I often get a chance through some of our relationships and networks to work with startup companies or early stage ventures looking for sales advice. In just such a recent session I had a friendly reminder that we often take for granted, or as a fundamental, is not always the case for someone early in their sales career or with no sales experience at all.
In the course of the training session I asked the owners in the room if they had a revenue target for the year. Well of course they did, everyone does, 11 of 11 hands went up in the air. Then I asked how many of them knew the average value of their sales or product. Again, no brainer right 11 of 11 hands in the air. Perfect, so then everyone knows what number of sales they need each month to hit that number and if it is achievable right? Crickets, 1 of 11 hands went up in the air and the other 10 looked at each other and smiled as they realized a major gap in their plan.
I thought as I stood there in front of a group of very focused, driven and smart business owners that the fundamentals we take for granted may be worth outlining and developing. Here are a few that everyone should in mind:
- Know your numbers. Work backwards from revenue to deals to dials and activities. The more you know what each at bat is worth the harder you will focus on the hard-to-do activities to get you there.
- Plan your day and work that plan. Every business has a business plan or a budget. Manage your sales the same way. Analyze what is working and what is not, make changes and take time to plan for the future. You should focus on doing every part of your sale every day. That way you can flatten out the peaks and valleys of your good vs. bad months.
- Practice makes perfect. I often remind sales teams as we train that you cannot just learn a new skill and put it into action. You need to practice, just like elite athletes do before a game.
- Avoid analysis paralysis. Sometimes too much planning can slow you down. Don’t try to out think and plan each call and each scenario. Know your product, your target’s issues and how to apply your solution inside and out and then pick up the phone and call.
- Take Time Out. Stepping back and working on your process is often just as important as making your sales calls and outreach. If you are not critical and open to improving how you have approached a market you will soon watch others pass you by.
Sales is hard and there are many methods and approaches that teams take. There are also probably a dozen more fundamentals that will come into play depending on your target market and sale. That said, the most basic is having a plan. If you have a plan and miss, you will at least be able to look back and see where you went off the path or what assumption was wrong. Otherwise, you will never reach a scalable and repeatable revenue stream for your business.
Happy Selling![/fusion_text][/fullwidth]