World`s business game really changes with ultimate technologies? (part 2 of 2)
By Eduardo Gaspar – Co-Founder | CEO | MGNet – Linkedin
Conceptual Selling and Strategic Selling – Robert B. Miller and Stephen E. Heiman – 1989
( My first contact with these books was back in the time when I worked for GE – Information Services – GEISCO; they have changed my concept of sales and have been my precious guides)
The authors mention the stigmatization of Sales: “Sales is a dirty word to many people, because it has so long been linked to images of manipulation and deceit….”
The following citations show the importance of having methodology when selling:
“Premise 1 – Whatever got you where you are today is no longer sufficient to keep you there.”
“Premise 2 – In the Complex Sale, a good tactical plan is only as good as the strategy lead up to it.”
“Premise 3 – You can only succeed in sales today if you know what you are doing and why.”
“1 – How to position yourself with the real decision makers and avoid those without approval power.”
It´s a key issue; if you don´t know how to handle this, and deliver information to the wrong person, you will be postponing your sales and taking the risk of being squeezed or even losing the opportunity; your competition might be ahead of you into the prospect ….
“2- How to spot the two key customer attitudes that can make a sale, and the two that usually break it .”
It is not so difficult to identify these particular issues, but (unfortunately) usually the companies don´t even care to take an action even when they detect them!!
“3 – How to get not only the order but a satisfied customer, repeat sales, and enthusiastic referrals.”
“We consider your customers ´needs along with the product knowledge every professional has to have, part of a sales success “equation”:
Knowledge of their needs + Product/Service knowledge –> Solid Sales commitment”
It is very impressive to see companies putting a lot of effort to build up their “SAP ” before they even need it… What companies need is to structure good plans and methods of collecting and handling strategic information about their customers, which helps understanding their needs deeply! It is regretful that companies are concerned with establishing long term relationship with their customers but mostly keeping the level of contacts very weak and superficial; there is no intimacy in this kind of relationship and it limits your company in selling commodities (especially in telecom – links/bandwidth). It ´s tragic but true: usually companies have information residing on only the products/services that they provide to customers!!
Another mistake that companies normally do is not caring for their “old” customers (loyalty)… usually forgetting the possibilities of selling new services or negotiating better prices; sooner or later customers will have a perception of abandonment and “betrayal”; there is no remedy to this situation, but losing your most valuable and loyal cash cows… Believe me, this still happens nowadays…
“How to track account progress and forecast future sales?”
There are dozens of strategies to make sales; but in my experience, if you don´t have method and discipline to handle your customers, you will not retain them.
The Unwritten Rules of the Game – 1994 – Peter Scott – Morgan
“Rules to live by”
“..Why has change been so slow in coming? Because by asking people to change their behavior, you`re coming face-to-face with an invisible barrier: the unwritten rules of the game. These are the unofficial , unwritten rules that really drive behavior in an organization . Anyone hopping to change organizational behavior has to understand them. Where do the unwritten rules come from? They start with the way top management behaves, which sends a signal to all in the organization . Unwritten rules are also a reaction to written rules or policies. Without first understanding the unwritten rules that hold sway in an organization, it`s nearly impossible to change the way people act.”
These affirmatives are logic and easy to understand… but let´s think about them from the employee or service provider stand points.
People tend to believe that it´s possible to change things for the good of the company, when acting in good faith. However it´s important for you (and your professional career) to decide if it is worth or not to insist working for a company if you have already concluded that it is impossible to change the organization´s unwritten rules…
In this kind of situation you must ask yourself which are your real values as a human being, and if they meet or not with the company´s ones (which comes from the top manager/owner); if the answer is “not”, then it´s time for you to forget about this company immediately and start looking for another one!
Technologies are always being replaced by new ones, but, believe me, they don´t change the business game!
