Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category

Change is part of sales both in hard cold coins and learning to adapt. So how good are at accepting change to win more sales?

Alan Deutschman in his book Change or Die indicated that his research revealed that only one in 10 people will change. Just think of that, 9 in 10 prefer staying where they are, doing what they have always done instead of taking a chance to change.

Sales professionals are probably no different. They continue to attend business networking event after business networking event hoping to win more sales. They continue to fly by the seats of their pants as Captain Wing It. Unfortunately, in many of these business networking events the key decision makers never attend. Sales Coaching Tip: Make sure you go where your potential customers go.

Having written sales plans supported by written and aligned sales goals is another anomaly. From my experience as a sales coach, having a written sales plan and written goals are changes that many sales professionals prefer not to take. They would rather continue with their “Spray and Pray” actions.

What about sales scripts? How many sales professionals use this proven tool to increase sales? Sales Coaching Tip: Effective sales scripts can shorten the sales process and earn you the sale much quicker.

Then how about a proven sales process to win more sales? Again, from my experience, at least half of the sales professionals that I have worked with do not have a plan because what I am doing now is OK. Yet, these folks want more sales?

How are your customer service skills? If you believe customer service is the responsibility of some other department, then your sales will eventually plummet to earth, crash, burn and die. How many sales professionals do not want to change and become that customer service person even though they are responsible for “earning” the sale.” I guess after earning the sale, they believe that their responsibility has ended.

What changes have you made about your own professional development? Are you still selling the old way or have you decided to expand your sales skills? The world is changing and you must learn to know where the flow (change) is headed and how it will affect your bottom line. Have you kept up with all the changes that your customers are experiencing?

Yes, to win more sales demands that you, as a professional sales person, must be willing to accept change. Of course, not all change is beneficial. You must however have an open mind before deciding that this course of change will not increase sales.

Author: Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

Change is part of sales both in hard cold coins and learning to adapt. So how good are at accepting change to win more sales?

Alan Deutschman in his book Change or Die indicated that his research revealed that only one in 10 people will change. Just think of that, 9 in 10 prefer staying where they are, doing what they have always done instead of taking a chance to change.

Sales professionals are probably no different. They continue to attend business networking event after business networking event hoping to win more sales. They continue to fly by the seats of their pants as Captain Wing It. Unfortunately, in many of these business networking events the key decision makers never attend. Sales Coaching Tip: Make sure you go where your potential customers go.

Having written sales plans supported by written and aligned sales goals is another anomaly. From my experience as a sales coach, having a written sales plan and written goals are changes that many sales professionals prefer not to take. They would rather continue with their “Spray and Pray” actions.

What about sales scripts? How many sales professionals use this proven tool to increase sales? Sales Coaching Tip: Effective sales scripts can shorten the sales process and earn you the sale much quicker.

Then how about a proven sales process to win more sales? Again, from my experience, at least half of the sales professionals that I have worked with do not have a plan because what I am doing now is OK. Yet, these folks want more sales?

How are your customer service skills? If you believe customer service is the responsibility of some other department, then your sales will eventually plummet to earth, crash, burn and die. How many sales professionals do not want to change and become that customer service person even though they are responsible for “earning” the sale.” I guess after earning the sale, they believe that their responsibility has ended.

What changes have you made about your own professional development? Are you still selling the old way or have you decided to expand your sales skills? The world is changing and you must learn to know where the flow (change) is headed and how it will affect your bottom line. Have you kept up with all the changes that your customers are experiencing?

Yes, to win more sales demands that you, as a professional sales person, must be willing to accept change. Of course, not all change is beneficial. You must however have an open mind before deciding that this course of change will not increase sales.

Author: Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

Change is part of sales both in hard cold coins and learning to adapt. So how good are at accepting change to win more sales?

Alan Deutschman in his book Change or Die indicated that his research revealed that only one in 10 people will change. Just think of that, 9 in 10 prefer staying where they are, doing what they have always done instead of taking a chance to change.

