Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category

If you were to ask any sales person what will be her biggest concern about his job, in most cases he will say “meeting my sales targets”.

And if you were to ask that sales person how about making sure that we provide solutions that solve customers’ problems, the answer is likely to be “Yes, we do that too, but only after we reach our targets!”.

The sad fact is that sales people are usually not to be blamed for putting their own interests first before the customers’. After all, if they don’t do so, they may not be employed as a sales person for very long to add value to the customer in the long term. The pressure for achieving targets is so huge that it has become the top priority for most, if not all, sales people.

However, due to the profound changes in customers’ buying behavior in recent years, sales people will have to adapt to such changes, IF they want to meet their targets. In fact, they will have to adapt to increasing customer demands, IF they want to remain in business.

Customers’ Changing Needs

If you have been in sales for quite some time now, ask yourself these simple questions:
* What are some of the changes in customers’ profiles and needs 5 years ago compared to now?
* What will be some of the changes in customers’ profiles and needs 5 years from now?

The following are just some of the excerpts from some of the sales people we interviewed:
* 5 years ago, customers just buy whatever we sell;
* 5 years ago, customers typically identify with the bigger brands, and will buy from the bigger brands;
* Now, customers know a lot about our products and take initiative to configure the right products to give them a better price and value;
* Now, customers tend to just go for cost-reduction, and will just buy from the cheapest seller for the same product;
* 5 years from now, I expect customers to be even more demanding, AND they will compare the service levels of sales people, on top of product quality and price;
* 5 years from now, I think I will be out of a job, because customers can do the buying on their own WITHOUT the involvement of us sales people; etc.

All these feedback only points at one thing: the way we sell today may not be relevant to even today’s customers’ needs. Yet, the most common used response to meet increasing customer demands is to simply try harder, i.e. to call MORE prospects, be MORE aggressive in closing and get them to sign up for the BIGGEST possible deals.

Now, we all know from Einstein that the definition of insanity is to “do the same things over and over again, and expect a different result.” Clearly, simply trying harder is not the answer to you achieving your sales targets. In fact, it may even backfire and make you lose a lot more deals.

According international sales trainer, Ari Galper, aggressive calling and then closing will make you lose customers’ trust, which will in turn make you lose your sales in no time at all. It will also make your prospecting and sales effort a lot more stressful and painful, while making you further away from your targets.

Clearly, a better way of selling is needed to boost sales.

Definition of the Quality of Selling

So how do you define the quality of selling? There’s the quality of the product, even the quality of sales management, but the quality of selling?

Here’s an insight from the original management guru, the guy who created “management” as a field of study, the late Dr. Peter Drucker, “Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for.”

So what does the customer want? What do customers expect from the sales people who serve them? Customer research from HR Chally provides insights on what some of these expectations are:
* Sales people need to be personally accountable for customers’ results;
* Sales people MUST understand customers’ business;
* Sales people MUST proactively provide advice for customers;
* Sales people have to suggest the right solutions that solve customers’ problems;
* Sales people must be easily accessible;
* Sales people have to be creative in responding to customers’ needs; etc.

In a similar vein, Warren Buffet said, “Price is what you pay, value is what you get.”

The sales professor, Neil Rackham, goes further by stating that “sales people MUST be value creators”, and not mere “talking brochures”. Customers expect sales people NOT to be persuaders, but solution providers.

One of our clients, TNT Direct Mail, provides direct mailing solutions for their customers. In one case, they found one of their customers providing a lot of sample products in shopping malls to generate consumer interest. With this in mind, their sales person approached the client and ask if they would like to send the samples to prospective consumers through their direct mailing solutions. While this will cost more to the customer, TNT actually helps the customer to track their responses and provide follow up services upon request. That means TNT’s customer will actually get to know a lot more about their consumers, which will generate a lot more insights on how this customer sell, modify their products and provide back-end services.

Is this easy to achieve? Of course not. Such a sales process may take months before the you see the final result, but what you get is a very loyal customer, simply because you created value and provided a solution that works.

Ultimately, here are 2 criteria if you really want to measure the quality of your selling. After each sale,
* Are your customers looking forward to buy from you again?
* Are your customers looking forward to you visiting them again?
* Are your customers willing to refer others to buy from you?

While a lot has been said about “locking in a customer” so that if they switch to other products, the switching costs will be so high and hence they will have no choice but to buy from you again, making your customers looking forward to buy from you, or to see you again is a totally different concept.

The former is purely transactional, and sooner than later the customer is going to re-order NOT from you, but from a computerized re-ordering system. The latter is about managing the customers’ experience. What make customers willing to see you, and refer others to you, depends on how you create value and deliver results for them.

