Building an Effective Sales Force Using Military Strategy
Search:

Home | Internet | Ezine Marketing

 
 

Building an Effective Sales Force Using Military Strategy

By: Dennis Francis

I saw the movie 300 awhile back and just couldn't get it out of my mind. My wife thought I had gotten testosterone poisoning. For about a week, I couldn't talk about anything without using military references. I started to Google ancient battles and read the history books in my library. By the time my next web meeting with my group came around, I was fired up to use my military metaphors.

During the seminar on sales management strategies for a favorite client of mine I got several clips from the DVD and when I needed emphasis on a point, I let it rip. “THIS IS SPARTA!

It took only about three minutes before I got the whole thing out of my system. I got a question that didn't fit my forum from a great lady who had worked for the firm and was having trouble with closing. Her voice was very gentle and came across as my homeroom teacher did when I was in grade school.

She asked “How could I make more money if I couldn't bring more sales to a close? I asked her what was the hardest part of the process for her and she said “coming up with the words to get them to commit to the sale.” I then asked her what was the most fun and rewarding part of the process for her; she immediately said, getting on the phone and qualifying leads.

I quickly set up a survey and posted it to the group of eight sales persons. This was the result:

Question – What was the best part of the sales process for you?
 Phone prospecting - 1
 Face-to-face cold calling - 1
 Appointment setting - 2
 Demonstration - 2
 Follow up - 0
 Closing the sale - 2
 After sale service - 0
 Customer service - 0
Of the eight salespersons, one chose phone prospecting, one chose Face-to-face cold calling, one chose appointment setting, two chose demonstration, and two chose closing the sale. I then asked the group to take another survey to pick the hardest part of the sales process for them. It broke down as follows:

Question – What was the hardest part of the sales process for your?
 Phone prospecting - 4
 Face-to-face cold calling - 1
 Appointment setting - 1
 Demonstration - 0
 Follow up - 0
 Closing the sale - 2
 After sale service - 0
 Customer service - 0
I asked the team if they felt comfortable enough with their colleagues to try an experiment for three weeks if they would all make more money at the end of the test period. The answer was a resounding sure, we'll give it a shot. So I gave each of them a specific job to do.

In the old days, an army was broken up into long and short range troops. Each group had a specialty and was used for specific tasks. If the battle called for softening up the enemy from a distance, archers would be used. If the army had mobile infantry or riders, they might be used to engage the enemy in waves before the main force came in to finish off the battle. I broke down each sales person into their specialty. We took the prospecting list and deployed the long range tactical division. I had my two appointment setters and the phone prospecting expert working the phones. She trained and coached the appointment setters to master the phone.

They kept my three mobile infantry ( the two demonstrators and the face-to-face cold caller) busy with demonstrations. Finally I had my two closers go out with my demonstrators posing as managers to close the deals. The closers taught the demonstrators how to master the close by the second week of teamwork.

By the third week, the prospecting list was blown out and I had the phone callers doing follow ups by phone and teaming up with the demonstration team to do some follow through. We made sure that each qualified prospect was seen and treated to information and extra special management perks at least five times before the short campaign was through.

By the end of the three weeks, each person who loved and mastered their specialty got a chance to focus intently on what they loved to do best. They also got to mentor someone who was very experienced at another discipline that they weren't that good at their own. They gained confidence by first exercising their specialty; they then coached others to perfect their weakness in a given area; then they tackled their own weaknesses with the help of others. They were able to accomplish these steps while working as a team and making money as a team.

Most small sales forces would not be able to work this way because the pay structure just does not allow for close team work.

What this group accomplished was miraculous in the fact that as a team they were able to improve their overall income by qualifying more leads, conducting more demonstrations and building more relationships, while making more closes. The exercise also bolstered their individual confidence by allowing them to work at their own strengths. Since they realized that they were good at a special task, they were able transition to the next weaker skill with the help of their fellow associates.

The unbeatable combination of specificity and focus in combination with solid teamwork brought the individual sales averages up by 30% and showed a marked increase in productivity. The key reason for the success of the sales experiment was the closeness and trust of the salespersons and the willingness of the sales manager to try something different.

I'm still crazy about the concept of military campaigns as sales strategy; now if I can just get my hands on the DVD version of MASH, I'd be able to make selling that much more fun.

Article Source: http://articlenexus.com

Dennis Morales Francis is a consultant and coach for business professionals and wellness practitioners. His website, www.doublemyrevenues.com/money.html offers its members online coaching on building Internet income and automating their marketing on and off the web. Go to www.doublemyrevenues.com/money.html FREE-Tutorial series shows you how to put $120,000 a year in your pocket by pressing a button on your PC.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Ezine Marketing Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Internet | Ezine Marketing
Sign Up for a free account
free pay per click
STOP Paying for Your Ads! FREE Pay Per Click!
$8,132.26 Per Month on Craigslist
craigslist blackhat system

CraigsList Blackhat System
Everything you need for your website and home business.
Adsense Site Builder
Adsense Analyzer Software
Clip Art
Domain Names
Header Graphics
Make Money Online
Photo Art
Resell Products & Free Stuff
SEO Software
Web Hosting $4.95/mo
Website Templates
Web Site Promotion Tools

AdvancedWebsiteTools.com

Submit Articles
Member Login
Top Authors
Most Popular Articles
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds
(Your 160x160 ad here)
Only $50 a month-click here
Link Exchange
Blog by WordPress
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
About Us
Contact Us
Banner Advertisements
Business Reporter
Have you Victimized by a Business or the Government? File your consumer complaints or business complaints at BusinessReporter.net!
Structured Settlement?
Free information to help you learn more about structured settlements, your rights, and how to select the best company for you.
Affordable Discount Dental Plans
Choose from over 30 top-quality national and regional discount dental plans. Save 10% to 60% on most dental procedures
Classic Autos
Replica Kit Cars
Staffing Resources
Online Recruiting
Links
Bad Credit Repair
Hair Loss Remedies
Steiff Bears, Antique Bears
Model Railroading | Model Trains
McCain Sucks
mccain for president
Free Diabetic Supplies
Antique Radios | Ham Radios

отдых в Севастополеplugin wordpressрыбалкатанцевальный лагерь

Powered by Article Dashboard