Definition: as a seller, a person is designated, who mediates the delivery of products or services at a specific price to other people, companies or institutions.
1. Situation: for a short time and only in some countries there are professional profiles for specialty sellers (products or services that can be clearly differentiated from each other, both in reality and in the perception of customers). For sellers of the retail trade and the sale of “commodities” (products or services of low or no differentiation), this profile has already existed for decades.
It is a fact that the vast majority of those who work in sales never learned it properly. Most of them do not have any profession or have been sold from a profession whose studies were focused in another direction. Usually they start from the base, which bring with them the necessary know-how. The most important thing is that they know how to speak, cope in different situations and have the ability to convince.
In changing markets, where products and services are increasingly substitutable, the selling resource becomes a bottleneck. The success or failure of a company is increasingly determined by these people.
2. The profile of requirements: it is common, especially in SMEs, to find profiles of requirements that are too general. Under the motto “sellers are all the same”, a young, dynamic type of salesperson with convincing skills is sought. In your hiring, your evaluation from a sales perspective is approached too generally, focusing on tasks performed, aspirations, salary and benefits, stability, health, etc.
to. The role: the demands on a salesperson are derived from the role they must fulfill in an organization. But the role is defined from:
- The business philosophy.
- Business values.
- Business culture.
- The business strategy.
- Business goals.
- Market conditions.
It is common to involve existing salespeople in these processes, since good teamwork will depend on the relationships that are generated within the sales force.
b. Business values: seller is not equal to seller. If someone and for years has worked in a market for commodities products, or has been used to proceed to defend markets with aggressive strategies, then the alert should be raised. Especially in those companies that prioritize alliances, joint progress in markets, real solutions to customer problems. But also in companies used to selling volumes of commodities, with 10 daily visits to clients. A sale in alliance, of real solutions, requires more time and technical specialization per client, you must know how to deal in depth with other issues unrelated to what summons them in the specific and other aspects that are longer to detail.
For some managers it may be difficult to understand that a star commodity seller can be an absolute failure selling specialties (vice versa as well).
c. Values: it does not matter if the philosophy is imposed in a company and / or is lived in that culture.
Those who define which salespeople to hire or redirect from other functions of the company, must ensure that the sales force conforms to business values. Therefore, it is advisable to adjust the profile of required competencies to the values. A salesman-pilot (overflyer) does not conform to the archaeological values of a company (knowing cultural backgrounds, knowing how to find the key pieces, cleaning up the details, working in multidisciplinary teams, etc.).
For this to also be possible, practice has shown that it is more effective to densify business values to three actually lived values.
This is how they should describe the requirements and based on the different areas of influence:
- Culture and business philosophy.
- Strategy and business goals (including departmental).
- Homework.
- From the perspective of the target group (clients).
Then the demands will be weighed and the following question will be asked:
How are the requirements met or how should they be clarified?
d. Skills and abilities: in any case, some of them should always be present in a seller. Which are:
- Originality.
- Logical thinking.
- Ability to place oneself in the other's situation.
- Social sensitivity.
- Command of language.
- Exercise.
- Flexibility.
- Stability to stress.
These terms have no meaning by themselves. They are valid only if they are defined based on behavior against role and values.
With this, the basic conditions have been generated to carry out a profile of requirements, which is oriented towards:
- The values.
- The role.
- The target group.
and. Requirement profile: it will describe the seller's behavior in the form of behaviors that can be observed. For this, the three fields of competence of the seller will be added:
- Professional competence.
- Methodological competence.
- Social competence.
The more precisely one proceeds and the more precisely the real world of the company, as a social entity, is integrated into the environment of the target market, the better the results will be.
Instead of focusing on eg "language proficiency", it will undoubtedly be more useful to see if the candidate expresses himself in a clear, logical and decisive way.
The profile: not all requirements should be assessed in the same way. Therefore, it will be useful to determine their importance within the profile, where there are clear differences in the significance of one or another requirement when dealing with sellers of commodities or specialties. Nor should the seller's functions be mixed, such as selling a product and installing it, or selling a service and running it. This could not only produce image problems, but worse still, undermine the effectiveness of the social specialization that two functions must have, which by keeping them separate can be key in the commercial strategy. In specialties this takes on a determining importance of success.