Sales professionals are probably no different. They continue to attend business networking event after business networking event hoping to win more sales. They continue to fly by the seats of their pants as Captain Wing It. Unfortunately, in many of these business networking events the key decision makers never attend. Sales Coaching Tip: Make sure you go where your potential customers go.

Having written sales plans supported by written and aligned sales goals is another anomaly. From my experience as a sales coach, having a written sales plan and written goals are changes that many sales professionals prefer not to take. They would rather continue with their “Spray and Pray” actions.

What about sales scripts? How many sales professionals use this proven tool to increase sales? Sales Coaching Tip: Effective sales scripts can shorten the sales process and earn you the sale much quicker.

Then how about a proven sales process to win more sales? Again, from my experience, at least half of the sales professionals that I have worked with do not have a plan because what I am doing now is OK. Yet, these folks want more sales?

How are your customer service skills? If you believe customer service is the responsibility of some other department, then your sales will eventually plummet to earth, crash, burn and die. How many sales professionals do not want to change and become that customer service person even though they are responsible for “earning” the sale.” I guess after earning the sale, they believe that their responsibility has ended.

What changes have you made about your own professional development? Are you still selling the old way or have you decided to expand your sales skills? The world is changing and you must learn to know where the flow (change) is headed and how it will affect your bottom line. Have you kept up with all the changes that your customers are experiencing?

Yes, to win more sales demands that you, as a professional sales person, must be willing to accept change. Of course, not all change is beneficial. You must however have an open mind before deciding that this course of change will not increase sales.

Author: Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: How Electric Pressure Cookers Work

Do you want to increase your sales by 200%? With the right attitude and discipline you can increase sales by over 200%. Do you have the correct attitude to increase sales? Does your attitude exhibit effective disciplines to increase sales?

In the previous article we discussed how a healthier attitude can help you increase sales by 100%. In this article, we are exploring how discipline will increase sales by another 100%. Refining your attitude and discipline equals 200% increased sales.

Discipline is a commitment to the most important person in the world. Discipline signifies doing what you have to do even when you do not want to do it. In sales, that can imply plenty, but let’s focus on increasing sales.

Primarily, to increase sales we need to establish a benchmark. Do you know your sales process numbers? For example, your sales call to close ratio? Yes ___ No ___

If you answered YES, you are utilizing discipline to inflate increased sales. You should be aware of your daily disciplines. What you have to do on a daily basis to increase sales results and what is the basis of these results. If not, look intently at how you got those results. They will identify the proper disciplines required to increase sales.

If your answer is NO, you lack discipline and must begin tracking your daily behaviour. This includes your sales disciplines especially if you yearn to increase sales. Make note or track what you habitually do on a daily basis to increase sales?

You can track your daily disciplines by creating an uncomplicated form. Simply completing this form is a discipline. Across the top of this Discipline form, write your daily sales activity. Place the numbers 1- 31 down the side of the Discipline form representing each day of the month. Indicate your sales disciplines in terms of a number or time in the column, constantly noting what you are doing to increase sales.

For example, disciplines to increase sales can be telephone – inbound / outbound, networking, referrals / introductions, etc which lead to sales appointments. Sales appointments lead to building relationships and qualifying for new opportunities. Qualified relationships lead to sales prescriptions (presentations) which in turn lead to closes. Sales of $X equals increased sales.

By tracking your daily sales disciplines (activities), by totaling these disciplines at the end of the month and by averaging all disciplines, you will soon learn what we in the sales profession call, your sales call to close ratio in regards to increasing sales.

Before long you will be familiar with how many sales calls are required to make an appointment, i.e.: 12 to 1. How many appointments it takes to locate a qualified relationship, i.e.: 6 to 4? How many qualified relationships lead to a sales presentation, i.e.: 5 to 3? Finally, how many presentations are necessary to close and the value of that sale?

Now that you know your numbers, you can define the daily sales disciplines (activities) essential to increase sales.

