Most sales managers spend the first half of the calendar year thinking hard about how they are going to stretch their budgets during the next financial year.
You might even be one of those sales managers whose financial year starts right now, so it’s likely you are thinking even harder about it this very moment.
Because our business has a rather diverse mix of clientele (IT, industrial, property, auto sector), we work alongside a very interesting mix of sales managers and we always ask their opinions and what their biggest challenges are.
One of the biggest challenges identified right across the board is the task of making staff happy. Each of these clients’ sales managers knows that if you have a happy workforce staff turnover will be much, much lower and results will increase.
So what is one of the most frequently exposed pain points? You might actually be able to identify with this: almost unanimously it was cold calling and cold canvassing.
Sales staff just hates this job so much. Apart from the fact that it takes away from their core strengths and duties, it is extremely low percentage return for a really high percentage negative effect on the individual’s morale.
They know it’s old school. You know it’s old school. The question is what is the remedy?
The remedy is simple but it’s not a quick fix. Much like most other solutions to business today, the remedy includes technology and the wise application of it.
You’ll probably notice that your customer habits have changed and they now have a lot of power to research via the Internet for prospective products and services, hence everybody seems to hang up whenever you make a cold call.
Even though it is likely that you and I’ve never spoken in person, I’ll stand by my comment in previous paragraph. Why? Well, that’s simple. If I was to ask you what is the most poisonous insect in the world, it’s odds-on you’d reach for smart phone, iPad, laptop or even your desktop. Then you’d Google and your answer would be there.
And although your customers are unlikely to be looking for poisonous insects, whenever they want something they are all but certain to reach for Google to look for it. In fact, Google’s international studies show that 70% of potential customers that come to you via the web have already subconsciously made up their mind to actually deal with you.
So, with business characteristics being such and the mechanics of Google offering the end user rather than your business the greater level of power, our hint is to take a step back and work out how you can move away from cold calling and strategically position your business and its sales operations to harness these potential clients who have Google as their canvasser.
There is no quick fix mind you, but it’s not that expensive either. You’ll probably find your marketing budget can actually be reduced because this is a modern solution so technology picks up most of the slack and infinitely increases the efficiency and, most importantly, it gives you intensive data and tracking capabilities.
As I said, things won’t change overnight, but they can start moving in a positive direction overnight and actually give you the data to prove it. The answer is simple but the finer understanding of its sensibilities and modern imperatives is in the detail.
I could go on forever but I won’t. Don’t forget, you are on this blog because your search on Google brought you to little dissertation of mine. It’s a feather in my cap and it’s a feather in your cap.
And, rather than insist on you calling me straight away to make an appointment, I respect that you still have the power and it remains your choice. So what I’ve done is prepared of very, very simple e-book offering six basic hints on top of this one I’ve already given you, which will open the crux of this revolutionary solution just that little bit more.
It’s totally free, very easy to read, brief enough to keep you engaged and in our view can easily be a game changer.