Sales is a challenging profession. But it amazes me how many companies make it even tougher for their salespeople to succeed.
Perhaps they're clueless as to what they're doing - or rather, not doing. But in reality, it doesn't matter. The only thing that counts is that being successful in sales will be a whole lot harder than it needs to be.
Here's the deal. Crazy-busy, internet savvy customers have fundamentally shifted the buying game.
- When they have a problem, they ignore it as long as they can.
- When that's no longer possible, they go online to do their research.
- Then, before they make a decision, they go online to evaluation their option.
- Finally, they contact potential vendors.
In short, they allot no time for frivolous meetings with salespeople who want to "understand their needs" or "tell them" about their product, service or solution.
Hopefully you're getting the picture. This is how everyone makes decisions today. We don't want to be bothered by self-serving salespeople or product-pushing peddlers.
Which gets us back to "bad" organizations to sell for. These companies still expect the same thing from their salespeople as they did ten years ago.
You'll frequently hear them saying:
- "Get out there and make the calls. It's all a numbers game."
- "Just let your prospects know about our great (technology, service, products)."
- "Tell your prospects that we want to partner with them."
These are serious Red Flags that the company does not "get" what it takes to win business in today's business environment.
Here are some other Red Flags you should look for before you take any sales position today.
1. Weak Online Presence.
Check out their website. If it's primarily a static brochure that gives a detailed overview of their offering and company, then you can be certain that prospects won't be spending any time here. Or do they have white papers, articles, podcasts, analysis tools, testimonials, videos?
You can tell a whole lot about a company's sales and marketing belief systems just by analyzing their website. If it's an information-rich resource full of educational content, it will attract customers - which is exactly what you should be looking for. If not, sales just got a whole lot harder.
2. Lack of Lead Gen Initiatives
Ask about the company's lead generation efforts. Find out what they're doing to attract potential customers into their world. Discover if they have a program to continually keep in touch with prospects before they pass them over to sales. Do they have a way to capture website visitors?
Too many companies still expect their salespeople to carry the entire prospecting burden. They're missing innumerable opportunities to engage and educate potential buyers early on in their research. You'll want to explore their efforts in all these areas: email campaigns, webinars, mailings, events and trade shows.
Lead generation campaigns don't have to be pricey. Even the smallest of firms can leverage social media and other low costs venues to showcase their expertise. But without them, sales just got a whole lot harder.
3. Not Using Sales 2.0 Tools
What are these tools I'm talking about? They're very affordable applications that significantly enhance a salesperson's productivity and effectiveness.
Start by finding out if they use a CRM system like SalesForce.com, Landslide or SugarCRM. This is an indicator that they take the sales profession seriously.
Ask if they subscribe to any databases where you can find out who to contact, phone numbers and email addresses. Do they use ZoomInfo, Hoovers, Jigsaw or OneSource? This means they're concerned with sales productivity and realize it's a waste of time to be searching for this readily available information. (Note: Some of these are even free at your public library, so their cost is not prohibitive.)
Check out if they use any tools to alert salespeople when important trigger events occur within their targeted customer base. If they're signed up with services like InsideView or DowJones Companies & Executives, then you know they're savvy about using the news.
Way too many companies have absolutely no knowledge of these tools at all. Instead, they prefer their salespeople get customers the old fashioned way. While there is nothing wrong with cold calling or "dialing for dollars," it is simply not sufficient in today's business environment.
Let me repeat that. Traditional prospecting strategies are no longer sufficient to achieve sales success.
If you work for a company that doesn't value or invest in their website, lead generation or Sales 2.0 tools, it will be much harder for you to reach your goals. So hard, in fact, that you have a 50-50 chance of failure. I wouldn't bet my future on those odds.