A high quality of making initial contact with customers will also give you better results. If your job is to make endless phone calls trying to fix an appointment with complete strangers, you may actually get better responses if you spend 10-15 minutes of research to find out what are some of the concerns that this customer segment has, and structure a Valid Business Reason to make the prospect willing to see you.

The sad thing is that many sales people were trying to make lame excuses to see the customer, only to have the customer either asking the sales person just leave the brochures at the front desk, or making another excuse to get the sales person out of the door.

“But I have No Time”

If you are like most sales people, you would be complaining that given the large amount of work you are doing, there’s hardly any more time to understand customers’ business issues and create value to customers. After all, that “is NOT my job”, as you may say. Or that is “Management’s business”. Or even “my manager will NOT allow me to change the way I work”.

If you are ever in doubt if creating value or improving the quality of selling is relevant to you, simply as yourself the first 2 questions: How are customers different now vs. 5 years ago, and how will they be different 5 years from now. Better still, think about how your customers will be different 1-3 years from now, because the future is happening faster than you think. If your sales process do not reflect your customers’ buying process and meet customers’ expectations, you are screwed.

CJ Ng is the trusted sales advisor who have helped international companies achieve quantum improvements in sales profits in China and beyond. So far, CJ has helped:

* A leading international hotel to produce the equivalent of an additional 5,000 room nights in China in the lull summer months of 2007
* A global leading architectural hardware company to increase the sales revenue of a key account in Shanghai by 10 times within 3 weeks
* The world leader in PC sales to transform their sales force to be more collaborative and solution-focused, and helping them to regain worldwide pole position from their nearest competitor.

Prior to this, c.j. was Asia Marketing Manager for a Fortune 500 logistics company, as well as Corporate Training Manager for Ringier AG, Switzerland’s largest media group, in China, where he was responsible for sales team development, and helped increase the percentage of new hires to close their first sales within 2 months by 30%, as well as increase overall sales targets by more than 50%. Visit http://www.psycheselling.com/page4.html for more details

Author: CJ Ng
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Benefits of electric pressure cooker

So you read this title and you are probably thinking that I’ve lost my mind, that I’m suggesting that you relax and just let sales happen. Take the pressure off and ignore all of the sales training you have received in your career. Forget what that sales manager is telling you to do.

Not the case! If you are in the sales profession, there is no time for R & R when it means rest and relaxation. Have you seen the news? Gas prices are skyrocketing. The stock market is in a state of flux. Foreclosures are at record levels. Flying on a plane costs about the same as a trip on the space shuttle. How can you possibly think that this is a time for taking a break?

This is the time when you need to sharpen your skills and improve your game. People are still buying, but they are more circumspect when making a decision. Thus, the game of sales is more competitive than ever before. When I say R & R, I don’t mean taking your foot off the accelerator. I mean building a reference and referral program to drive your sales.

Why group references and referrals together? In addition to having the first letter of the word in common, they share something else in common. That commonality is that the time in the process when you can ask for either a reference or referral is the same. And, there is only one time in the buying process when you can ask someone to provide you with a referral or serve as a reference. But, when is that time? One of my favorite questions to ask of sales people is when is the only appropriate time in the process to ask for those? Some say, at closing. Others say, when you implement or upon delivery. Still others say that any time is the right time to ask.

None of these are correct! The only time when you can ask someone to serve as a reference or provide you with referrals is when you have earned the right to ask them to do so. This is the absolute only time. That said, you may earn this right with a prospect without them ever buying anything from you. Maybe, you introduced them to a strategic partner that can help them in their business. Perhaps you helped them to identify areas of concern that need to be addressed in their business. In those instances, you have earned the right to ask for referrals. (There is also a unique strategy for using references which is presented in my article titled, “The Most Underutilized Strategic Advantage.”)

But, how do you ask for a referral? (This is another fun one for me.) Many years ago, I participated in a train-the-trainer program for facilitators. The biggest takeaway for me was learning how asking a question different ways yields different results. Think back to elementary school with the curmudgeon school teacher who finished the lesson, looked over the top of her glasses and asked the class, “Any questions?” How many people raised their hand? None! Why? The inference here is that no one should have any questions, thus, no one asked.

Across the hall, another teacher finishes the same lesson and asks the group, “What questions do you have?” How many people raised their hand? Three? Five? Ten? Both teachers finished the same lesson and both checked the class for understanding of the knowledge. What was different was the inference. Asking what questions do you have, infers that you should have questions. It invites a response.

So, what does this have to do with referrals? Sales people often ask for referrals by saying, “Do you know of anyone who might be interested in our services?” Rarely does that generate even a single name. The knee-jerk response is, “No, not off the top of my head, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

Try asking the question like the second teacher in the story above. “Who do you know that would be interested in our services?” The inference in this question is that they should know someone who would be interested in your services. That slight tweak in your approach will yield far more referrals than you ever have received before.

