It is undoubtedly unquestionable today, the very important role that Commercial Teams play in companies of all kinds. The offer either of intangible services or differentiated products frames specialization skills that we are not sure that the same market seeks its Commercial Force.
We cannot deny several fundamental facts that must accompany the personality of a successful salesperson:
1. Its activity must be permanently challenging, whether the Company develops mechanisms that keep its attention occupied with new challenges, or that it provides the right conditions to explore its creative flow with a certain margin of controlled freedom.
2. You must have a very wide threshold of tolerance for frustration, there are not enough concepts that better explain the main personality trait of a successful salesperson.
3. You must maintain a chameleon attitude to the circumstances, you must be able to reinvent yourself whenever necessary based on exploring the positive and negative results of your performance, offering new faces and nuances of your work both within the Company and with your clients; that the market perceives a person in constant evolution.
4. Motivation is a powerful engine for any person, in the case of Commercial Teams the issue of motivation acquires a capital importance; It is here where the sensitivity and knowledge of the Team Leaders of the springs that move each of their pieces will give the results; Taking for granted that a collective, impersonal and dubious promotion will exert a sufficient driving force on the Team to obtain consistent and long-term results is not only a waste of time, but a true offense to the spirit of continuous growth of any Company.
Just as motivations are evaluated, all their responsibilities must be displayed correctly and perfectly clearly; That a Salesperson meets his sales quota, serves the expected number of customers and makes his work reports is only a small portion of what his scope of responsibilities should contain.
I will cite just a few examples:
Preparation of detailed Budgets at the end of sales, expenses, price movements, new developments of products and / or services, new clients and their own commissions.
Development, permanent updating and improvement of databases as detailed as necessary for the implementation of a successful Relationship Marketing Plan.
Development, permanent updating and improvement of the data of a Market Study, it is not necessary to stop the commercial operation of a Company to obtain this data, establishing a frequent data collection base with well objective goals for progress is the best option.
Depending on the business line, the R&D policies of each Corporate, and the market conditions, it is good that according to the specific Skills and Strengths of each Seller, a part of the Commercial Operation is assigned as a specific responsibility, a product or a well defined Service area. In this way, the person in charge will know that they must schedule their time, effort and additional commercial preparation with a very clear objective, on which the rest of the Team also depends.
Finally, I would like to share a vision of how Comprehensive Training Plans for Commercial Teams can be built. We must not overlook the fact that we deal with people who, although they share the need for work, growth and development of their colleagues, preparing them solely in Sales Techniques in a continuous and isolated way is partial and obsolete.
Area no 1. Technical and Administrative Skills
Solid technical preparation with the main processes followed for the production, delivery and uses of the products and / or services offered to the market. A good Induction Plan that integrates all the Company's Internal Managements with evaluations and follow-up is the most practical and efficient way to solve this step.
Knowing the internal procedures and their advantages step by step, will reduce the rate of errors at the beginning of your teaching and will improve the confidence you should have in the Company's support team; in this line the figure of a tutor is indispensable.
Area No. 2. Financial Skills
A Salesperson who becomes a Financial Analyst of his own projects will be the most valuable tool not only of the Company, but of his own clients. We do not require an accountant or financier to sell, the most appropriate summary for this skill is that we must know when a sale is a real deal, and when it is not; I have always maintained that a Seller who takes care of his commission with good business, of course is taking care of the Company's money.
Knowing how to collect the precise data for the preparation of a Budget, order them and reconcile them is a part of the task, the basis of success consists in teaching our Sales Representatives what to do with these numbers, how to interpret them.
Domain No. 3 Commercial Skills.
Of course, it is necessary to promote training in this area, through talks, simulation clinics, field coaching and Basic Sales and Negotiation Techniques; However, I believe that a solid, well-connected and stable team will be able to develop, based on knowing these techniques in a broad and practical way, their own Commercial tools, their own Marketing.
Then then, the training will have more value if it is more of an engine that generates, than a simple line that is ticked once the talk has been dictated.
Area No. 4 Personal and Emotional Development
We work with people, subject to various situations of a family, sentimental and economic nature; We believe we have covered the professional line with a job, which constitutes a misconception.
Today there are splendid support tools for the training of personnel in all areas of the Company that bear fruit since their scope is of such depth that loyalty, commitment and general environment are immediate responses in any organization.
I beg and condemn to verify the extraordinary power that the techniques of Emotional Intelligence, Mind Maps, Positive Assertiveness, Ontology, Development of Thinking Skills and other current issues have over the people of our organization.
I hope that the contribution has been of your benefit, likewise if you have followed some of the guidelines that we have mentioned and had not practiced them before, entrust us with your results; Without a doubt, undertaking relevant changes, no matter how small they may seem, carries the appropriate dose of risk and uncertainty, but believe me, the results pay for the adventure!