It is purely a matter of discipline and doing what you say you will do, even if you don’t feel like doing it. Discipline is the key to increased sales.

Convert each letter of the word Discipline to a numerical value. What is the total number? Imagine having attitude and discipline working for you and earning you a 200% increase in sales.

Author: Bob Urichuck
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger

Top-performing sales teams use these strategies to advance their success. The foundation of that success is Sales Force Automation. In countless cases, powerful Sales Force Automation tools have helped turn Underperforming teams into highly successful ones. It’s the fact that these tools give teams a transparent view of their sales pipeline. In doing so, they are strengthening their ability to achieve greater overall performance. Sales Force Automation tools were once reserved for very large companies with millions to spend on software. Today, the best Sales Force Automation vendors offer affordable, powerful alternatives-ones that have been designed specifically for small and midsize businesses.

Just what is Sales Force Automation? Commonly abbreviated SFA, it’s a powerful software strategy that streamlines sales-force management tasks into a cohesive whole. Using SFA, sales teams can see everything that’s going on with each sales prospect-from the first contact with your company through to becoming a customer. SFA helps sales teams save time, increase capacity and maximize productivity. Will the following strategies help your team achieve greater sales success?
We think so-and we’re confident you’ll agree.

Go for e-Sales

Make your team more effective by automating the tedious aspects of selling. Far too often, time is wasted setting up repetitive emails, tasks and appointments. Imagine instead a world in which each time a new lead is created a welcome email goes out, a task is created for a sales rep to call a prospect, and a follow-up email with a brochure is sent a few days later-all automatically. The right SFA tool lets you create an entire set of activities that can be triggered to run automatically, saving your reps countless hours of boredom each week.

Go for e-Practices

Standardize your most successful sales practices across your entire sales organization. Look for a Sales Force Automation solution that offers a built-in sales checklist to guide reps through the sales process modeled after the process used by your most successful sales people. This capability increases the chances that reps will bring in business more routinely.

Go for e-Direction

Eliminate lead sources that don’t produce revenue. A powerful Sales Force Automation solution can identify where good, bad and mediocre leads come from. This helps you strengthen your investment with productive sources and stop wasting money on sources that don’t bring in business.

Go for Mobile

In a competitive environment, sales reps can’t afford to be disconnected from prospects. Look for vendors that offer a mobile SFA solution. This will give your team instant access to all sales information on their mobile phones. They can work deals even when away from their computer.

Go for e- Competition

Successful sales executives know that “time kills deals.” Sales Force Automation immediately routes leads from any source to the sales rep best suited to close the deal. It can also be set up to ensure that no single rep has too many or too few leads to work on. As a result, leads stay warm, increasing the odds a deal will materialize with you instead of a competitor.

Managers to e-Managers

Some sales reps prefer to sell cheaper products because, frankly, they find it easier. The right Sales Force Automation solution can help by giving managers visibility into product quotations so they never have to wait to correct sales rep behavior. In addition, the most powerful SFA solutions include a sales knowledge base that you can load with valuable tips for up-selling and cross-selling.

e-Business

Businesses and consumers shop online, so you gain revenue by maximizing the lead-generation potential of your Web site. Sales Force Automation generally includes “Web forms” that Web site visitors can fill out. These can be automatically routed to the most appropriate sales representative. The sales rep is able to see immediately both the prospect’s contact information and interests, and follow up quickly while the prospect is showing interest.

e-Mail

Place your business in the most positive light by giving your team standardized email templates that offer a clean, professional look, with a personalized touch. Plus save your reps the time and trouble
of crafting them.

Author: Younus Rathore
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable Multi-cooker

Times have truly changed. For the first time in history, some sales managers find themselves managing members of three or four generations in the workplace. These diverse workers bring differing approaches to their work, their learning, and the ways in which they respond to managers and hierarchy. While many older workers prefer to work independently, younger workers place value on collaboration and enjoy working in teams. While older workers respect tenure and experience, younger workers expect a flatter organization and a say in their work and how they approach it.

