In my last blog post, I highlighted the need for a compelling value proposition as a starting point in launching a company’s sales effort. Whether you are selling a car, real estate, clothes, or freight transportation services, having a strong and differentiated value proposition helps get the attention of prospective buyers and creates a sales opportunity for you and your company. If you don’t have a solid value proposition, I urge you to make this a priority before you move forward. In this blog I will discuss four other key elements of the sales process.

P for Passion

I have written about the importance of having a passion for your company and its products or services in the past. If you don’t have a strong belief in the company you work for, this inhibits sales success. In fact, if you don’t have this conviction, and you cannot fix this situation, you should probably be thinking of working for another organization. Passion gives you the energy and motivation you need to drive your sales effort.

T for Trust

I have had multiple sales careers during my many years in the business world. As a teenager, I sold men’s clothing for a high-end retail chain in Montreal. For many years I sold or managed sales teams that offered freight transportation services to shippers across North America. My most challenging sales assignment has taken place over the past 18 years as I developed my consulting practice. When I started, I had a to build a business from scratch. We had no customers, just some ideas on the services we wished to market. During this same period, I also helped successfully grow an annual freight transportation conference and sustained this business over an 11-year period.

I learned many valuable sales lessons from these various sales assignments. I will share a few tips in this blog, and the subsequent blogs in this series.

Value Proposition

One of the starting points for success in sales comes from an understanding of customers’ needs. What is motivating the potential purchaser of a suit or sport coat and slacks? What type of freight transportation service does the customer need to satisfy the requirements of their end users? Why is a prospective attendee contemplating going to a business conference? When I received a call from a President or VP, Finance of a company seeking consulting services, what is the primary problem that they were seeking to address?

Five years ago, I posted a blog that was derived from a LinkedIn Sales Management Group. A range of people responded to the question, “What advice would you give a new salesperson?” To that list, I added my own observations.

While many sales techniques stand the test of time, others evolve based on changes in technology and culture. This updated list of tips is designed for two sets of users, new reps, and their managers.

1. Achieve mastery of the services that you sell and understand how your services compare with those of your competitors.

2. Achieve mastery in sales skills. Observe how top sales people perform their craft. Seek out constructive feedback on your sales skills. Work on those areas of your sales skills that need improvement.

A few years ago, I wrote a blog about some of the major changes that were and still are shaping the world of Sales (http://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/does-your-trucking-company-still-need-an-outside-sales-force ). In that blog, I suggested that economics, technology, and customer requirements were raising questions about the value proposition of an in-house sales team in the freight transportation industry.

A few days ago, I read an article posted by the Business Guru Club (https://businessguruclub.info/outsourced-sales-management-how-does-it-work/ ) that made the argument that Sales is a functional area like Accounting. Companies can benefit by outsourcing their Sales operation as they do their Accounting activities to a for-hire third party.

“For small businesses trying to launch their own sales department can be very difficult, time consuming and above all – risky. If sales don’t start to come in and you have to dismiss staff a lot of time and money has been wasted and this could break the business.”