A company’s web designer is given a task to get new product information explained on
the company’s website. With no direction or oversight, he proceeds to design a flashy media kit with all the bells and whistles – music, eye-catching images and high tech transitions. When asked why he didn’t include detailed product information, he explained that he thought that the information would clutter up the design. The real reason was because he wanted to update his portfolio so that he could find a better job.
Why am I telling you this story? Because, while the story itself is fiction (a little confession, I took it from a Dilbert comic strip) it reflects the mindset of many employees. And that is, that unless you are a salesperson within your organization, you probably don’t believe that you play a role in the sales process. In this brief scenario, you can see all the ways that this mindset can wreak havoc on your business including lost sales because customers do not have access to readable information, low productivity and employee turnover.
There are several reasons your employees might behave this way.
To some, “sales” is still a dirty word and your employees might not want the stigma attached to them. Others feel why should they sell? What’s in it for them anyway? My guess is that’s the way the disgruntled employee in the Dilbert comic strip felt.
More often than not, however, most employees, simply haven’t been trained to recognize an opportunity to “sell” and do not possess the skills to do so even if they did recognize the opportunity. Therefore, they just don’t think about it.
I like to tell the story about the financial institution where I do all my banking. Once a month, I drive up to the drive-thru window to pay my mortgage. I’ve been doing this for 11 years and the Teller has been there as long. She knows the lollypop flavor my children prefer. I enjoy the 1 minute exchange we have with each other and I always leave smiling. What’s interesting is that not once in the 11 years I’ve been driving up to her window has she ever mentioned to me that “the bank had lowered its mortgage rates and would I be interested in learning more?” Or “I noticed that you haven’t taken advantage of our CD’s….” or simply handed me a brochure. If I want to learn about CD’s or mortgages, I best park my car, walk into the bank, ask to speak to the “person who handles CD’s or mortgages” and then take a seat and wait until he is finished with the previous customer. Whew!!! No thanks.
To change a culture, we must change how we think, how we behave, how we communicate how we reinforce change and how we learn new skills.
Consider yet another example to drive home the point:
A manufacturing plant pays its workers an hourly wage. They are expected to produce 200 units each day. They are allowed to work overtime if necessary to get the job done. Overtime is the only way for employees to make extra money.
Now, ask yourself the following questions.
- What is the culture of this type of business environment?
- What type of “behavior” would this culture foster?
- What impact would this behavior have on the company?
- How might the company “motivate” employees to change their behavior?
It’s not hard to see that the culture of this type of environment will foster behavior that goes directly against the company’s desire to increase profitability. Employees have no incentive to perform at their best and more than likely discourage others from performing at their best as well.
Developing a company-wide sales culture is not just a good idea, it’s a necessity. With the number of companies who are competing to take your customers’ business, it behooves you to get every employee on board. This does not mean that your bank tellers should be making cold calls. Nor does it mean that your dispatchers should be following up on leads. It does mean that regardless of the roles and goals of each department within your organization, every employee must recognize that they play a vital role in the sales process. A sales culture is one where every mindset reflects the following truths:
“I am part of the sales process”
“Selling is about building relationships”
“If I help the company succeed, so will I”
The way to accomplish this is as follows:
Develop performance goals for each department within your organization that are directly aligned to the overarching business objective of the company
Simply put, the overarching business objective of every company is to make money. However, in most organizations, the sales division is the only department directly responsible for profit. Whether it is bringing in new customers or selling more to existing customers, performance is measured on each individual’s ability to make money for the company. As a result, goals, strategies and tactics are developed to drive performance. By aligning the actions, goals and strategic plans of all divisions, your organization stands a better chance of achieving its overarching business objective.
Establish processes that capture opportunities to sell the value of doing business with your company
From the moment an idea comes to fruition, your company should be thinking about the “process of the sale.” You can start by asking yourself the following questions:
- Where are the customer touch points throughout the organization and within each department?
- What procedures are in place at each touch point to capture critical business development information? Where is this information stored and who has access to the information?
- How is critical business development information shared between departments?
Establish compensation plans and recognition programs that reward (motivate) all employees – not just sales.
Traditional sales compensation plans pit salesperson against salesperson and fail to recognize the value that others within the organization bring to the sales process. Today, more and more companies are beginning to recognize the negative effective this has on employee morale as well as profitability. (Remember the manufacturing company we talked about?). By instituting team bonus systems, companies motivate employees to work together to achieve a common goal.
Provide sales training for all employees within your organization.
The best salespeople understand that selling is about building relationships. And relationship building is all about the art of communication. When your employees know how to ask questions in order get to the root cause of problems and concerns; when they can present solutions to problems and make sound recommendations; when they can recognize an opportunity to provide additional services to a customer or collaborate with another employee to come up with a win/win solution for all parties; when they believe they are part of the sales process and feel valued, they are better prepared to sell the value of doing business with your company and to create harmony within.