The weighting: the profile that the seller should meet, must still be weighed in its importance, clearly determining which are the criteria that must in any case and which could be met.
The "must-criteria" are the so-called "knock-out criteria". If these are not fulfilled, even if it is only one, it does not have the competition. No commitments should be made that later cost dearly and cease to be “must-criteria”.
3. Initiation: if a seller has qualified in an internal assessment or external selection process, being able to agree on the financial aspect, it will be first important to give him an introduction to the business or departmental philosophy. This is not accomplished in a 2 hour conversion. There must be a previously determined plan to introduce it into the culture, strategy, philosophy and policy of the organization, as well as with the people who work there.
to. Mentor: the first thing the new salesperson will need is an interlocutor, who is willing to listen to them and answer their questions. This can create a difficulty that must be anticipated. If several sellers are onboarding at the same time, it makes no sense to appoint several mentors but only one, for a maximum of 5 sellers. At the same time, it must be decided whether the mentor will have a co-responsibility for the result during that period. If the mentor is not rewarded for the result, he will take this additional role as punishment, try to finish as soon as possible and disengage from the topic.
b. Training program: The salesperson discusses the training program with the mentor. The true future identification with the company will largely depend on the quality of this program. In part, this program should include interviews with different levels of management.
You should focus on giving the seller a total vision of his future role. All internal needs and procedures will be discussed with the mentor. You must not only know the procedures, but understand and apply them. This will require support. These should be received correctly and expected only from the mentor, without transmitting unwanted “old fox” practices.
Only after you have mastered the internal procedures can you go out and gain experience in the market. In this, it will be important that you live the commercial procedure with highly qualified salespeople, listen to arguments and handle objections. This will give you a basis for later insight into the products or services and increase your security.
In parallel, training in products and behavior oriented in values and strategy begins. Apart from the mentor, the specialists and management play an important role in the program.
Finally, he begins his management in the area or territory planned, in a first phase with the mentor and then independently.
Below is a general Checklist related to the current sales force, which will allow to assess in the first instance whether or not there are deviations from what is expected. The evaluation will be from -2 (not met) to +2 (fully met). Depending on the result: You decide to contact an ESC © specialist.
CHECKLIST SALES FORCE
|
CRITERIA |
EVALUATION |
OBSERVATIONS |
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|
-two |
-one |
0 |
+1 |
+2 |
||
| Sales figures and results of the area sales of commodity (1) and specialty (2) products or services comply with the plan | ||||||
| The sales force knows well the market situation for (1) and (2), customer needs, trends and acts accordingly | ||||||
| The commercial management of (1) and (2) has its own sales force with a high degree of specialization | ||||||
| The commercial management of (1) and (2) have a clear differentiation strategy; is able to motivate your sales and sales force in that direction | ||||||
| Sales planning and management ensures compliance with the plan |
|
-two |
-one |
0 |
+1 |
+2 |
||
| The sales force dominates the competitive advantages, knows how to argue based on this, conducts in-depth preliminary information surveys and handles objections | ||||||
| The sales force knows the potential that exists with its customers and also exhausts the instances to make the most of it | ||||||
| The sales force is capable of developing long-term relationships for both (1) and (2) | ||||||
| The sales force is neat and safe when it comes to selecting clients and assisting large clients | ||||||
| The sales force is effective in attracting new customers and this is done without “mixing” functions between salespeople, “back-office” - commercial and, for example, executing specialists. | ||||||
| The sales force consciously works the “cross selling” between (1) and (2), be it a unified sales force or divided by areas. | ||||||
| Also in difficult or conflictive situations, the sales force behaves appropriately in front of customers | ||||||
| The sales force has clear differentiated competencies between sales of (1) and sales of
(2), knowing how to handle situations that are also always differentiated from the type of sale |
||||||
| The sales force has clear argumentation tools and important solutions for clients, in order to better manage price situations | ||||||
| The sales force handles an administrative-economic argument, as well as a technical one in the matters of (1) | ||||||
| External sales force and "back-office" - commercial within the company, they work in a coordinated and efficient way according to the goals | ||||||
| In sales management, interdisciplinary teams are formed, to approach customer-oriented diagnosis and solution for such customers |