Another reason why I group references and referrals together is that I find that sales people are often not disciplined in asking for them. While some commit a faux pas and ask at the wrong time, most don’t ask at all. They are so focused on the next sale that they forget to squeeze all of the juice from the opportunity in front of them. What is the easiest sale to make? Other than a repeat sale to an existing client, there is no easier sale than one that comes through a referral with the support of a reference. It boggles the mind that sales people don’t uncover these sales nuggets.

In most selling situations, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is trust. Think of all of the horror stories out there on selling. The list is endless. For buyers, sales has the stink of bad fish on it. The standard buyer move is to shake the sales person’s hand and then cover their back pocket where their wallet is stored.

As a sales person, when you work with a referral, you start with a high-degree of trust since this person was referred to you by someone who has had a positive experience with you. These sales come together more often and with a shorter cycle. Need a reference for this prospect, already done! Since the prospect was a referral, the “referee” can also serve as a reference.

If you are a sales manager, put a program in place to drive R&R behavior. Have weekly goals for your sales team to develop references and referrals. Monitor the progress and reward those who exhibit the behavior.

If you are a sales person, don’t wait for your sales manager to put this in place for you. Control your destiny and hold yourself accountable for developing a specified quantity of references and referrals each week. This strategy will lead you to generate exponential sales under any economic conditions.

Lee B. Salz is the CEO of Business Expert Webinars, President of Sales Dodo, and author of “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager.” Known as “The Sales Dodo,” Lee specializes in helping companies and their sales organizations adapt and thrive in the ever-changing world of business. He is an online columnist for Sales and Marketing Management Magazine and the host of the Internet radio show, “Secrets of Business Gurus.” Look for Lee’s new book in 2009 titled, “The Sales Marriage… How to Hire the Right Sales People.” He is a passionate, dynamic speaker and a business consultant. Lee can be reached via email at lsalz@salesdodo.com , or by phone at 763.416.4321.

Author: Lee Salz
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Pressure cooker

The second component of Sales Cycle Management (SCM) is Sales Forecasting. Many times, salespeople and sales managers do not take a realistic view of how many sales they can undertake during a particular time period. This view makes time spent on Opportunity Management less worthwhile, and makes a traditional sales pipeline stale. What are the benefits of Sales Forecasting?

When you take the time to forecast, you’ll be able to analyze past sales, annual growth, and sales and growth as opposed to industry competitors. In addition to this, forecasting allows you to more closely analyze your price and cost structure, which means you have a better idea of where profit starts to kick in. In other words, a realistic sales forecast can allow you to virtually guarantee profit. When you look at the numbers, sales forecasting is a great way to look at the future from an objective standpoint. But how do you go about creating a sales forecast?

The first piece is to have an accurate record of past sales. For some organizations, this is easy, but for others, record keeping may have been less than accurate. Collect the most solid past data you can, going back several years if possible. From the past and current standpoint, it’s a good idea to understand what factors, both internal and external, have acted on sales and continue to act on sales. Make a list of these factors, just to be sure they are understood. For example, external factors could range from seasonal demand for the product or service, general economic conditions, to the activity of competitors – and their product, as well as consumer conditions such as income and employment. But what about internal factors, such as labor conditions, the organization’s credit policy, and inventory? Are there changes in the manufacturing process, price, or production numbers at any point? Once you’ve determined what factors act upon your sales, you can ask further, more detailed questions about the sales forecast itself.

First, what products or services are you going to be forecasting? Are they grouped or separate? In most cases, it’s a good idea to create at least separate product or service groupings for the forecast – this way, your forecast will start out as precise as possible. Next, ask about the time frame of the forecast. How far in the future can you realistically go? Third, consider frequency. What is the frequency of actually creating the forecast, and what is the frequency of review and/or revision? Finally, it’s a good idea to come up with an acceptable margin of error based on cost, expense, and profit. The margin of error is also a good test of the realism of the forecast. At this point in sales forecasting, you may have to take an analytical look at account records, financial statements, sales reporting, and post sale activities. For example, you’ll want to look at all of the activity that occurred up to the point of sale and after to get a good idea of cost and expense. These sales records should be part of your Opportunity Management system, anyway.

As you move forward, you must finally determine if you’d like to see a qualitative or quantitative forecast. In simple terms, quantitative analysis takes into account all of the factors we’ve discussed and makes an estimation of sales based on those factors. The qualitative analysis will use a mathematical formula to create a numbers-based sales forecast. If your organization is smaller, you may want to try a quantitative approach first, as a realistic starting point. This is especially true if your financial staff is smaller. In larger organizations with a larger financial staff, a qualitative approach is possible. When looking at these approaches, keep in mind that a stable, consistent product can use a standard mathematical formula for forecasting. On the other hand, an unstable product may find a forecast in varied mathematical formulas.

