Prepare your salesmen for the market shifts!
Salesmen work hard by concentrating on their products and customers. They mainly see the next lead, the next potential customer, the next deal.
They are digging up new leads, pushing aside objections and convincing buyers in order to reach their targets.
Things need to get done, actions taken, emails replied to, calls answered – all in function of getting deals closed and bringing in revenue, all in the here and now.
The sales hurdles
During their sales journey they will encounter hurdles and dead ends that make them stop dead in their sales cycle.
A possible problem is they often don’t have a complete market overview and only notice those hurdles that are right in front of them.
As these hurdles are their #1 roadblock at that moment they will blow up their importance and present them to their Sales Manager. If the Sales manager is in need for Sales revenue (which one isn’t?) he sure will expose the problems his Sales team is facing to company management.
Sales hurdles as a market shift indicator
The hurdle or problem encountered by each Sales man might be an indication of something bigger, but in order to define a trend or a market shift a more distant approach is needed.
This is where marketing or product marketing should be ahead of the Sales team. Even before any hurdle or bump in the sales cycle, marketing or product marketing should have remarked the trend or market shift and informed company management about it. They might have even started to prepare new products or solutions in order to anticipate the upcoming market shift.
If the Salesman hits the bump it’s probably too late.
The Salesmen should be on the ground, in the trenches, whereas marketing or Product marketing should be hovering over the market in order to spot trends and market shifts in advance so they can at least warn and try to prepare the salesmen.
Does your marketing team anticipate market shifts and guides the salesmen?
Or… does this only happen in an ideal world?
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Remember the old Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared”? That’s what we’re talking about here. In a perfect world, individuals would be able to anticipate market shifts and not be caught off guard. But sometimes things happen and other priorities are thrown in your way and the next thing you know, changes have taken place and you’re left behind. Be prepared!
Tonygun is right on. When you’re on the front line, you need to be aware of the what is happening in your business. You have to be prepared, be as knowledgeable as you can. It’s a part of the job if you want to be on top of the game.
Best attitude for a successful sales career is to understand it is an ongoing process. There will be good days and there will be bad ays. By applying consistant effort you will see results overall. Do not get stuck in the forest for th trees mindset, think more abount cultivating for tommorrow