The Sales Manager's Endless Agony

By Tom Cross

Technology Columnist

 

  

For anyone in sales, the ultimate challenge is to predict, manage to, and grow revenues. That’s easy to say. The sales “ramp slope” (think of a ski slope in reverse) is both enigmatic and frustrating. The “perfect day” of ramp slope is when revenues ramp to 100% of forecast and beyond rapidly. The “perfect worse case storm” of sales ramp is 0% and continues forever. Somewhere in between these “perfect” situations is where sales execs, managers and C-level’s live. The perpetual “hire-fire” cycle continues unabated unless there are also other solutions. We think there are other options.” See the animated tutorial for the visual explanation:

 

Is the challenge so problematic that there is no solution? We recommend two options.

 

First, aside from quality HR screening in the hiring function, we think that effective, focused and timely sales training can have the most significant positive impact on revenues. With regard to technology sales and management skills, our new Communications Technology Manager (CTM (News - Alert)), VoIP Business Executive and SIP Technology Executive courses are designed to “weed out the meek.” Translated, this means that IF the sales exec or channel partner does not complete these courses successfully, they are not authorized to sell — end of story.

 

In other words, if you don’t pass the drivers license exam, you don’t get to drive. If you don’t pass the pilots exam, you don’t get to fly. So why let people sell who don’t have the right answers and are not even aware of what they don’t know? They are wasting thousands of dollars of time and risking possible good client relationships when they don’t know what the need to know and fall into that category so aptly referred to as “loose cannons”. Doug Green, Editor and Publisher of Telecom Reseller News, said it best, “you can’t sell what you don’t know.” So don’t waste any money or worse, irreplaceable time, on people who don’t know or what they clearly should know.

 

Second, create and build tools to educate and inform customers instead of waiting for internal execs and channel partners to help educate the client for you. In other words, build tools that customers can “sell themselves” on your products. The days of traditional selling are over and there is a critical need to build compelling exciting tools that don’t rely on the “hand waving” and “charm school” of the sales person. We know this works. We have built animated selling tutorials for channel partners that according to Mark Sharp (News - Alert), CEO of Vimenture “reduce the sales cycle by two weeks.” These same tools can also increase your sales close rate percentage by a significant amount. You have just illustrated one of the more obvious problems no one ever wants to attack” noted Peter Meyer Executive Sales Advisor. He added, “There is an eternal gap between the hiring, training and firing. This repeats again and again forever. The key is determined and continuous training of the existing sales staff to continue on the upward revenue trend with, with new tools as those like TECHtionary has produced.” This means you can sell more and sell it faster. The bottom-line for this program is — wasting money is one thing but to waste time is another. So, get going today. We can help. Email us, we can send tutorials that are proven to work.