However you decide to move forward with your sales forecast, you’ll be taking a less realistic pipeline and rooting it to more realistic sales possibilities. Once you’ve created your forecast, you’ll be ready to move to the next component of SCM, Account Planning.

Copyright 2007-2008 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.

Bryant Nielson – National Corporate Sales Trainer – assists executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a trainer, business & leadership coach, and strategic planner for many sales organizations. Bryant’s 27 year business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering.

Subscribe to his blog at: http://www.BryantNielson.com

Author: Bryant Nielson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Electric Pressure Cooker

Even in the best organizations the sales and marketing departments often work in parallel, though separate tracks. And, in most companies the sales and marketing departments actually work against each other, with each group planning their strategy, training their team, and implementing their plan without
a) considering each other’s plans
b) gathering their input
c) providing unbiased feedback, and most importantly
d) gaining buy-in and support from each other.

How many times have new marketing programs or materials been developed-at great effort and expense-only to fizzle in the sales process because sales refuses to use them? Or how common is the scenario where marketing generates leads they feel sales does not follow-up on and sales deems these leads “unqualified?” Sadly, in these scenarios, everyone loses.

Integrating the magic of marketing with the science of sales is KEY to sales and marketing efficiency and effectiveness. Without joining the often-disparate efforts of sales and marketing into one cohesive approach, your strategies are only realizing one-half of the equation.

To avoid this all-too-common trap, start by including the sales perspective into your marketing process by:

Understanding Your Sales Process. I find that the biggest reason sales and marketing teams don’t integrate well is because they don’t have the same understanding of the sales process and/or they don’t have the same definition of the concepts within the sales process (For instance, what EXACTLY defines a lead? What type of communication is necessary at the lead qualification stage vs. the presentation phase?). To remedy this misunderstanding, start by defining and documenting your sales process and make sure both teams agree to operate within and support those definitions and requirements.

Implementing a Sales Advisory Committee. As you begin your annual marketing planning and budgeting, develop a sales advisory committee. The sales advisory committee meetings should be lead by the marketing department, while the sales department should decide sales representation. Use these meetings to strategize, plan, and establish sales buy-in into every aspect of the marketing approach. Also, solicit feedback from individual salespersons by posting a web poll to ensure your plans, materials, and vehicles aren’t missing the mark when it comes to actual usability from a sales perspective. Make this poll anonymous so that you get the real scoop (and not just what they think you want them to say).

Co-traveling with sales representatives. Attending all the trade shows and industry events in the world will never provide the same perspective and opportunity to understand your customers’ and prospects’ needs from your marketing efforts, as calling on them. Ask the territory representative to plan a day (or two) for calling on a mix of current and previous clients and prospects. Be specific about who you want to call! Otherwise, you’ll end up with a tour of the “A” accounts, with very little insight beyond your top customers.

Sales and marketing are not independent disciplines. And, it’s not enough to “be friends.” Integrate the two disciplines in a meaningful way and you’ll find your sales and marketing efforts will be all the more successful.

Go-To-Market Strategies is a resource center for sales and marketing professionals and business leaders. Our tools, templates, and services help companies achieve big aspirations with limited budgets.

Visit our website for sales and marketing templates and access to free downloads or browse more articles

Author: Shannon Kavanaugh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Lowest Price Prototype PCB Assembly

Something insidious has happened during the last 10 to 15 years within the best position of any in the business world. Sales professionals have co-opted their roles by embracing titles such as:

• Business Development Strategist
• Project Development Consultant
• Customer Relations Specialist
• Business Development Consultant
• Closing Transaction Specialist
• Regional Accountant Specialist
• Marketing Consultant

Rarely do you read the following title in a business card:

Salesperson

Sales Executive

Sales Specialist

Sales Consultant

Sales Representative

And how often do you read the following:

Professional Salesperson?

What happens when something is not clearly defined? The results are usually muddied and require far more resources to achieve.

So what is the problem with being called a salesperson or having the word sales in the job or title description? I believe that many in sales truly do not want to be in sales and by changing their title they can change what they do and focus on other aspects of business building. Then what happens is that sales results are marginal at best.

These reasonably intelligent individuals fail to realize that business building is about attracting new customers (making sales) and developing loyal customers (making sales). For without sales, a business will not be a business. Sales Coaching Tip: Sales are the goal!

Imagine for a moment a baseball team and everyone is called football players. What would happen? The reason baseball players are called baseball players is because they play with a baseball. So why would those in sales who make sales be called anything other than a sales person.

