Sales: the key to success

Why do only 30% of salespeople reach their assigned targets?

Is it a market problem?

In Italy this could be a good alibi, especially at this time. Sometimes it can be an issue of quality or competence of the staff, others because of the condition in which they work.

In our business we continually meet companies that ask us to support them in digitising their sales processes. It happens that our interlocutor is more focused on the tool or the functionality he would like than on the process: ‘he sees the tree and not the forest around it’.

Selling: what does it really mean?

The sale is a process

It may sound trivial, but in order to digitise a sales process, there needs to be a process, which is clear and shared within the organisation: this is not always the case and during the analysis or coaching phase of sales networks, the need to review and formalise existing and ongoing processes may emerge.

The sale is a relationship

Sales is a process involving relationships among people (sales network, salesperson and customer) even when mediated or supported by digital tools. It is crucial that information ‘flows’ as much as possible: feedback gathered from customers and field sales data must reach those who can influence organisational or strategic adjustments in the sales network. This is where digital tools, if used, enable a quantum leap: it is necessary to be clear about what key information needs to be shared within the organisation and to do so as smoothly as possible.

Sale is implemented strategy

The process has to be seen as a whole and it is the driver who has to worry about where to go, how to go there and how to choose the right tools and resources. Waiting for sales to come in and working with an ‘ex-post’ approach is like driving with a blindfold on and someone telling us where to go.

• Marketing and Sales Management must be on the spot: constantly informed about consumer trends, what the competition is doing, what their own people are doing in the field. They must have a clear plan in place, define the offer mix, the target pricing, the promotional mechanics and be able to check whether they are working, using the digital tools available today and accessible from our smartphones.
• Sales mechanics can be sophisticated and set up with intelligent systems without having to improvise sales to answer questions such as: which initiatives work and on which types of customers? Did I sell a lot because I was good or just lucky? Can I margin more by modulating the price? Where can I make efficiency? Which products or customers can I focus on because there are trends that show unrealised potential?
• It is necessary to have a forward-looking approach and also to look to the future: I can anticipate the competition by opening new channels (B2B or B2C e-commerce) or expand touch-points with existing customers through new sales methods (reordering via chatbot or vocal interaction).