There are many sales competency challenges faced by sales managers and sales trainers. Balancing short-term results with long-term impact is never easy. While many people understand the logic of supply and demand, or return on investment, the sales profession hasn’t come to grips with another universal business truth — balancing risk and rewards.

It would seem (to many) that the short term reward and often immediate gratification,of bringing in new clients has offset the risks of thinking strategically. Many would argue that landing deals, closing accounts, and bringing in new revenue are the only benchmarks worth measuring. The question is: “Are there other important aspects of selling that sales managers and trainers should consider at all?” What are the key questions one must answer as they attempt to engineer world-class sales performance?

To put it bluntly, the short term focus on the revenue “reward” has failed to overcome several risks to sales team competency and performance.

One of the risks to sales competency is the changing demographic of sales teams.

Changing demographics are having a notable effect on sales organizations across a variety of industries and geographies. In a 2006 IBM and ASTD study on the impact of changing workforce demographics on the learning function, 239 learning executives were asked to identify their primary concerns regarding this generational shift.

They are:

• Important issue, little action: Most companies are ill-prepared to adapt to the changing workforce.
• Passing the torch of experience: Transferring knowledge between generations is becoming a critical capability for today’s organization.
• Beyond “one size fits all”: Learning executives believe there are clear differences in the learning preferences of workers from different generations.
• Avoiding roadblocks to learning: Older workers may find more barriers to participating in learning activities.
• Bypassing the learning curve: Getting new employees rapidly up to speed is taking on a new priority.

The United States and many other industrialized nations are also facing the imminent retirement of hundreds of thousands of skilled, knowledgeable workers. Despite the fact that technology has rendered many jobs obsolete, the need for skilled salespeople is and remains great: In its 2007 Talent Shortage Survey, Manpower Inc. discovered-for the second year in a row-that business-to-business sales positions are the hardest to fill in the United States and several other countries. A 2007 survey by CSO Insights, a sales research firm, revealed that nearly 15 percent of responding organizations planned to increase the size of their sales teams by 21 percent or more.

While most other professions can rely on a steady supply of potential employees from high school, college, or workforce-development programs, the sales profession lacks a comparable system to generate new talent. Over the past five years, colleges and universities have begun to offer courses in professional selling, but not nearly enough to meet the need.

“Sales managers must balance the tension of building a culture of teamwork with the need for increased levels of praise and feedback for individual achievement. Compounding the difficulty of these changes is the desire of younger employees who are seeking, and even demanding, to relate to their leaders as peers.”

-Tim Ohai, President, Growth and Associates

To stay on top of the emerging trend, the following three recommendations are offered:

– RECOMMENDATION #1: Understand that turnover in the sales organization is a bad thing. While this may seem simple, many organizations operate under the false assumption that there is an abundant supply of sales talent—it’s simply not true. Therefore, organizations that invest in their sales people and help them learn faster than the competition are a critical asset to your organization. Keys to stopping the sales turnover problem can be found in a) setting clear expectations about roles, b) helping sales managers truly coach others and c):

– RECOMMENDATION #2: Understand that sales team performance requires a system’s approach. Many leaders believe that motivating the sales team with more money will solve all turnover problems. However, with multiple generations on the company’s front line, organizations that build a system of support can help the sales team attain immediate results. Each age group can learn differently, approach a situation differently, and understand different customer needs. A system’s approach is required to align sales enablement, sales development, and sales management to the company’s business objectives.

– RECOMMENDATION #3: Realize that there is strength in generational diversity. Organizations that tap the wisdom of their longest tenured sales team members by providing opportunities for mentoring will have a leg up especially when it comes to transferring critical knowledge. Likewise, organizations that help their sales teams provide feedback and collaboration with peers are better able to retain their entry-level sales team members.

Author: Brian Lambert
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Pressure cooker

Sales Performance Analysis closes the gap on your entire Sales Cycle. Essentially, performance analysis is a deep look back over certain elements of your sales cycle, from Opportunity Management to Account Planning. Looking at the numbers, ratios, and time frames of your sales cycle provides many useful benefits.