Until individuals including small business owners to C Level executives understand that hitting a moving target (undefined target) is very difficult, the goal to increase sales will continue to allude most of these organizations. And what is more frightening due to the lack of competent sales professionals, many small business owners to C Level executives allow these titles such as business development specialist to continue to proliferate the business world. Sales Coaching Tip: Sales managers have your sales people called sales representatives, sales specialists or sales professionals. This will increase their focus.

Being in sales is the best profession in the world. If you do not want to be in sales, then get out and find a job that works with what you want out of life.

What other actions have you taken to increase sales? Take free sales skills audit to help you crystallize the what of your sales skills.

Do you need some additional sales coaching tips but cannot afford a sales coach? Then visit the sales coaching gym.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith helps sales professionals & organizations through business coaching training services (locations near Chicago & Indianapolis) to increase profits to productivity. My clients quickly double results in 30 to 90 days. Call me at 219.759.5601 to schedule a free business coaching consultation.

Author: Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
iPad games

Sales coaching has been around for many years in the form of mentors and sales managers. Yet, today’s sales professionals are facing not only the historical challenges of stalls, objections, but new ones of which many have been generated by the Internet.

The nuances of selling have increased, but the sales skill of how you relate to that prospect, belly to belly is where it all happens. Sales coaches have the time that sales managers do not have. Through, hopefully, a developmental process that focuses on enhancing your current sales skills’ strengths, you as a sales professional can increase your sales effectiveness.

Sales coaches allow opportunities through role playing to help you as the sales person improve your skills from marketing to selling. What many sales managers fail to understand is that marketing skills are different than selling skills, but both are needed within the sales process.

A good sales coach will bring a proven sales process to the coaching program. Some companies truly do not have a sales process in which there is a step by step methodology to get to the goal to increase sales. When a step within the process is violated, skipped, ignored, then the likelihood of achieving that sales goal has been dramatically reduced.

Effective business training coaching should start with a desired result. Then and only then you as the recipient and the coach will know if this solution has been effective.

Finally, an experienced coach will know the basic challenges you are facing in your sales role. For example, I work with real estate agents whose number one problem is listing or selling homes. What I have learned is that most real estate agents do not have a sales plan or marketing plan. Without a plan, there are not written goals that can be actively pursued. New car sales professionals as well as many independent salesmen also lack sales plans. Again, these professionals are embracing the spray and pray mentality. Spray it on the wall and pray it sticks.

These are some of the reasons, not all of them, why you just may need some sales coaching if you truly want to have more money in the bank.

Want to increase sales? Take this sales skill assessment

Do you need to exercise your sales skills. Consider visiting the business training coaching, sales coaching gym.

Author: Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

The US pharmaceutical industry is now admitting that its traditional sales model is not working. Its customers, the physicians, do not like the model, and are showing signs of intolerance, while the field-based sales forces are becoming frustrated by physician attitudes towards them and a growing lack of access. Relations between the physicians and the pharmaceutical industry are being severely tested. The industry clearly needs to make changes to its model for communicating with physicians.

The challenge is that for many years the industry has been deploying a so-called “mirror image” model, and that there are now so many sales representatives calling on physicians, that there are sometimes more pharmaceutical sales representatives than patients in a physician’s waiting room.

So what is a ‘mirror image” sales force, and what are its origins?

A typical sales force calling on Primary Care physicians, for example, will typically consist of 500 sales representatives. Those 500 representatives will each have a target universe of approximately 200 physicians on whom they are meant to call. Unfortunately, as pharmaceutical management from major pharmaceutical companies increasingly competed for “share of voice” among those target physicians, they were compelled to find ways of getting their reps in front of the target physicians even more frequently. They realized that with one sales representative could only call on a physician a limited number of times each year, and that that representative only got a limited amount of time with the physician to talk about the two or three products that were to be promoted. Furthermore, by the time that representative was back in the office talking with the physician the next time, there had been such a gap, and so many of their competitors had been there speaking with the physician in-between, that that physician had frequently forgotten about the products. They were certainly not “top of mind”, and that was reflected in prescription performance, or lack thereof. The ‘mirror image” sales force concept was, therefore, introduced, and became increasingly popular from around 1995 through 2005. A mirror-image sales force is one that calls on the same universe of physicians as the original sales force but, theoretically details a different set of products to that detailed by the original sales force. However, there are always one, two or more key brands that are detailed by both sales forces. From two mirror sales force, companies introduced a third, and a forth and more, so that certain companies had as many as six or eight mirrors all calling on the same universe of physicians.

