Today’s sales professionals know that success is so much more than just making their quotas. Of course, that remains critical. But certain factors differentiate the “just-made-it people” from those who are innovative top performers.
- Walk A Mile in Their Shoes
Understanding what is important to your prospect is critical. After all, that’s a key part of ANY good relationship, right?
What’s important to your C-suite? What keeps them up at night? Do you know? Put yourself in their shoes. Invest your time in finding out. Learn more about their business and their product.
- Be A “Goal” Digger
If you don’t know your prospects’ goals, you’ll never reach ‘em.
What if it’s increasing market share? Can you suggest a new or emerging market, a different demographic, a potential new application? The more you learn about your potential customer’s goals, the more you can partner with them so that you become part of their solution.
Maybe their goal is to sell more units. Find out what is holding them back. Alternatively, the company might be focused on increasing their EBIT or decreasing their expenses. Learn about strategies for achieving this so that you can talk knowledgeably as your prospect explores various options.
- Understand each side of the chess board
Be the eyes and ears of not only the competitive landscape but your internal one as well. Analyzing your competition & your own company gives you an edge. Track the stats. Find out the:
- percentage of pipeline that comes from referrals
- average sales cycle time
- typical sale amount for new and repeat clients
- percentage of repeat business
- measures for client satisfaction
- number of glitches a client has experienced over the past 18 months
- number of clients who leave per year, and their reasons
- your competitors’ market presence; is it increasing or decreasing, and why
- any major leadership change and the background of this
- the expected growth for your specific industry over the next three years
Becoming Valued Partners
Salespeople have become increasingly tied to the success of our customers as well as our own company. No longer is it enough to just hit quota. We must also:
- be experts in our space
- know our product—and our competitor’s product
- be business savvy
By applying business acumen, we can help our prospects discover solutions to their goals. In this way, we become more than just salespeople. We become valued partners who can help our prospects succeed above and beyond their competitors.