Do you have a personal sales strategy?
On yet another Monday morning, ace salesman Jarek Mamkac comes to work after an "intense" weekend, switches on his laptop, and gazes at his computer screen.
"Who should I call on this week?" Jarek asks himself. After a few moments of scrolling through his database, he picks a few names, jots them down, and starts calling. Within an hour or so he has three or four meetings set, two price quotes to prepare for clients, and a plan - more or less - of how he's going to score the big one this week, which will help him achieve his sales budget. Pleased with himself, Jarek pops two aspirin, sips his coffee and takes a cigarette break.
Does this sound familiar?
We suspect that there are many sales reps who approach their work week in a similar way. Unfortunately, while this approach may lead to the occasional success, it won't lead to sustained sales excellence, which is clearly your goal.
Sales excellence requires more. It requires a strategy. In the same way that random behaviour on the part of the company usually leads to poor performance, anything less than a coherent personal sales strategy will lead to disappointment for the sales professional.
What exactly is a personal sales strategy? It's not the same as a company strategy, which may include elements of pricing issues and product offerings, among others. Your personal sales strategy is simpler. It has two main components: your client strategy and your time strategy. For now, we'll tell you about your client strategy for now.
The assumption we make here is that you have reliable data on your 2002 sales, on a client-by-client basis, and that you have a database of clients and prospects. It would be useful if you had historical sales data for 2000 and 2001 as well, though not critical. The other assumption is that you are selling a product or service to a group of repeat buyers. If you are selling something one-off, and don't expect to see your client ever again, then you'll need to take a slightly different approach. Finally, depending on the specifics of your industry, you might need to slightly modify the steps below.
Here's what we did at our company in Kraków. This client-evaluation process should help you set some priorities and goals for the coming year:
" Analyse actual 2002 sales for each client. While doing so, the sales rep should be thinking about these clients, when they ordered and how frequently, and whether this is a loyal client or a one-off. You should also note whether this client is a "key account," a "good prospect" or a "small account." You can come up with a naming system that meets your needs. It pays to define it in writing, so everyone is using the same terminology. For Jarek, "key account" should mean the same as it does for Agnieszka. In our business, a "key account" is a client who has the potential to spend zł. 100,000 a year on promotional merchandise or programmes.
" Identify your top clients. These are not prospects, but clients who have actually purchased something from you. They don't need to be introduced to the company or to your offer, but may need some serious work to exploit their full potential. Have you met the key decision-makers or identified other departments which might need your services? You should rank them in terms of sales potential.
" Estimate your sales potential for 2003. We do it in terms of "base case" and "best case" scenarios. This is not always easy, but if a sales professional knows his clients reasonably well, he can make estimates based on the fact that "this client said his marketing budget was seriously cut last year, and this year he is planning to spend a little more."
" Identify your top prospects. These can be from past clients who haven't purchased recently (what we call "sleeping clients") or pure prospects who have never done business with you. Just as with clients, you should estimate a base case and best case sales level for 2003. This will require some guesswork, but if you take into consideration industry averages and other available information, you should be able to prioritise your prospects as well.
From our experience, your list can be as short as 10 or as long as 100, depending on your industry. Our sales reps generally have 20-50 key clients and prospects each. And since you're always looking to add new prospects, the list isn't limited, although it should be the focus of your attention.
Now that you have your key client list for the year, you have the most important component of your sales strategy. We all know the 80/20 rule - 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. If this list represents your top clients and prospects, then the odds are that 80% of your sales, and hence 80% of your compensation, is going to come from these clients.
How do we maximise sales to this list? More visits, more phone calls, special presentations for key buyers, customised offers, or perhaps bringing your company president or sales director to a meeting. While the telephone and e-mail are useful and convenient tools for communicating with your clients, there is nothing more valuable than sitting down and listening to them.
Next time: Part 2 of personal sales strategy - sales time management
Matt Lynch is key accounts director at LYNKA Promotional Products. John Lynch is president of LYNKA and a member of the board of directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland. They can be reached at sales@lynka.com.pl.