This is what started to “kill the goose that had been laying the golden egg”. The mirrors killed the relationship between the physicians and the pharmaceutical companies. This was all done at a time when Managed Care was having such a dramatic impact on the professional lives of physicians. Physicians, and particularly those in Primary Care, were required to work harder and see more patients, just maintain the same level of income that they were earning some years ago. Take this dynamic, and place it alongside the fact there was concurrently an increasing number of pharmaceutical sales representatives, and an increasing number from the same company, trying to call on the physicians at times when those physicians wanted/needed to focus on seeing patients. It was clearly a recipe for disaster. And that is what has happened and is happening. It is becoming an unmitigated disaster. More and more physicians are either banning or severely limiting access to pharmaceutical sales representatives.

So what can be done to improve the relations between pharmaceutical companies and physicians while concurrently addressing the pharmaceutical industry’s need to reduce costs and increase productivity. ? How can the industry achieve more with less, particularly when there continues to be a need for pharmaceutical companies to regularly and effectively communicate with physicians to explain their products and the benefits to the physicians’ patients.

Back in the late 90′s and early 2000, a company called iPhysicianNet provided the industry with a means of testing out a potential alternative solution to reduce the number of sales representatives calling on the ‘so-called” target physicians”. iPhysicianNet was the creator of the “Video Detailing” concept. A concept whereby physicians were provided with the technology and network connectivity to have face-to-face sales discussions with pharmaceutical sales representatives at times of convenience to the physicians. The physicians were in the driving seat, and appeared to be perfectly happy to engage in monthly video detailing sessions with representatives of many of the major pharmaceutical companies. On average such video detailing sessions lasted in excess of seven minutes, and two or three products were detailed in each session.

Companies who deployed the iPhysicianNet video detailing system reported very good results in prescription increases and attractive ROIs. However, the vast majority of those companies saw the iPhysicianNet video detailing service as a means or “augmenting” the activities of their field sales forces, and not as a means of testing a future where they may need to downsize the field sales teams, and adopt a means of more effectively communicating with physicians with less representatives.

Unfortunately, the iPhysicianNet business model proved to be too capital intensive. Maybe the company was just too far ahead of its time. In those days, many physicians did not have access to or use of a computer (that was strictly reserved for the billing area). Also, broadband (Cable, DSL) connectivity/internet access was not widely available. iPhysicianNet was therefore forced to provide physicians with a PC an ISDN telecommunications connection, and internet access. There was, therefore, a major cost hurdle just to install a physician (in excess of $4,000), and an ongoing substantial cost for ISDN usage. As a consequence, iPhysicianNet was forced to close its doors in 2003, and did an orderly wind down.

Since 2003 broadband connectively has become widely available, and physician owned and used of PCs is far more widespread. However, since that time, conditions have continued to worsen for pharmaceutical companies. In fact conditions are distinctly worse. The major pharmaceutical companies, whose patents, pipelines, and profits are drying up, are being forced to undertake quite drastic downsizing measure, and relations between physicians and the industry are probably at an all time low.

This is the time that the industry needs to take another look at video detailing. Historically, a video sales representative has been able to cover a territory of 500 – 600 physicians as compared to the typical field sales/office calling representative that has had a territory of just 150-200 physicians and in some instances much smaller where companies have adopted a “micro-territory” modus operandi. With video sales representatives being able to cover such a substantially higher number of physicians than the field-based sales representatives, the industry has a clear means of doing more with less. Just as an example, for every 100 field-based representatives calling on a total of 20,000 physicians, just 40 or less video representatives would be required to cover the same universe.

The pharmaceutical industry has the opportunity to reduce costs, enhance productivity and profitability, while concurrently improving relations with the physician community via eDetailing and adding video reps to their existing sales force profiles.

By: Colby Wright Pharmaceutical Sales Force Development Expert. Changing the way we do business.

Pharmaceutical eDetailing, Physician Community

Medical Web site Directory

Author: Colby Wright
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Awe Inspiring Pictures

For all of us who have our own businesses, or who have a vested interest in building a successful and prosperous business, increasing sales each year is vital for business growth. It is now the time of year when we review what we have achieved and look ahead to what we want to develop and build. With planning and attention we can figure out what needs improving and how to do it. So here are seven tips to get your sales increasing in 2008:

1. Define your business and sales goals. The only way you are going to get where you need to be is to identify where that is and what it is. Then you need to write it down and communicate it with your management and administration groups and sales team. By committing your goals to writing you are creating a stronger physical focus for yourself. When your team sees the goals written down they take the goals more seriously and believe in your commitment to achieving them. This sets your team onto the same target and improve the success results.

2. Once your business and sales goals are set you are well on track to having the basics of the strategic plan defined. A strategic plan gives direction for all aspects of it and is especially important for having the marketing and advertising messages being consistent throughout the entire business. This empowers the sales team to increase sale income.

