| y"> | | | | ensuring that sales professionals stay content and |
| Think selling ends at the contract? Think again. | | | | challenged is paramount for successful, thriving |
| Most clients, when asked, will tell you the point of | | | | sales teams. |
| contact is the sales person. Why? Because that's | | | | Creating a sales process that promotes the sales |
| who the client trusts. | | | | professional as a critical component in that |
| Today's complex marketplace has many demands | | | | process creates a win for the sales professional |
| placed on it by a seemingly never-ending quest | | | | as well as for client and employer. |
| for clients. Sales people play a critical role in | | | | Win #2 - The Client |
| managing client expectations, enhancing client | | | | The myriad of choices available to clients in our |
| service and preserving trust in the marketplace. | | | | marketplace is staggering. One of the primary |
| However, what, exactly, is the sales person's | | | | ways that companies differentiate competition is |
| role? | | | | through human capital - the people who interface |
| Is it simply hunter? | | | | with the clients. The natural progression of putting |
| The sales person is a natural extension of the | | | | people in front of clients is that the relationship |
| company, and what many companies fail to | | | | naturally falls to the person the client sees most. |
| realize is that clients don't trust the company; | | | | Companies today realize that there is loyalty in |
| clients trust the sales contact. This is an important | | | | the relationship. Facilitating a sales process that |
| distinction to make because not only is the | | | | enables the client to interface with the primary |
| relationship resting on the sales person, but the | | | | sales contact offers the client access to a trusted |
| external trust a company imparts to the | | | | point of contact, and allows clients an easy way |
| marketplace falls to these company ambassadors. | | | | to interact with the company. |
| The win-win-win sales strategy aligns external | | | | In many instances, a client will first go to a |
| clients (the marketplace) with the sales person | | | | trusted source - such as the sales professional |
| and internal clients (company employees, including | | | | -before abandoning the relationship. |
| customer service representatives) and creates a | | | | Win #3 - The Company |
| strategy designed to retain all while enhancing | | | | Companies seek to find a way to retain clients |
| overall brand trust. | | | | and to ensure that client loyalty is maximized. The |
| Three Wins | | | | sales sweet spot offers a win for companies |
| Win #1 - The Sales Professional | | | | because it aligns sales professionals with the client |
| With a strong labor market, top sales | | | | in a way that naturally protects the client's |
| professionals are in demand. No longer can | | | | welfare and, thus, the client's lifelong revenue with |
| companies count on an endless supply of | | | | the company. No longer can companies rely on an |
| experienced professionals waiting to fill the sales | | | | endless supply of clients or sales professionals. A |
| function. Additionally, with the cost of replacing | | | | strategy that serves both of these, in turn, |
| these positions, companies increasingly find | | | | serves the company through enhanced |
| themselves facing higher recruiting costs and, in | | | | marketplace trust, reduced recruiting fees, |
| some cases, the cost of lost intellectual capital, | | | | reduced client attrition, and increased client loyalty, |
| lost revenue, and lost client relationships can top | | | | which, ultimately translates into greater lifelong |
| five times a sales professional's salary. Today, | | | | revenue at a lower cost per sale. |