addition to it market development, creating needs are also included.

Clarity on Ws (who, when, why, what, where) helps to define the best strategy and a clear vision of H (how) helps to make the best tactic. The best tactic can make a stronger opponent weaker. One can blow up an opponent by efficient use and tactical positioning of the powers in the game as well as in sales.

End of PART-1

Click here to READ PART-2