I´m sure you all know someone who took a sales position somewhere for the sake of having an income because of reasons ranging from unemployment to retrenchment, to desperation and inexperience. Whether s/he is getting a small salary, topped with commission, commission only or salary only doesn´t matter. This may seem like a tad of an insult, but sometimes the sales people we employ aren´t sales people by nature, yet we expect them to sell... and SELL FROM DAY ONE. Sales is a process. A sale is not a single event or action taking place between two people. The connection, the meeting, the pitch, the proposal all forms a small part of the sales process.
A lack in getting the sales required is not always on the part of the rep and sales people we employ, but also sometimes because of product, the type of product and price vs. the market we pitch to as well as a lack of support. Even worse is when a sales person can´t reach a target because the set target is simply rather ridiculously high as we haven´t researched the variables at play within the market we sell to.
Am I taking the side of sales people in general... not quite, but what I am saying is that we neglect to research the variables at play within our market. Threatening a sales person with a lower commission, less benefits, disciplinary actions, etc is simply not the only course of action we should consider when faced with a sudden drop in sales and/or declining sales or NO sales from day one. Firing and hiring sales reps is also not the best choice... think down time, training time, setting in time... the whole forming, storming, norming, conforming scenario so often mentioned in groups contexts in industrial psychology. I remember working for a company, a well-known company in South Africa and Globally, where we had a sales staff turnover of at least two weeks. Let´s put it this way: two weeks after I have started there as a sales consultant/executive, none of the guys I started with sat in the offices next to me... there were only new faces. "And so the whole negative downward sales spiral starts again and again, until it´s built up so much momentum that you can´t stop it and end up closing the doors."
The reason for sales failure was actually quite simple: the products we sold were aimed at the closest relevant market, namely students in the area. The reasoning was: students or their parents must have money (otherwise, how could they afford to study), so they will want to be funky enough to have this product to their names... and mommy and daddy will pay, no problem.
It turned out that most of the sales reps were told to go because they simply couldn´t get the sales in the market where they were supposed to sell to. Well, either that or they just couldn´t live of the little commission they got every week / month, so the best thing to do was to leave. Now: note the italics above: "otherwise, how could they afford to study." It came about that this exact fact was the reason for us not generating the thumb sucked sales targets. Mommy and Daddy couldn´t pay anything extra, over-and-above, because they have spent so much money on their kids´ study, boarding, books, etc.
Once again, we have only looked at the fact that there are X number of students, with a supposed Y total in disposable income... and if we can only get 30% of the sales in this market, we´ll be set. Truth is: we got closer to 3% of the sales.
Working for another sales and turn-key marketing strat company, I can remember many occasions when reps and sales people I managed came to my office complaining about stuff like: "...it really is a great product, but the channel we´ve sold it to is a non-performing channel..." My first course of action, obviously, was to recommend more in-store training courses, sales training for our reps, negotiating techniques, etc. Eventually, after spending money and time, or should I say wasting money and time on these elements I decided to do some "underground" research.
Guess what: our reps and sales people were right. They sassed it out... and my research simply confirmed what they have said all along: "DUH, we can´t sell to a market where there is no sell-through. The market to which our market sells to is just not the best target market for this product. Let´s rather put the lower spec and lower price items there, generate more sell-through and sales, and money... instead of wasting money by wasted shelf-life and other unnecessary wastage... Besides that, the in-store sales guys aren´t motivated in the slightest to even mention our product to their customers because there is no sell-through, no pay-off, no satisfaction... so we end up sitting with a vicious circle of non-sales and more returns from channel due to a lack in sales... product image damage and a general looming malaise about us and our products."
At some point you need to also assess whether you´re selling a product, a relationship, a solution, yourself or your company. Either way, the sale itself is about more than simply getting the deal at the end of the day, and pocketing the commission and revenue.
Lehan Stemmet is one of those rare people who studies one thing and ends up doing something else. His brother reckons: Shrinks are mad, Scientists are eccentric, Marketing people are dilly and Authors just completely lost touch with reality... so much can be said about this young bloke who studied biochemistry, microbiology, psychology and industrial psychology, who ended up in marketing and well, who got his first book (Deal With It - emotional empowerment) published in the USA - show some sympathy, right!
