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sales team inflation

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by ben p m laauwen (cmc) 1 view

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I could not agree more with the writer.

Having been on both sides of the fence, I remain sceptical when I see an army invading my office, parading like ducks in a row, all carrying a briefcase.

Briefcases down (normally only one to be opened during the session), some six business cards on your table, discussions with usually one, sometimes two members of the team. The rest is backup.

Then all rise, pick up case and out they go.

My solution? Restrict the team to two for any salespitch, delegate to working groups if the matter is technically complicated. Insist on outlining a buying process upfront, agree to and submit meeting goals and reports as well as a target deadline for the Y/N decision. Avoid lunches (by organising snacks)or start after lunch.

In short, create a "buying project", run it as a project and apply all the rules of project management. You might be surprised about the cooperation from nost serious vendors.

Ben Laauwen, South Africa

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by dscottcelt

Okay, everything said thus far is true.

I would like to point out that lean and mean in addition to keeping prices down, can also mean that the homework has been done and there are no vendor insecurities about their ability to adress your business solutions reequirements.

One person maybe with telephone technical assistance will be sufficient to adress your needs and issues.

On the other hand, training opportunities are necessary to build a confident sales force, so ask the vendor if there are trainees present and if so will they be your account executive?

Ask each person in turn what their role is in the meeting and let no one get by with a title description this may take a few moments but it will certainly qualify and quantify the meeting structure and direction.

Doug Scott
New York
NetWolves.com

by dscottcelt

Okay, everything said thus far is true.

I would like to point out that lean and mean in addition to keeping prices down, can also mean that the homework has been done and there are no vendor insecurities about their ability to adress your business solutions reequirements.

One person with telephone technical assistance will be sufficient to adress your needs and issues.

On the other hand, vendor training opportunities are necessary to build a confident sales force, so ask the vendor if there are trainees present and if so will they be your account executive?

Ask each person in turn what their role is in the meeting and let no one get by with a title description this may take a few moments but it will certainly qualify and quantify the meeting structure and direction.

Taking charge of your meeting and the "players" present will set a tone for clear and concise results and save you time.

Doug Scott
New York
NetWolves.com

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