3. Set the strategic goals alongside sales goals and share this with the management and sales teams. The vision of the entrepreneur needs to be made into concrete examples for the managers and sales team to take specific actions against so the strategic goals can be met. This will keep everyone working for the same goals and going in the same direction. It helps individuals in the team make daily decisions against a known set of criteria and goals so they can make the right choices.

4. Give everyone in the business who answers phones sales scripts. I have worked with businesses where someone in administration accidentally gets a customer enquiry and have no idea how to appropriately talk with the customer about the business only to harm the customer relationship. With all staff being trained how to talk with customers and direct them to the best person to help them, customers are well cared for and the reputation is enhanced rather than harmed. Sales scripts for the sales team helps individuals get over objections and keeps a consistent marketing message being communicated about them.

5. Know where the money is by tracking and measuring daily actions. If you are not measuring results how can you manage results? You know that if you are not measuring the results from marketing and advertising efforts you are flying blind with knowing where to best spend you budget. The same goes for the sales team. Track so you can measure sales, number of sale leads, customer calls, appointments, meetings and contacts like newsletters, cards and emails.

An email newsletter going out to key segments of your customer database has a greater sales impact than calling one small customer, so assign weightings to efforts and look to have regular actions from across the spectrum in your weekly reports. The repeated small actions of adding customers to the email newsletter database make the sending of newsletters valuable so make sure you count the small actions as well as the big actions.

6. Look after your customers with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and you will increase sales. A good CRM system will let you know really useful information about individual customers as well as reporting on customer segments. It will also empower you to promote a consistent and professional message to your customers with every contact they have with the business so credibility and trust is built. Part of a CRM system is also keeping track of privacy requirements and lets you stay within the law while presenting an ethical business that is valuable to the customer.

Systems are empowering because they make it easier to keep it going in the same direction and promoting a consistent message for both marketing and business values.

7. Review your sales training approach. Has the sales approach been getting you the results that you want? The traditional approach of closing sales is generally aggressive whereas the selling method that wants long term relationships with customers, listens to customer needs carefully so the best solution can be offered and where customers bring business to you can radically increase the profits of the bottom line. Looking at your sales team’s approach, methods and tools can let you achieve changes that increase your sales significantly.

With these 7 foundation tips for increasing sales so from here you can set the ground for exponential growth for 2008.

Belinda Stinson is the designer and owner of http://CreativelyBelle.com – a popular and successful jewelry and earring holder gift idea store. Belinda also offers a range of business and marketing articles online published in the monthly email newsletter to help other businesses success.

Find out more about building a prosperous business with Belinda’s free resources. Signup today for the free email newsletter to keep you informed about new resources as well as jewelry designs and sales.

You can also see Belinda’s designs and jewelry display stands at the Creatively Belle online store: http://CreativelyBelle.com/design

Author: Belinda Stinson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Just imagine for a moment that you have perfect sales skills. You know everything there is to know about selling and you know what to do in every sales situation. Now just suppose there is another person selling the identical products and services as you and they too have perfect sales skills.

Who is going to be more successful at selling? The person who is going to be more successful is the one who ‘thinks’ they can. Let me explain this further.

What sets the boundaries of your sales success is you, your thoughts and your beliefs. You can never sell more than the limits/boundaries you have set for yourself. You have thoughts and beliefs about the type and size of the sales you are capabable/deserving of and the amount of sales income you can earn.

So if you think and believe you are capable of earning $100,000 a year, your autopilot system will go into action to make sure you earn that $100,000. If you think you are a $500,000 a year salesperson, your autopilot system will go into action to make sure you take the actions to earn that $500,000. Yes, you may occasionally exceed what you think you are capable of but rest assured your subconscious will go to work to average it all out to what you think you can.

Your thoughts and beliefs are not the truth but you have made them your truth – probably subconsciously – and you will always be loyal to and live up to your truth automatically. All your actions will always be in alignment with making your truth a reality – whether you like it or not. So can you see now that your success at selling is not just about your sales skills?

Your sales success = your sales skills + your thoughts/beliefs.

It is interesting, don’t you think, that most sales training simply focuses on teaching you HOW to sell and how to perfect your sales skills? The false assumption is that to improve your sales success you only need to focus on improving your sales skills. This is only part of the equation.

With respect to selling, there are specific thoughts and beliefs that have a significant impact on your sales success. These are your thoughts and beliefs around: what selling is, who you need to ‘be’ to sell and how successful you think you can be. Your thoughts and beliefs in these areas act as throttles holding you back and there are fairly simple techniques to take these throttles off.

Imagine you have a belief that selling is about convincing/persuading/manipulating someone to buy something they may or may not want. How does that make you feel? Uncomfortable? Resistant to having sales conversations?

