by Alice Heiman on May 7, 2011
It’s not what we do or how we do it but why that differentiates us. Today I was on the radio show Bosma on Business. Mike asked us what’s the number one thing that will increase sales? I agreed with all the answers they gave as things that will help you increase sales but in my opinion the number one thing that has to come before all the others is that you have to believe you can increase sales. And in order to believe that, you have to believe that what you are selling has value and that people need it because it will make a difference and have a significant impact on what they are trying to accomplish. This is why in a small business or a start up the owner or founders frequently tell me that they out sell their sales team. Of course they do, they have incredible passion and refuse to fail. If they are still outselling their sales team maybe 
they have failed to engage them fully in their mission or to help them understand why they started the business and why it matters. Their salespeople are out selling what the company does and how they do it, instead of why. This requires passion. The business owner needs to be an inspiring leader to instill this in the salespeople. If the salespeople love what they do and believe fully in the company and its products the sales will follow. Of course they need training and coaching but all the training and coaching in the world won’t help salespeople exceed quota if they don’t believe. I am reading a great book that explains this very well, Start With Why by Simon Sinek. I highly recommend every business owner and everyone who has to sell read this book.
Think of it this way, the selling doesn’t start until you suspect a need. How would you come to suspect a need? By getting to know the person. By asking questions and listening. Once they say they are interested you can start learning more and educating them but instead of telling them the features and benefits of your product and trying to differentiate your product from others what if you helped them understand why your company does what it does, why you love your job and why you believe in your offerings. You would be getting them excited and engaged. Why you do what you do can differentiate you and help people understand why they should buy from you.
Here’s an example.
How: I sell sales training, coaching and consulting.
What: I help companies increase sales.
Why: I believe that every company can have all the sales they need.
The last one is more engaging. It’s emotional. Every business owner and salesperson I know wants to have all the sales they need. Think about how you can help your customers and prospects understand your “why”. If you are having trouble with that give me a shout at answers@aliceheiman.com or call me at 775-852-5020.
by Alice Heiman on April 25, 2011
I was listening to this Sales Management Minute from my colleague, Lee Salz and it will really hit home with small business owners and managers. I posted this response to him on LinkedIn and thought I would share it with you because so many companies have struggled with hiring and onboarding salespeople.
Onboarding salespeople is one of the toughest things my small businesses face. They flat out don’t do it because they don’t understand what needs to be done. A few months later they are complaining that their salesperson isn’t performing. Large companies often have the luxury of hiring several salespeople at one time and sending them through two weeks of product and company training. That is a start and their manager gets them. In companies large and small it would behoove them to have a formal onboarding process with a check list of things the salesperson needs to become proficient at in order to sell successfully for their company. Notice I said, “for their company” and that is because that salesperson may have been great for the last company but now they are at your company and it is different and they need to learn their new selling job and all the nuances. Onboarding is only going to work if the right person was hired in the first place so I recommend taking a step back and looking at your hiring process. If you hire right, onboarding will be more successful. 
In my opinion the onboarding process needs to start with learning the people and the culture of the organization and that can happen simultaneously with product training. Then shadowing a successful salesperson and in a small company that can sometimes be the business owner. Once the salesperson is ready to start selling someone needs to shadow him for a week or so to be sure things are going well, tell him what he is doing right and make corrections. I’ll like to call the customers and prospects that he called on to see what their experience has been and get their feedback. I also like to talk to all of the people at the company that the new salesperson interacts with and get their impressions. My goal is to make this salesperson successful and avoid problems down the road. It’s easier to give feedback and make corrections in the first few months before bad habits set in. I’m sure people reading this are thinking this is too much and takes too much time. I’ve heard many sales managers and business owners say, “I hired him because he knew how to sell, why do I need to teach him to sell.” They think product training is enough. If you have a process for onboarding it actually takes very little extra time, it saves you thousands of dollars and gets your salesperson generating revenue more quickly.
Read more on this topic in my article, Why Your New Salesperson Isn’t Selling Anything
