If you ask most sales people where their sales style or personal success at selling comes from you’ll get a variety of answers: personality, strategic thinking, consultative approach, training, tenacity and so on. But the truth of the matter is, selling is about communicating value to another human being; and it is precisely that other human being who determines and defines what value is to them. Therefore a sales plan has to start with what the target market values, not with the strengths or core competencies of the sales person or the organization he or she represents.
Who is my ideal customer? Who is the decision maker? What do they value most? How do they communicate and consume information? Where do they live and how does one gain access them? These are the questions that lay the foundation for a successful sales strategy.
Start with your ideal customer profile. If you’re already in business then it’s easy; just rank order your customers from worst to best and list the reasons why. Pretty soon you’ll come up with your ideal customer. If you’re a startup or just starting out, start with listing your core competencies and then turning them on their head. Ask yourself, “What problems occur when these core competencies are absent? Who suffers the most from these problems and who foots the bill for making it right?” These are your target customers.
Now ask yourself: “How does this ideal customer buy?” Is it a one and done transaction or a service based relationship that exists over time? Is the sales cycle long or short? Is the solution I’m selling long lived or transitory? Where are you in the life cycle of your industry product or service? Does this customer value time tested experience and skilled expertise or novelty and innovation?
The answers to these questions and others like them will then dictate the kind of salesperson you need to hire, the correct approach they should take and the kind of value proposition they should communicate.
Here’s the problem: everyone is proud of their company and the value they bring to the marketplace but no one cares about you or your company or your service. They only care about one thing: themselves and their pain or pleasure. Start with your customers, make it about them and you’ll be on your way to building a successful sales organization.
