Your resources are valuable. Collecting resources takes time, money, and energy. Some of the resources you may already have are: employees, positive brand equity, service capabilities, location, sweat equity, history in the marketplace, cash, etc.As a salesperson, you need to leverage your resources, too.
Your resources might be selling skill, high energy, product knowledge, likability, experience, technical knowledge, work ethic, etc. It's one thing to have those resources, but quite another thing to leverage those resources to create revenue with them. Leveraging your resources means you're using your resources to create revenue (sales).
How do some salespeople and companies not leverage resources?- Spending many hours to complete an intricate and highly customized landscape design that the prospect didn't buy because the customer didn't comprehend the value of your design. [Resources not leveraged: time, energy, design skill]- Having a tile and stone showroom in a prime location, but not staff the showroom sufficiently to serve the foot traffic that is generated by the prime location. [Resources not leveraged: location, expenses related to establishing and keeping the location]- Getting your prospect to have fun laughing and joking with you during the "free market analysis" real estate meeting, but then not asking for the listing. [Resources not leveraged: likability, time, energy]- Hiring good sales candidates for your insurance business, but then not training them how to sell.
[Resources not leveraged: time, energy, money, people]- Being hired by a well-respected wine shop, but than not bothering to read a few books to learn how to sell. [Resources not leveraged: reputation, prospects, time, opportunity]- Spending hours attending networking functions that result in no creation of corresponding revenue. [Resources not leveraged: time, energy, gas, mileage, network]- Being the most experienced person in your industry in your city, but only achieving mediocre sales results. [Resources not leveraged: experience, time, knowledge]- Consistently working sixty hours per week while only achieving average sales results. [Resources not leveraged: time, energy]- Having excellent sales skills, but not making enough prospect contacts to use those skills. [Resources not leveraged: sales skill, ability, talent, the market]- Working in a men's clothing store spending your time stacking inventory in the stock room when customer traffic on the sales floor needs you there. [Resources not leveraged: time, customer traffic, marketing, shoppers]What resources are you failing to leverage?
What resources do you see others around you not leveraging? If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment, or subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.
Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more.
Link to original postSkip Anderson's Selling To Consumers Blog
