Sales flow in 2023

A couple of years ago, there was a question in the community - how to become a sales rep, which books to read, which courses to take. Then people asked how to become more efficient - they have read the books, attended enough courses and wanted to know how to live with that all and to use the knowledge right. Today, the main question is how to combat procrastination in sales, when you know all the stuff, but are too lazy to work? Automation first, haha, explore?Expandi.io

?Sales turn out?to be the delivery of useful and interesting information to customers in bond with a large scope of materials and analytics. And most of us overlooked it, understanding the sales rep role. Courses and books are fuel for the brain. You attend a course, get the idea, go to try. But few people can fundamentally estimate their own development and growth in the company. Everybody is looking for parallels - an effective lead generator in the company is good luck for everyone and a lot of bonuses for sales reps. Poorly working lead generator - is much ado about nothing, little money, a lot of nerves.?

?So I have made a conclusion during the last years - most of the guys either know how to talk or how to make reports. Almost everyone procrastinates, because the role of sales rep includes many aspects such as:?

1) The beginning of the sales path. When you talk and pitch, complete the first part and advance 20% of the way to the client's satisfaction. Most sales at this stage beat their chests that they are real sales and can fully justify their role simply because they can speak.??

2) Analysis and preparation of documents. Next 20% of the way are more difficult. Sales needs to do a lot of work. He should admit that the client is really qualified and ready to buy, then go sell this fact in the company and start preparing materials for the presentation. Traditionally, pitches remain at the same level - they were done in the first days of the company's work and are the same old presentation in a strange style with strange bullets. Here we will change color a little, put a price tag and start a dialogue. At this level, all the sales are falling down the same as the competence of the sales rep to move this case further. First thing is the willingness of the client to buy, because we often sell to someone who is not ready to do it at all.?

Second, the company does not trust in a sales rep, in itself, that it can sell and thus does not release energy necessary for the materials preparation. Accordingly, trust collapses in this process and understanding built over the years - sales reps make wrong qualifications, customers want wrong things, documents are not updated, because of any deals closed yet, and the worth of work reduces to zero. Sales reps should have the skills to determine the readiness of the client in this way, explain it to the company, monitor the quality of the information provided, confirm the readiness to sell and maintain further dialogue. This is the next 30% of the way. On this stage, most sales reps lose their cost as an employee.?

3) Presentation and making the arguments. All those chatterboxes at the very beginning of the client journey, showed excellent skills here, begin to win back their positions and break out again in front of presenting what the company has prepared together with the sales rep. Part of the problem is also that not all sales reps really want to figure out what the company will actually solve for the client. Informing the client only about what CTO or Dev wrote without having an idea about how it may reduce the likelihood of closure. Often, the responsibility for the presentation is shifted automatically to the CTO who prepared the document. You wrote it, for natural reasons, so you have to present your creature. In this regard, one hundred CTOs can simply do the job for a sales rep, preserving the meaning. Most sales reps, due to a lack of communication skills and an expression of empathy, complicate everything and make a presentation "scientific". It turns out that all we have spent in the form of energy and a 50% of path results in how the technical department presents it. It's great that most techies have a high level of English, can understand the client's questions, write them down and process. The situation will look better when sales is complemented by a CTO or a product project developer, and they clearly discuss the stages of the project, its complexity, solutions and their roles are well distributed - everybody knows what to say. In this process, Sales loses its value by 30% if he cannot present the project together with his colleagues.??

4) Favorite word is "Closure". I personally don't like it. It does not contain the essence that actually happens in the process. No one is being closed or pinched. In fact, the client accepts the information from the first time or kicks it away for clarifications, additions and, in extremely rare improvement cases. Basically, the closure looks like sales runs from the client to the production department and back, synchronizing on the fly. Often these are ordinary questions, but sometimes it is a complete offer processing and presentations after the first feedback. At this stage, the most important skills of sales are included - analytical thinking, negotiation skills. The concept is that at this stage it is important to logically perfect solutions. There should be an input between each stage and an output of events respectively. Sales, who are weak in negotiations, is a speed loss, and loss in value of the project. This skill is acquired by experience and constant training, it is not congenital. And I'm not talking about manipulative skills here. Well, to compare causality during the negotiation process is also included in the skill set of the sales rep. The sales rep, who is bright from presentation to offer, but weak in negotiations - devalues 100% of his work.?

Therefore, in such a flow like sales we cannot afford so-come-down approach. Or some techniques or scenarios from the courses on how to circle the lead in a new way. It turns out that a Sales rep has a difficult job though and this just explains to other CEOs that sales are not just "talking". Sales mean to think, it's trite, but it's true! Only a thinking sales rep, who is constantly leveling up through all stages, can be truly considered a sales rep. Most combinations of sales reps:?

- Cool presentation, but not systematic

- Systematic, but sucks in presentation?

- Analytical mind, but does not know how to negotiate?

- Good at negotiations, but does not know how to make presentation?

- Aggressive, smart aleck, eyes light up, knows what to say, but lacks knowledge

?I mean, I have never really seen such a sales rep that could be ideal for all processes and circumstances. Is it possible to sell despite the fact that some chains do not completely coincide? The answer is Yes. In this process, your KPI is not 100%, but for example 60%, i.e. you have lost half or a third of your bonuses for the same amount of time, for example. Those who are interested in minimizing losses understand their missing skills - they learn and level up to 80-85%, then they succeed to sell confidently, and everyone is happy.?

?From this follows that experienced managers and founders see in their colleagues the right combinations that complement the department and put the colleagues in the right process and place so that there is the right result and no one burns out due to a lack of skills. Plus, in the process of work, they give all the skill sets for training, so that after 6-12 months everyone develops the necessary skills and aligns within the team.??