What would life be like for you in the perfect sales job? My guess is every customer expected to close would sign the order with no argument. There would be no negotiation, because the price would always be right. The competition wouldn’t be a threat, because the product is a stand out solution. There would be no problem with finding prospects, because marketing brought inquiries from prospects with the right need, and a budget.
Unfortunately jobs like that don’t exist. Instead sales people have to cope with three particular problems.
Hot Prospects Not Closing When They Should
The very worst problem for sales people comes when prospects don’t close when they’ve said they would.
Suspects Dropping Out Of The Pipeline
It’s hard to progress a suspect who won’t agree a buy/sell process. Having said they’re interested in knowing more, everything suddenly goes quiet. Calls aren’t returned.
Targets Not Moving to Buying
The sales pitch doesn’t work. There’s no response. No feedback to base a sales campaign on.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Sales people can choose the way they work. They can be intelligent about the situation, making the most of the cards they’re dealt. They can choose targets they’ll pursue. They can manage the progression from Suspect to Prospect. They can make Prospects comfortable with buying.
The problems outlined here can all be solved with strategy and it’s three main components:
Sales professionals who take responsibility for their own strategies can have the closest thing there is to the perfect sales job. They’ll take the tools provided by the company – product, marketing, price and customer service – and create their own, individual business model.
If you’d like to know more about how to create your own perfect sales job check out our download tutorials for classes on sales and sales management.