To begin with, analysis allows you to question the entire cycle – and adjust it accordingly. You can determine if sales goals are too high or too low. Analysis gives you an accurate picture of your forecast – is it realistic or does it need to be adjusted? You can also decide if the time and money spent on clients in Opportunity Management was worthwhile – as opposed to the profit gained from the sale. But consider the effects of analysis from the human resources point of view: a thorough analysis gives you hard data that can be used to coach and train the workforce more effectively. Let’s look at how to use sales analysis to close the gap on SCM.

First, you must know the close rate. Out of all of the probable clients in Opportunity Management over a particular time period, which ones actually ended up with a closed sale? Can you convert the number into a ratio? Once you’ve taken a good look at the close rate, go further and look at each sale. How much time was spent on each sale, through each point in the cycle? You can break this down into key milestones, such as presentation to proposal to contract to signed contract. When you’ve got this number for each sale, take an average and determine if that number is realistic for the next sales cycle. While you’re examining the numbers of your cycle, think about ways you can shorten the time frame from lead to closed sale. Take the time to analyze where lags occur and determine if you’ve got a problem in the sales force, the process, manufacturing, or delivery.

Next, examine the leads that come in to the sales force. Technically, leads are not part of SCM, but they comprise what eventually comes to Opportunity Management. Where do leads come from? Do you have external leads generated by marketing, or is the sales force responsible for finding their own leads? Perhaps you find the leads yourself. Consider grouping leads by common denominators, such as product needs, industry type, or organization size. When you have your groups, take the time to determine which groups had higher close rates, shorter time cycles, or better cost. Another good way to look at leads is to define a lead for each product and service on offer. When you’ve invested in the investigation of your leads, you can make judgments about their quality – and adjust as necessary. Now it’s time to take a look at the salespeople.

Analyzing the performance of the sales force may be one of the most important components of sales performance analysis. First, you must look at actual performance versus goal. You’ve already taken a close look at other aspects of the sale – when you examine the productivity of the salespeople, you can make a final determination about goals. Look at the close rates per product and break this down by sales person. Do some salespeople have lower close rates than others? Not only can you get a good picture of the sales force, you can also discover who the high performers are. The high performers can help you create a profile to use in coaching and training. Investigate the salespeople’s record keeping and reporting, as well. You may find they are spending unnecessary time on certain points in the cycle. The good thing about analyzing a salesperson’s performance is that it can be done regularly, during routine sales meetings, and not all at once. Correction can be made as you go along.

Finally, analyze the profit margin for each sale – and communicate the profit margin to the sales force. Look at the time and money spent on each sale as compared to the actual profit, keeping in mind the opportunity costs associated with each sale. Are there extra activities, expenses, or even personnel on each sale? Is there a way to increase efficiency and lower cost in order to raise the profit margin? Whatever the results, be sure to communicate them to the sales force. Each salesperson should know the average cost of the sale versus profit.

Diving into your numbers may take time, but you’ll find that the results of sales performance analysis help you to manage and target your entire sales cycle.

Author: Bryant Nielson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Duty tariff

A. You can`t build anything without a solid foundation. The A is for Attitude – the foundation of all successful sales people. Without a positive attitude and belief in yourself, your organization, It`s products and services and the market, there is no foundation upon which to build success.

Sales professionals need to reflect, confirm and take hold of their attitude, realize it is theirs, develop it into a millionaire`s attitude, overcome fear and be able to deal with rejection, increase productivity and save time and money.

Sales professionals need to reflect, confirm and take hold of their attitude toward the organization`s mission statement, products and services and team members, while developing an owner`s mentality.

Sale professionals need to reflect, confirm and take hold of their attitude towards the market, knowing how they are perceived, while profiling the ideal prospect and fully understanding their competition

B. Sales professionals could have a fantastic attitude, but a positive attitude alone is not enough to guarantee long term sales success. You need goals and an action plan to get you where you want to go. The B is for Behavior – the daily actions that are required to accomplish goals. Goals and behaviours from a personal, organizational, and market targeting level. Without these goals and behaviors there is no motivation, no ownership mentality or drive to go the extra mile.

