Archive for category: General Information

Although the word “profiling” has a negative connotation in the world of police activity and airport security, according to Merriam Webster, profiling in sales is not only permissible, it is paramount to success:  “Profiling – The act or process of targeting a person (or organization) on the basis of known traits, tendencies, characteristics or behaviors”.

A successful sales organization knows all about targeting customers; understanding who they are, what goals they are working toward, what industry wide challenges commonly prevent them from achieving their objectives, and what motivates them to buy.  These “traits, tendencies, characteristics or behaviors” facilitate an understanding of how a company’s product or service aligns with the marketplace and provides a sustainable business model for success.  In a business setting, targeting may work for marketing, but on the streets, reps need the specific criteria to go out there and win.

Identify the Criteria to Increase Success

Have you fine-tuned the profiling expertise of your sales department?  It’s not hard to define your target audience at a high level, but have you taken a granular look at who the ideal buyers are in your market?  Who are your reps calling on?  Are they picking out prospects randomly from an organizational line up, or do they know whom they are trying to identify?   Have you profiled the roles of those who can actually make or influence a buying decision in your industry or market?  Do you have your finger on the pulse of how those buying influencing roles may have changed or may be changing in the current marketplace?  Do you understand what they’re trying to achieve, what challenges they may be facing, and how to align specific nuances of your product or service directly with their particular roles?  The profiles of the roles of each person at the decision maker level may only be slightly diverse, but a rep’s clear understanding of the individuals, carefully profiled, can make all the difference in their success.

Ready, Fire, Aim Won’t Work; How We Help 

At Flannery Sales Systems, our Sales Process Definition Workshops provide an opportunity to collaborate with our clients, utilizing research and our joint industry experience and expertise, to sharpen an organization’s profiling aptitude.  Together, we document the profiles of the compulsory decision makers and buying influences required to facilitate a sale.  We help specify the representative objectives, needs, problems and challenges of the decision makers and those in a buying influence role.  Next, we help our clients carefully determine how specific components of their products and services align with their particular targeted audience profile.  In a messaging session, we help build a customized strategy for the rep to use when preparing for a conversation with the target audience.

Decrease the Cost of Sales with Clear Targets

Putting profiling strategies into practice speeds up the sale by providing valuable tools for reps to help them deliver a focused and consistent message, which qualifies the prospect sooner, shortens the sales cycle, minimizes defeat, and keeps the reps on their beat closing more business and doing what they do so well.  Profiling?  Not only permissible…a powerful strategy for success.

This may sound like a career limiting statement coming from someone that you perceive as a sales trainer, but sales training that is conducted on an “event” type of basis simply does not work. There are ways to achieve positive change through training, and there are ways to spend several thousand dollars for no change.

Over the years we’ve been hired by clients for a 1 hour kick off motivational keynote, we’ve been hired for 3 days of intense sales process training and we’ve been hired for everything in between.  Different types of training accomplish different goals.  We’ve learned a few things along the way. If your goal is to transform the organization to achieve goals like increasing sales or increasing profit margin, then the actual training itself is only10% of the overall process.

Consider the following before you spend your valuable dollars on sales training:

Step 1: Change begins with the Implementation Plan

Begin your transformation with the end in mind.  What are the metrics that will be measured for the sales person, managers and related team members to achieve?  Is the leadership going to hold them accountable for achieving goals? For example, to achieve 10% growth in revenue, you’ve calculated that each sales person needs to meet with 1 additional qualified prospect per day; the skill being developed is new business development.  How do hold them accountable for that number? The measure of success could be an email that the sales person sends to the customer as a summary of that meeting.  This is an auditable measure by the manager and the manager’s manager.  Those emails not only provide a quantitative measure, but managers, even the CEO, can peek into an email and see the quality of the customer interactions. How well was the skill being utilized captured in the follow up e mail? Is this a qualified prospect as defined by the metric to add 1 new per day?

Step 2:  Reinforcement and Coaching as part of Management’s “Operating Rhythm”

Sales skills enhanced or gained in a training session are 80% forgotten after the first 30 days.  Why?  When not practiced or measured with a 3^rd party, there’s often little to no change in behavior.  The formula for reinforcement is:  a) apply the skill learned b) share results with the coach and then c) reinforce the behavior.  First, get attendees to apply new skills in the field, and do this one skill at a time.  This could be a verbal or written sales skill, then coach.  Ask the individual specific questions pertaining to the outcome desired. For the example above, did they meet (or converse) with 1 new, qualified prospect. Frame questions that help them to understand what went well and where correction needs to happen. Next, ask them how they can improve their results. Effective coaches help the person being developed to find their own answers.  Finally, ask would happen if next time you tried…. and insert a specific recommendation.  Another method is to reinforce a skill that’s lacking by reviewing a video of someone who is good at the skill execution, or practicing a future conversation with a recording.

Sales Process Workshop

• Buying Cycle
• Time Management
• Getting to the Need

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• Building Trust
• Managing Expectations
• Negotiate and Close