Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/508347
20 FEDA News & Views Sales Manager's Q&A Don Buttrey, the author of The SELL Process and recent FEDA sales training seminar speaker, tackles his list of most-asked questions What preparation should I expect my salespeople to do before picking up the phone or meeting with a customer? Most of the time salespeople do the typical prep, such as reviewing notes on the customer—past sales, problems, internal politics, personal facts, previous calls, etc. Then they pick up the phone, or charge in, and "see how it goes." I call this "showing up and throwing up." I accept the reality that selling is very dynamic and that anything can happen. However, one of the most important disciplines and skills I teach is tacti- cal pre-call planning. When salespeople make proactive calls, they are on the "offense" and they should prepare their offense! What will they say to start? What questions will they ask and how will they word them for maximum effectiveness? What benefits of product or distributor value will they leverage? What is their action-oriented objective and how will they ask for commitment or action? My short answer to this question is that salespeople should pre-call plan using the SELL Process tool before every call. SELL stands for Start, Evaluate, Leverage, Lock, and each of these steps should be prepared in order to maxi- mize every precious customer interac- tion. Preparation and ongoing practice are essential. You play like you prac- tice—and salespeople just don't prac- tice enough. How can I make some necessary territory changes and restructure the sales department without a mutiny? Also, how can we implement technology such as CRM when it seems to be resisted for numerous reasons? Believe it or not, I suggest laying tough issues like this out on the table with your salespeople. Teach them the reali- ties and the issues that you see as a leader with a larger perspective. Sell to them the importance of changing. You are not the enemy. The competition is! I am a believer in getting the solution, buy-in and ownership from the salespeo- ple themselves. If you jam it down their throat, they will not do it anyway—at least not with the heart needed to suc- ceed. I am a firm believer that once they see and learn the stuff of professional selling, they will be convicted about how far they are missing the mark. From there, a ground level of support can help you restructure your sales department and make needed changes. Then, to implement, it requires top leadership commitment with firm exe- cution of necessary strategic changes. Change your system! Otherwise, if you show the slightest lack of author- ity or conviction, it will get overturned, ignored or "waited out." Michael Gerber put it this way, "If you tell people to do the right things and your system tells them otherwise...the system will win every time." Leadership with a clear mission, along with persuasive "selling" (versus "telling") of the required changes, are the keys to necessary restructuring. Are salespeople born or made? Neither. It really takes both. Granted, some individuals are born with great gifts. They have contagious personali- ties, persuasive ability, the gift of talking, or technical/mechanical aptitude. These are all excellent talents that can be good starting points. However, I believe that they're not enough. For sales success in today's tough mar- ket, it also requires training and practice on fundamental selling skills. The skills