Sales professionals need to learn the relationship between consistent positive behaviours and success. The first step is to learn this on a personal level. Sales professionals need to identify and develop personal goals and action plans based on why they come to work.

Sales professionals then need to follow the same procedures to develop goals, action plans and behaviors for organizational objectives while improving their time management skills.

Sales professionals need to know how to target their sales efforts through the 80/20 rule and the ABC target model while obtaining pertinent industry, organizational and client information.

C. This is the area where traditional sales training has placed all its efforts – on sales techniques. In this ongoing, non traditional sales approach the C is for Competency – the capability of following a sales results system with the appropriate sales competencies to build and maintain long term relationships. Without a sales results system and without the sales competencies, time is wasted and there are no meaningful sales results.

In order to build a long term relationship, one must first establish rapport. Sales professionals need to learn about the relationship selling model, the components of the rapport pie and how to build rapport in the first 30 seconds of meeting.

Once rapport has been established, questions can then be asked. Sales professionals need to learn why questions are so important, the type of questions that should be asked and how to deal with questions from the prospect or client without giving free consulting. When asking questions, sales professionals must listen effectively, and learn how to qualify opportunities by setting the parameters, uncovering buying motivators, financial ability, decision making processes and summarizing prior to making a proposal or presentation, referred to here as a prescription.

Sales professionals need to learn how to prescribe solutions specific to the customers needs, letting the customer buy, retaining the account, keeping competitors out and developing the account to its maximum potential.

Now that the prospect has purchased the solution, Sales professionals need to maintain the relationship, develop the account for more business and how to obtain new prospect introductions and referrals.

The Bottom Line: Sales is as easy as ABC. Sales people need to follow a proven Sales Results System, or sales process. Businesses today cannot succeed without sales. Without sales there are no transactions. Without transactions there is no revenue. Without revenue, there is no business, no jobs, no bottom line. Sales is the bottom line!

Author: Bob Urichuck
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Netbook, Tablets and Mobile Computing

Manufactures know that sales channels are not only ways to getting new business but also a lifeline just staying alive. In this every changing market where foreign manufacturers are eroding the market share with low pricing, manufacturers must find ways to sell their products and reduce cost.

So what are a manufacturer’s options when it comes to sales? Adding a direct sales force to your payroll can be expensive and risky. A direct sales person must be trained in both product knowledge and selling skills. Once put into the field, most manufactures will allow six month and then expect a return on their investment. If the results are not there, then the manufacture must start all over again.

Another method is to use independent sales reps that only get paid on results. Sounds like to best route to go but there are downsides. Sales reps sell for a number of different manufacturers and thus your product offering may get the attention you expect. Also independent sales reps set their own hours, choose the customers they call upon and sell the products of they choose. Sales reps also want to take over existing business in their territory without earning it or expect to get paid for any missionary work they may do to develop new accounts. This also can be expensive and risky.

Even though there are downsides to using sales reps, there are benefits that far beyond a direct sales force. A properly selected, trained, managed and motivated sales rep network can produce results and keep your marketing and sales overhead down. Here is the process of developing a productive sales rep network.

The first step in developing productive sales rep network is finding and selecting the right sales reps. Easier said than done. It is estimate that there are over 90,000 sales reps in the US that sell everything from cleaning supplies to airplanes. Finding to right reps is like finding a needle in a haystack. The places you can look are business to business yellow pages, association directories, putting up signs at trade shows, asking customers where to find good reps, internet rep search engines, sales representative associations, word of mouth, etc.

The second step in selecting the right sales rep is to review the rep’s line card. A line card is a list of the companies and products a sales rep represents. The line card will indicate the product mix. Your product line must complement the products on the line card. Sales reps specialize in complementary products and industries. Also the type and quality of manufacturers the sales rep presently represents can indicate the skill level of the prospective sales rep. A word to the wise, sales reps that have too many lines, normally to not have the time to pitch everyone’s lines.