"Who should I call on this week?" Jarek asks himself. After a few moments of scrolling through his database, he picks a few names, jots them down, and starts calling. Within an hour or so he has three or four meetings set, two price quotes to prepare for clients, and a plan - more or less - of how he's going to score the big one this week, which will help him achieve his sales budget. Pleased with himself, Jarek pops two aspirin, sips his coffee and takes a cigarette break.
Does this sound familiar?
We suspect that there are many sales reps who approach their work week in a similar way. Unfortunately, while this approach may lead to the occasional success, it won't lead to sustained sales excellence, which is clearly your goal.
Sales excellence requires more. It requires a strategy. In the same way that random behaviour on the part of the company usually leads to poor performance, anything less than a coherent personal sales strategy will lead to disappointment for the sales professional.
What exactly is a personal sales strategy? It's not the same as a company strategy, which may include elements of pricing issues and product offerings, among others. Your personal sales strategy is simpler. It has two main components: your client strategy and your time strategy. For now, we'll tell you about your client strategy for now.
The assumption we make here is that you have reliable data on your 2002 sales, on a client-by-client basis, and that you have a database of clients and prospects. It would be useful if you had historical sales data for 2000 and 2001 as well, though not critical. The other assumption is that you are selling a product or service to a group of repeat buyers. If you are selling something one-off, and don't expect to see your client ever again, then you'll need to take a slightly different approach. Finally, depending on the specifics of your industry, you might need to slightly modify the steps below.
Here's what we did at our company in Kraków. This client-evaluation process should help you set some priorities and goals for the coming year:
" Analyse actual 2002 sales for each client. While doing so, the sales rep should be thinking about these clients, when they ordered and how frequently, and whether this is a loyal client or a one-off. You should also note whether this client is a "key account," a "good prospect" or a "small account." You can come up with a naming system that meets your needs. It pays to define it in writing, so everyone is using the same terminology. For Jarek, "key account" should mean the same as it does for Agnieszka. In our business, a "key account" is a client who has the potential to spend zł. 100,000 a year on promotional merchandise or programmes.
" Identify your top clients. These are not prospects, but clients who have actually purchased something from you. They don't need to be introduced to the company or to your offer, but may need some serious work to exploit their full potential. Have you met the key decision-makers or identified other departments which might need your services? You should rank them in terms of sales potential.
" Estimate your sales potential for 2003. We do it in terms of "base case" and "best case" scenarios. This is not always easy, but if a sales professional knows his clients reasonably well, he can make estimates based on the fact that "this client said his marketing budget was seriously cut last year, and this year he is planning to spend a little more."
" Identify your top prospects. These can be from past clients who haven't purchased recently (what we call "sleeping clients") or pure prospects who have never done business with you. Just as with clients, you should estimate a base case and best case sales level for 2003. This will require some guesswork, but if you take into consideration industry averages and other available information, you should be able to prioritise your prospects as well.
From our experience, your list can be as short as 10 or as long as 100, depending on your industry. Our sales reps generally have 20-50 key clients and prospects each. And since you're always looking to add new prospects, the list isn't limited, although it should be the focus of your attention.
Now that you have your key client list for the year, you have the most important component of your sales strategy. We all know the 80/20 rule - 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. If this list represents your top clients and prospects, then the odds are that 80% of your sales, and hence 80% of your compensation, is going to come from these clients.
How do we maximise sales to this list? More visits, more phone calls, special presentations for key buyers, customised offers, or perhaps bringing your company president or sales director to a meeting. While the telephone and e-mail are useful and convenient tools for communicating with your clients, there is nothing more valuable than sitting down and listening to them.
Next time: Part 2 of personal sales strategy - sales time management
Matt Lynch is key accounts director at LYNKA Promotional Products. John Lynch is president of LYNKA and a member of the board of directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland. They can be reached at sales@lynka.com.pl.
