Page 83 - Lighting Magazine July 2018

This month’s column is for the career salespeople, those who have been in sales for some time and those who manage them.
on the Mark
With the increased performance demands placed on sales de- partments of every company in, and outside of, our industry, the people directing sales
activities are seeking ways to re ne, advance, and develop their teams.
Right up there with all the critical tasks that ll your day, such as price changes, re ghting, and playing the nd-the-missing-item game, it is crucial to your company’s growth to fast-track the devel- opment of your team’s sales skills while coaching them to the performance levels required by your customer base.
WHy Do IT?
The role and the activities performed by a sales professional have been – and still are – in a constant state of ux. Other than the foundational skill set that each rookie is exposed to, many of the re ne- ments in the way we sell has changed. Tactics and techniques that worked just ve years ago don’t work today. That said, success and standards are subjective points measured against your chosen metrics. Your salespeople are like top athletes, and each requires training and individual coaching.
For your top performers, focus on just one activity that will make them be er overall. Since they are at the top of their game, they only need slight modi cations to see signi cant results. As we continue on the performance scale, coach to the behavior that will provide the most impact to each individual’s performance.
If you have 10 salespeople on the team, there will be 10 di erent coaching scenarios going on while also being focused on the continuing group education.
jusT asK
This simple acronym sums it up: ASK = A itude, Skills, Knowledge. While a salesperson’s a itude has always been at the forefront of their success, these days we must make some re nements to
accommodate today’s empowered consumer and build a solid bond with them. The level of con - dence that must be communicated to the potential buyer is one of value, not ego.
The determination to succeed – combined with a personal internal persistence – is about an a itude and a mindset that must be woven into the fabric of today’s professional salesperson. Determination arises from the acceptance of the lows associated with failed sales a empts, all while knowing that when reviewing the breakdown of a post-interac- tion between you and the customer, it is not the customer who is at fault. Every missed sales oppor- tunity has a critical point that will be the cause of sales success — or the reason for it to fail, and the reasons why we lose a sale can be endless.
Some of the reasons we lose a sale today are not necessarily because of the commonly heard excuses: “They can get it online quicker,” “The price online is lower,” and “Free shipping, free returns.” While each of those may contain some truth, they are still not the reason for the loss of so many sales opportunities.
The real reason for lackluster closing rates and clients who don’t come back is due to the sales- person’s failure to communicate value. That value has nothing to do with price. It is based upon them- selves as experts, the showroom they work in, and the products they represent — each provides an exceptional bene t to the customer that goes be- yond price alone.
no GaIn, no PaIn
Building your selling skills is like golf; you play against yourself, and the only way to get be er is to review the actions you took and make the modi ca- tions needed to drop your swing count.
The same is true when you’re a professional salesperson; it takes e ort to be good at what you do. Every time you work with a client, make a self- evaluation of the process you went through, from greeting until close or when they le without buy- ing. Think of each customer as a golf swing. How
july 2018 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 81