“I haven’t made a sales visit in over a year”.
“I was furloughed for 8 months and have just been dropped back into the team. I’m really nervous about messing up”.
Two quotes from salespeople David Cottrell Owner of Gradient has heard recently while working on a tendering project for a client. David said: “There were many other examples of experienced salespeople showing a lack of confidence and uncertainty. Given the circumstances, we shouldn’t criticise these reactions but what can we do to prevent them in your sales team?”
Many business owners and sales directors have been working hard during lockdown using zoom to keep in touch with your customers but as lockdown restrictions are being eased the big question is. How ring rusty is your sales team?
“During the tendering project mentioned above it was embarrassingly easy to secure concessions from potential vendors with the application of just gentle pressure. It begs the question of how much can you afford for your sales team to give away as your business reopens?” David added.
Having been both ‘poacher and gamekeeper’ David has a unique perspective to help get your team ready for the return to making sales visits and suggests that senior managers look at:
- A mystery shopping exercise using a realistic buying scenario to capture real-time examples of sales performance
- Reminding teams of customer value orientations
- Revisit questioning skills
- Focusing teams on Identifying customer pain points
- Skill to advance the customer relationship
If you feel that your sales team is ring rusty speak to David Cottrell owner of Gradient on 07595 264368 or visit www.gradient.uk.com
Let’s knock the rust off and show the shiny sales team underneath!