Once a candidate is selected via the line card, the next step is to contact the sale rep. This can be done by mail, email and phone. Keep in mind that the good sales reps already have a revenue stream from their present principals and thus you will have to do some selling for the sales rep to carry your line. Some manufacturers think that sales reps are just waiting to pick up another line. The opposite is true. The good sales reps will not pickup a line they don’t think they can sell. For these reps, it’s a waste of time to carry to many lines. Other factors maybe the sales reps may have a conflict and/or their plate is full. The average of sales reps contacted to those who are interested is about 4:1. So don’t get discouraged if you find that there is some work involved.

Once you and sales rep has had an opportunity to review each other materials and there is still interest by both parties, then an interview is in order. A face-to-face meeting is very important either in the field or at the manufacturing plant. It recommended that the manufacturer met the sales rep in the field. This way the manufacturer can see how the sales rep place of business.

Author: Hency Bunner
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera News

In traditional business, marketing is what brings your prospect to your door, gets them to call, send an email or in some cases actually buy. Sales is everything that happens after the prospect has contacted you.

Traditional business is still with us though it has clearly been evolving very rapidly in recent years. Although the general definitions of sales and marketing still apply, business evolution has expanded and radically changed both concepts.

And that evolution appears to be accelerating.

The most obvious difference is the blurring of the lines between sales and marketing. Most low consideration sales involve an emotion, impulse or unmet need. The prospect or customer either buys ‘on the spot’ or they do not buy at all, just like the grocery store. Almost everything we buy falls into this category.

These impulse or emotional sales include items such as hot dogs, toothpaste and gasoline. In these sales the marketing and sales are all bound up into one ‘presentation’. The good news is the sales process and cycle is short and sweet; the bad news is everybody in the world is competing for that same sale.

Higher consideration sales, such as cars, houses, properties, colleges, etc., still fit the more traditional divisions of sales and marketing. That is why many companies split their sales and marketing departments; their respective functions often can be separated.

Most companies set up their marketing departments to drive qualified prospects to their sales department. It is the sales department’s job to assess needs, do presentations, prepare bids and contracts and of course, close the sale.

Although sales and marketing are both involved in buying a CD online or buying a timeshare condo in Akumal, the two processes are very different. Yet even these higher consideration sales are beginning to evolve. Many companies have their marketing departments identify and qualify their prospects before sending the ‘lead’ to the sales department.

The marketing department may be involved in a number of actual sales ‘touch points’ before the sales department gets the lead. The rule is form follows function and function follows results. Of course with anything humans attempt the devil is always in the details. It may seem like sales and marketing would be the same across companies in the same vertical and even horizontal industries. Not so anymore.

How a company structures their sales and marketing processes often determines their degree of success in the marketplace. Technology has now ‘forced’ smaller and medium sized companies to compete directly on strategy.

If everything else is equal between competitors, the one with the best strategy wins. Those companies that don’t wish to compete on strategy simply don’t compete.

The easiest way to determine where marketing ends and sales begins in your company is to draw a flow chart of your sales cycle. Plot out each step as your prospects find out about you, contact you, go though your sales presentation, ask questions and obtain enough information to make an informed decision. And of course buy.

If your sales process is complex and involves repeat sales, don’t forget to include the follow-up on ongoing sales potential.

The important point to remember is it is not as important to create a distinction between sales and marketing as it is to develop marketing and sales strategies that work. Consequently your marketing and sales departments may be the same or they may be on opposite sides of the planet, depending on your sales cycle.

So the real answer to what is the difference between sales and marketing is …it depends. It’s relative because the answer will always be dependent on the application or sales cycle and process. How your company structures your sales and marketing functions will most likely determine whether your company succeeds and fails.

But like most things in life, the devil is always in the details…

Author: Jack Deal
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Credit card currency-exchange fees