Now change that perspective to one where you view selling as having conversations to see if you can help people get what they want. How does this perspective make you feel? Comfortable? More relaxed about having sales conversations?

Where there is resistance there is a throttle. Throttles regulate flow and with respect to selling they regulate the flow/limit of your sales success. With this example, by changing your perspective on what selling is you have effectively released this throttle (resistance) so your sales conversations can now flow more readily. I hope you are getting the concept.

Go in search of all your beliefs and thoughts around sales and look for thoughts and beliefs that cause resistance as you will then have found throttles which are limiting your sales success. Work on releasing these throttles so your sales conversations flow.

At the beginning I said that you unconsciously and automatically live up to the boundaries/limits you have set for yourself with respect to your sales success. Hence it is logical then that the higher the boundaries/limits you have set for yourself, the higher your sales results will be automatically. So if you can remove any throttles you may have around selling, you will automatically raise the boundaries/limits you have set for yourself and you will automatically sell more. It will be automatic. How easy is that?

So forget about trying harder and working harder. Focus instead on lifting your boundaries/limits and watch the quantum leap in your sales happen automatically.

You can really think and grow sales!

(c) 2007, Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation. WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you make all links live and include this copyright and by-line below.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople 10 simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Sign-up for her FREE monthly newsletter that is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself at http://www.salesconversation.com

Author: Tessa Stowe
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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There are a lot of sales myths that not only diminish your chances of success, they also make selling more complicated and harder than necessary. Selling is, in fact, quite simple, provided you know, understand and apply some fundamentals. And you ignore sales myths.

Here are 6 Sales Myths:

Myth #1: Selling is a numbers game. The greater the quantity of prospects you’re working on the higher your chances of success.

Truth: Selling is only a numbers game if you want to waste time and money going after sales that have no chance of success.

Selling is a qualified numbers game. The more qualified prospects you have, the more sales you’ll make. It’s not about the quantity of prospects but the quality. If prospects are qualified, they are already in the quality category. If you have a list of qualified prospects you’re working on, chances are that a high percentage will turn into clients.

Myth #2: Learn closing techniques as you need them to close the sale.

Truth: Closing techniques are not necessary for closing sales.

Closing techniques are not necessary to close sales unless, of course, you are into high-pressure selling (and if you are, I hope you’re not one of my readers, as my style is not for you). Don’t waste your time learning closing techniques. Instead, spend your time learning how to have a sales conversation which naturally leads to your prospect wanting to do business with you. The only “closing” you have to do is suggest the next step.

Myth #3: There are natural born salespeople.

Truth: Selling is a science, a learnable skill and process that anyone can learn.

“Fast talkers” are often mistakenly thought of as natural born salespeople when, in fact, fast talking repels most people. Talking doesn’t sell. Asking questions and listening does.

Those who are doing very well at selling are often thought to be successful because they are natural born salespeople. Their “naturalness” has, in fact, been hard earned. They have spent a lot of time and effort learning and applying sales skills.

Myth #4: If you improve your sales skills you will improve your sales results.

Truth: This is what I call a ‘half’ myth. To improve your sales results, focus on improving your sales skills and also work on your thoughts and beliefs.

Having sales skills is only part of the equation. No matter how good your sales skills are there will always be a ceiling on your sales results. The ceiling on your sales results is set by YOU because of your beliefs and thoughts (mindset). If you really want to lift the ceiling on your sales results learn the total equation of selling. Your sales skills plus your mindset determine your sales results.

Myth #5: Focus on getting the sale.

Truth: Focus on helping your prospect get what they want.

If your focus and intention is on selling, selling, selling, you will repel, repel, repel. People don’t like to be sold, and if you are focusing on selling, chances are high that your prospect will be looking for ways to quickly end the conversation.

Instead have your focus and intention on having a conversation to understand if you can help your prospect get what they want. Do this and watch how they open up and listen to how you can help them. With your intent on helping people get what they want you will make more sales.

Myth #6: Focus on selling your solution.

Truth: Focus on selling the customer their end result.

People don’t care about your products, your services or your solution as that is not what they’re buying. What they are buying is an end result. Your product, services and solution are simply the enabler – the method/process used to get their end result. This is a subtle distinction that will make all the difference to your sales approach and results.

After reading these 6 Sales Myths and Truths, I request that you map out some action steps you can take now to apply or benefit from these truths. A few simple action steps based on these truths have the potential to dramatically improve your sales results. Try it and see.

(c) 2007, Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation. WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you make all links live and include this copyright and by-line below.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople 10 simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Sign-up for her FREE monthly newsletter that is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself at http://www.salesconversation.com

Author: Tessa Stowe
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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