SALES

“You can't do today's job with yesterday's methods and be in business tomorrow” How do you define selling? A lot of people think of selling as persuading/convincing people to buy things they may or may not want or need. To some, selling is all about closing a deal. Thinking of selling in these terms is not very empowering. Frankly, if one has this perspective on selling, it's no wonder one would hate it. However, the process of sales does not mean selling alone. Consider this, a cobbler sitting at a posh location may have to pay Rs 200/- to seek permission for the same while he might sit for free at some ‘not so busy’ area. Its upto him to analyse if the juice is worth the squeeze and that if the profits outdo the costs incurred. I n simple terms, a sales process is a systematic approach involving a series of steps that enables a sales force to close more deals, increase margins and make more sales through referrals.

The 'series of steps' are customer-centric and help the sales force of a company to retain customers and increase sales volume as well as revenues. The 'series of steps' are systematic and not haphazard. Random acts produce random and uncertain results. In sales, random acts can be used occasionally, but a systematic and well-defined best practices approach can assure predictable results. Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.

Whether an organization is a Fortune 500 or a small business, it can often improve its selling process dramatically by shifting away from revenue selling, and focusing instead on profit selling. One of the ways this can be accomplished is by changing the way organizations view sales figures. But first, the organization needs a good measure of sales analytics which provides a richer, more dimensional view into the business. What and who really drives the business? The initial findings after looking through such robust lenses can be eye-opening.

For example, it may be apparent that it is a particular product line that is really driving revenue in a particular region. However, upon drilling down, one may discover it is really a particular sales team, selling a small set of products, to a couple or accounts that are responsible for this product line momentum. The next question an analyst may ask is, Are these figures really driving profit margins, or just revenue? And suddenly, this train of thought, this debate about what is driving sales and profits, becomes very specific.

Such is the power of sales analytics: ad-hoc ability which reduces reporting times, resulting in more time to sell, and in better focused selling. To build on the example above, having a $50 million account is one thing; it is entirely different to be able to state that this account yields a 20% profit margin. Or that it yields a 2% profit margin, whereas the corporate strategy is to drive margins to 15%. This type of information allows managers to shift attention away from revenue targets, and to profit targets. In other words, an organization may set a strategic goal to increase margins, but the field needs to execute this strategy tactically: one account at a time. Without the power of analytics, this may be a daunting task. How can a sales department micro-manage profitability, without visibility?