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Sales Effectiveness Newsletter
Delivering useful and insightful information to
sales professionals |
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Table of Contents Five Things You Can Do Today to Increase Sales Results Moving Beyond Voodoo Forecasting The Case of the Floating Volvo Questions or Feedback?We welcome questions and feedback from our newsletter readers. What articles did you find particularly relevant and useful to your situation? Please let us know what topics you would like to see covered in future newsletters. Contact us. Did you know that Market-Partners provides keynote speeches and workshops? Contact us for more information. Would you like advice from our experts on these, or other, sales effectiveness topics? Contact us with your questions. Thank you to many of our newsletter readers for your interest in The Quest for Customers by Martyn Lewis. 21st Century Selling, an anthology of advice from top sales pros, by Joe Cullinane, is now available from Amazon.com.
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The Art of Measuring Sales Unlocking the Power of the Shape and Velocity of Your Sales Funnel
Stu Schmidt |
| The story is told of the
lumberjacks who were working feverishly to fell trees in the forest. One of
them, surveying the land from the top of the tallest tree, yelled down the
others, "Wrong forest!" to which the manager hollered back, "Never mind!
We're making good progress!" Is your sales organization doing a great job
measuring the wrong things? In the first in a series of 3 articles, Stu
Schmidt addresses this critical question and points the way to the "right
forest."
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Five Things You Can Do Today to Increase Sales Results
Martyn Lewis |
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What can you do today to increase both short and long term sales results? In this short article, Martyn Lewis offers five areas that represent significant opportunity for most sales organizations. For each of these areas, a series of thought-provoking questions are offered to get sales teams on track for increased performance. |
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Moving Beyond Voodoo Forecasting Barry
Trailer |
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| In our last newsletter we
published "How do you
Measure up?" by Barry Trailer. In that article Barry talked about ways
management can improve sales performance through monitoring sales metrics
rather than managing results. "Moving Beyond Voodoo Forecasting" is next in a trilogy where Barry outlines some scientific and time-proven ways to improve forecasting and even offers an explanation for the year-end crunch. Timely advice for the start of another new year. Next month, stay tuned for "Driving by the Seat of Their Pants" as it's not enough to know sales measures - you have to understand the context to win the race. |
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The Case of the Floating Volvo Martyn
Lewis |
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| A long-time Volvo owner (who
we'll call Dave) had kept his current model for almost 10 years (as many
Volvo owners do) and decided it was time to replace his car. Now Dave hadn't
looked at new cars for quite a long time and as such was not really aware of
what was new and exciting in the automotive world. So off he went to his
local dealer and as is the case in many car dealerships, the sales reps were
all busy with other customers, prospects, suspects, tire-kickers, the
receptionist, and so on, so he wandered around looking at all the new
models. Needless to say he was surprised at the wide variety of models now available - his last purchase had really only involved the choice of sedan or wagon and in what color - and now he saw big sedans, sleek two-door coupes, an SUV, an all-wheel drive station wagon, and even a pretty convertible. Dave was mightily impressed, but what really caught his eye was what appeared to be a floating Volvo right in the middle of the showroom. And not only did it seem to be floating, but the car had no wheels or tires. Well Dave was very curious and took a closer look. He looked all over, put his arm under the car, over the car, looked carefully for any wires, magnets, or whatever else might be holding the car up. Nothing. Just at that moment, a sales rep (who we'll call Sven) walked over and asked him if he had seen the floating Volvo before. "Yeah, right," says Dave, "a floating Volvo." "No, really," Sven said, and went on to explain that they had been working on the technology for years and had finally brought it to market. And as soon as Sven figured out that Dave was indeed a buyer (the clipboard with the checkbook attached was probably the giveaway), he promptly suggested a test drive. So Dave and Sven went out to the lot and sure enough, there were several floating Volvos, licensed and all set to go. They got into one and took it for a spin. Well, it handled great, it was smooth and quiet, and had remarkable acceleration. Sven explained that the system was based on a revolutionary anti-gravity engine that they had designed and patented, and as such there were fewer moving parts, less friction so the car stopped on dime, and hardly any roll when cornering. All in all, quite breathtaking. Dave then asked the dreaded question, "So how much does it cost?" To Dave's great surprise Sven tells him that it was actually a little less than most of the standard Volvos, due to many less moving parts. It was also much cheaper to maintain as once again, fewer parts subject to wear and tear. When they got back to the showroom and after Sven had gone off to get some coffee, Dave thought about it for a while but decided to buy a nice silver 6-cylinder S-80 sedan. Why? The floating Volvo was simply too good to be true. There seemed to be an implied risk in something so new, so innovative. There were many unanswered questions about the future of a floating car. It was just too radical. After all, Dave had gone shopping for a good car, not a new concept. Sometimes you can offer your prospect just too much. Although your offering exceeds their needs, they are probably looking for something with which they are familiar. Perhaps the right way to sell the floating Volvo is to put wheels on it and keep quiet about its anti-gravity engine. If a prospect is interested in cost of ownership, you could stress the low gas mileage and overall reduced maintenance costs. If another prospect is interested in safety, you could talk about the great braking performance. And if another prospect is interested in performance, then let's show off the handling and acceleration. And then maybe, after the new owner (perhaps even Dave someday) is used to their new car and they bring it back for service, the shop manager just may quietly mention, "You know, you can run that car without the wheels." Don't oversell your offering; know what your prospect is looking for and what they value, and sell to those points. If you have a floating Volvo, you may want to put some wheels on it. From Martyn Lewis's upcoming book Sales Wise - an anthology of selling stories, follies, and fables, each with a relevant and timely sales message. To be published later in 2003. If you wish to be notified of publication date, please e-mail us. |
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| Copyright ©2003 Market-Partners Inc. - Articles and other content from this newsletter and website may not be reproduced, republished, or redistributed without prior written permission from Market-Partners Inc. You are welcome to forward the newsletter in its entirety. | ||
