Let\u2019s be clear.\u00a0 Doing things right is all about being efficient.\u00a0 Doing the right things is about being effective.\u00a0 So it isn\u2019t an either\/or situation, is it?\u00a0 We want both, don’t we?\u00a0 We want to do the right things and do them right.\u00a0 After all, why would we want to be very efficient at doing the wrong things, or do the right things inefficiently?\u00a0 Obviously, we wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 And nowhere is it more important to be doing the right things and doing them right than in our sales process.\u00a0 In his book, \u201cThe Secret to Selling More,\u201d Mitch Gooze (pronounced Goo-zay) makes the point that most sales organizations are composed of a few top sales people along with a lot of average or below average performers.\u00a0 Billions of dollars are spent annually on sales training as businesses try to bring their low performers closer to the level of their top performers.\u00a0 And the improved sales performance those billions of training dollars buys?\u00a0 Not much.\u00a0 So if sales training is not the answer to making our sales process more productive, what is?\u00a0 If you want Gooze\u2019s answer to this dilemma, please read below.<\/p>\n
Gooze likens this to a manufacturing environment where, if you don\u2019t like the output (quality and\/or quantity of product) you\u2019re getting, you probably have to look at the input (design\/engineering) for an answer.\u00a0 As the saying goes, \u201cAn organization is perfectly aligned to get the results it is getting.\u201d\u00a0 Garbage in, garbage out.\u00a0 In the same way, if you don\u2019t like the sales results you\u2019re achieving (the output), you should look at your marketing efforts (the input) to make any kind of real difference.<\/p>\n
Gooze tells us that marketing has two critical responsibilities: defining the \u201cWho\u201d and the\u00a0 \u201cWhat.\u201d
\n1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First, it must define who our customer is.\u00a0 Who do we expect to buy our product or service.\u00a0 Who is our product or service ideally situated to serve?\u00a0 Is our ideal customer short, tall, skinny, fat, young, old, male, female?\u00a0 Does this customer need to be nearby or is geography not a factor?\u00a0 In short, we need to get as much demographic information as we can about who we intend to be our ideal customer.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Marketing must define what our ideal customer needs or wants to buy.\u00a0 Note he says \u201cwhat our ideal customer needs or wants to buy,\u201d not what we want to sell him.\u00a0 And we need to understand why our product or service is the best choice for our ideal customer.\u00a0 What sets us apart and makes us a better choice than any of our competitors?<\/p>\n
Now, what does all this have to do with closing the gap between our top sales people and lower performers?<\/p>\n
Gooze contends that if marketing does a poor job of carrying out these two critical responsibilities, or does not accurately communicate them to the sales force, sales people will try to figure it out for themselves.\u00a0 The top sales people are the top sales people because they have a sure sense of who needs our product or service, and what sets us apart from our competitors.\u00a0 The lower performers, since they don\u2019t have that clear vision that the top performers have, waste a lot of time trying to sell to anyone who comes across their path . . . with predictably spotty results.\u00a0\u00a0 So the real key to closing the gap between high and low performers is to level the playing field by making sure we\u2019ve done a good job of defining the \u201cWho\u201d and the \u201cWhat,\u201d and an equally good job of clearly communicating the \u201cWho\u201d and the \u201cWhat\u201d to the sales force so all our sales people are armed with the same vision and understanding of our marketplace.<\/p>\n
Try this.\u00a0 Ask all of your people who have direct customer contact (field sales people, inside sales people, customer service people) to describe your ideal customer.\u00a0 And just to test their complete understanding of this, you might also want to ask them who is not a good prospect for us . . . not a good fit.\u00a0 Then ask them to tell you why our ideal customers choose to do business with us instead of our competitors.\u00a0 You may be surprised to learn that their answers to those questions don\u2019t align with each other, and maybe not even with you.\u00a0 If that\u2019s true, then you\u2019ll be well-served to distill the answers of your top sales people, make sure everyone knows and understands them, and periodically reinforce them to prevent people from \u201cforgetting\u201d or free-lancing.<\/p>\n
Incidentally, Gooze makes the point that the most successful CEOs do not stay behind their desks and isolate themselves from their customers.\u00a0 They spend significant time in the field, talking with customers and testing their answer to the What question.\u00a0 As our customers grow and evolve, their needs change, and what they needed from us yesterday may not be what they need from us today.\u00a0 Smart CEOs know that, stay close to their market, and regularly test whether or not their What answer is still valid.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot more in Gooze\u2019s book than what I\u2019ve shared here.\u00a0 I\u2019ve provided an executive summary of his main point, but if closing the gap between high and low sales performers is an issue for you, you should read the whole thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s fairly short, an easy read, and you\u2019ll find it very useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Let\u2019s be clear.\u00a0 Doing things right is all about being efficient.\u00a0 Doing the right things is about being effective.\u00a0 So it isn\u2019t an either\/or situation, is it?\u00a0 We want both, don’t we?\u00a0 We want to do the right things and do them right.\u00a0 After all, why would we want to be very efficient at doing<\/p>\n