How do the best businesses develop long term sales success? Get people to buy what they need.

Why is it that sales are such a hard thing to develop and drive? It’s as though consumers feel that they are always being ripped off. I believe this is because most managers put an emphasis on sales and profit as opposed to why customers and clients need what they have to offer.

The art of sales is about relationships and developing trust with your client. This, in turn, builds a long term big money clients.

But how do you develop an environment that fosters this kind of behavior from your employees and sales staff?

Change the culture of your business for the better

The way you and your employees perceive your company and the way you project your feelings onto the customer plays an important roll in developing a sales relationship.

For example, pawn shops tend to do better when the products are displayed randomly all over the store under dim lighting while the help is a casually dressed cashier. This gives customers the feeling that it’s a laid back atmosphere where they also believe they could essentially find some sort of amazing deal mixed in with the junk.

On the other end of the spectrum, when you walk into Saks they give you the feeling that everything in their store is precious as if it were diamond encrusted (and sometimes it really is). Everything is in its very own specially designed display center; giving the impression that the products and people who shop in the store are upscale and therefore higher class. Furthermore, the staff is educated about the products they sell, and are expected to adhere to a strict dress code while giving customers the maximum service possible.

Develop a sales strategy based on needs and benefits

Once you have everyone in your company on the same page and you have a strong grasp of the culture of your company you can build a sales plan.

The first step is to sit down with as many people as possible (preferably within your target market) and develop a few lists.

Remember don’t limit your lists to only a few ideas that you feel are the best ones. Write them all down. A bad idea to begin with can end up being a gem with some love and imagination.

There will be four lists to make:
• The benefits of the product
• The problems of the product
• What, when and why the consumer feels they need to buy your product or service
• How does it compare it to your competitor

As far as the list of problems and competitors: think deeply on why these factors keep people from buying from you.

Then find the solution that only your product offers, the very thing that makes it a superior solution to your competitors. You can also come up with a sound reason why the “problem” shouldn’t even be a factor when the consumer is making their buying decision.

Once you have collected the information, you want to choose your product’s key benefit and the most common reason the target market is in need of the product.

Train your staff to know these factors inside and out. This way when they make a presentation or a pitch they’ll highlight the factors that will move the customer to buy while not feeling as though they were conned into it.

The best thing to do next is to write a training manual based on the facts you have accumulated and consistently educate your staff. This education will give them confidence and a more relaxed approach to the sales process and keep them from being too “salesy”.

It will also give your staff a sense of pride and accomplishment because they will know for certain they are selling something beneficial to the client.

New ways to motivate staff

Bonuses for top sales are great but I think we should praise the staff that has the most consistent record of happy clients. Make all staff responsible for getting a review from customers and offer incentives for customer satisfaction and returned reviews.

Focusing your advertising and developing an effective marketing plan

Using the information from the newly written training manual, you now have focus and specific goals in your advertising. You can now effectively move your target market to buy from you.

All you need is good creative and an intuitive marketing plan aimed at showing the consumer, who already needs your product, why they need it.

If you don’t have the experience or resources to do focus groups or marketing plans you can always hire out. Many companies including Assurance Advertising offer these services for much less than what it would cost for you to do it in house.

So go for it; take the extra few hours this week and find out what it is that really sells your product then use it. Your pocket book will thank you!

Managers have the daunting task of trying to stay on top of all day-to-day activities, training staff and servicing clients; developing a good tracking system for your staff can give you the time and the edge necessarily for success.

Keep your staff in the loop

First organize your sales process into steps, if you have not done so already. For example: Step one- meet and greet. Step two- needs assessment; and so on.

Next develop a system of organization that you can be comfortable checking. It’s always good to have instant access from anywhere at any time.

Also remember that sales never end; even when you’re not on the sales floor you are looking for prospects and handing out business cards. Logging these prospects into your system at any time of the day or night can keep you and your staff on top of these prospects.

The next step to good organization is having everyone on the same page. If you are already using a system make sure you train everyone on the specifics of the program as well as how you specifically want them to use it. This type of training is essential to avoid any employee from veering too far from what you expect from them.

In the rare case your system is still analog make sure everyone knows when and how to log their info. If your system is digital make sure pass codes are up-to-date and that all staff receives continuous training.

The best way to incorporate the continuous training is to hold weekly training and progress reporting for your staff.

First, ask everyone to explain where they are in the sales process and how they plan to find more clients.

Next ask if everyone is current on their logging of new prospects. Make sure to check and see if everyone has completed what they said they did.

By making this a weekly habit and making people responsible for their actions you’ll find that after a while your staff will police itself; putting an end to the constant nagging that is the biggest culprit of staff burnout on the sales floor.

Another benefit is that you yourself will have greater access to your staff and will be ready for problems before they come up.

In conclusion; management sales and organization can bring you more money

Give your staff the cutting-edge in sales tracking and organization and you’ll surely see an increase in sales that means bigger paychecks for all.

Remember great businesses are great because of the systems they use to making things efficient. This is one of the fundamental ideas companies like Walmart and Mcdonalds used to get to the top. It’s time to put these ideals to good use, don’t you think?

A great book that goes over this is “The E Myth” by Michael E Gerber. If you haven’t read it, I do highly recommend it. It’s easy to read, fairly short and has some of the finest management and business tips to this day, and the book was first published in 1985!

If you have any questions on types of programs or organizational tools feel free to leave a comment. We are, after all, here to help you learn and make more money!