This is one of the questions I am being posed by a number of sales executives.
Due to the management pressures, the executives understand that selling by whichever means is ok.
The strategy may work in the short-term but may backfire in the long term because:
1. Paradigm Shift from a Sellers' Market to a Buyers' market.- Today the customer calls the shots and are in a commanding position.
2. Customers are Knowledgeable: Thanks to internet, whether one buys a car or a TV, the customer has an updated information about competition, price etc which the salesman may not know himself.
3. Bad news spreads fast: If you sell to a customer what he did not want he may use Facebook, twitter etc. to voice his frustration. This may cause more damage vis-a-vis the sale you have made.
Now let us look at the management perspective:
The Sales Head has to give near accurate projections to manufacturing dept to produce the goods.
a. Due to price pressures the margins are low and the companies are resorting to JIT - Just In Time techniques to keep the inventory cost low.
b. To compensate for the reduced margins the company has to resort to more numbers to achieve
the revenue and profitability targets.
How does a salesman achieve his numbers in such a scenario?
Some of the useful techniques are:
1. Target the right segment. For example if you are selling a premium end product, you should not aspire to sell to all and sundry.
2. Use a Sales Funnel which is also called as a pipeline which works out for a backup plan. For example, if you have to close 5 orders per month, you should have at least 10 active cases in the funnel for which there should be a minimum of 20 good enquiries with you.
Let us remember your company does not expect you to sell to each and every prospect but want you to meet the targets.
For more details, please refer the article: All Business is not Good Business from my book: "Contextual Selling" at: www.paradigm-info.com
Due to the management pressures, the executives understand that selling by whichever means is ok.
The strategy may work in the short-term but may backfire in the long term because:
1. Paradigm Shift from a Sellers' Market to a Buyers' market.- Today the customer calls the shots and are in a commanding position.
2. Customers are Knowledgeable: Thanks to internet, whether one buys a car or a TV, the customer has an updated information about competition, price etc which the salesman may not know himself.
3. Bad news spreads fast: If you sell to a customer what he did not want he may use Facebook, twitter etc. to voice his frustration. This may cause more damage vis-a-vis the sale you have made.
Now let us look at the management perspective:
The Sales Head has to give near accurate projections to manufacturing dept to produce the goods.
a. Due to price pressures the margins are low and the companies are resorting to JIT - Just In Time techniques to keep the inventory cost low.
b. To compensate for the reduced margins the company has to resort to more numbers to achieve
the revenue and profitability targets.
How does a salesman achieve his numbers in such a scenario?
Some of the useful techniques are:
1. Target the right segment. For example if you are selling a premium end product, you should not aspire to sell to all and sundry.
2. Use a Sales Funnel which is also called as a pipeline which works out for a backup plan. For example, if you have to close 5 orders per month, you should have at least 10 active cases in the funnel for which there should be a minimum of 20 good enquiries with you.
Let us remember your company does not expect you to sell to each and every prospect but want you to meet the targets.
For more details, please refer the article: All Business is not Good Business from my book: "Contextual Selling" at: www.paradigm-info.com
