What do businesses need and can never get enough of?
SALES!
Annually, many organisation spend millions of dollars to recruit, train and retain top sales professions.
Why?
Sales representatives drive an organisation. They are responsible for cash inflows of a company. Salaries, utilities and other expenses depend on sales revenue coming in. People generally have a negative image of sales representatives in that they are pushy, greedy or untrustworthy. However, when evaluating the sales process, there are intricate duties and responsibilities that accelerate profitability and growth.
What is My Mission as a Sales Representative?
Their primary focus is to generate leads and sell their company’s product or service to potential and existing customers. The process though, is more complex. To generate leads, sales reps usually perform in-depth research about their ideal customer. This is to ensure they are targeting the right audience for this product – the person who will use and benefit from it the most.
Generate New Leads
Once an ideal customer profile is established, the sales representative’s job is to reach out to these potential customers. This process can be done via sales presentations, telephone conversations or digital means such as social media. Sales reps must formulate a sales pitch. A sales pitch is a selling technique that highlights the product’s benefits and how it alleviates problems or enhances their customers’ lives. The goal is to persuade the target audience to buy.
Very often, sales reps will have to perform multiple sales pitches before getting a positive response. It takes effort on the sales team to perform necessary follow-ups, particularly with existing clients who offer long-term lucrative contracts or consistent sales revenue.
Relationships with New and Existing Customers
The sales representative is usually the first point and sometimes, the only point of contact between the organisation and the customer. It is the responsibility of the sales team to cultivate and maintain strong relationships with them. Many times, sales reps are not looking for a one-time sale. Their sales goal is consistent cash flows. Sales representatives are usually paid partly or entirely on commission – based on how much they sell. They are aiming for repeat business. To increase the likelihood of this, relationship building is important.
Sales reps perform client relations duties if a customer has a specific complaint or no longer wants to do business. They may mitigate the situation and lessen the customer’s frustration to save the relationship.
Customer Feedback
Management may request adequate and continuous customer feedback. Their first-hand knowledge will alert executives about how the company’s performance is doing in the market. Are people buying in increasing quantities or have sales figures dropped? Why are customers no longer buying as before? What could the company do to alleviate this? These are questions sales representatives may be called to answer.
What Skills and Qualifications Do I Need for Sales Success?
To thrive in such an unpredictable career, it takes individuals with specific skills. The advantage of sales is the more you sell, the more you can earn. There is essentially no limit on how much you can make. However, to hit top notch figures and build robust customer relationships, certain competencies are required:
- Communications and Persuasion
Building relationships, perfecting sales pitches and reporting feedback all demand refined communications skills. For a sales representative, this skill is mandatory. If you cannot communicate effectively, you will be unable to convince your target audience to purchase your product. You will be perceived as indecisive or lack authenticity. Unless you can communicate the benefits of your product effectively, no one will buy because your sales pitch lacks trust and appeal.
- Listening.
As a sales professional, building solid relationships and selling entails effective listening and processing of issues. Seasoned sales reps listen with the intention to not just respond, but to understand and assist. Listening is particularly useful when addressing customer complaints and acquiring feedback. You must listen to propose a relevant solution.
- Self-awareness.
As mentioned, sales can be very unpredictable. Not every potential lead will be a yes. You will face rejection, unreasonable or irate customers and uncertainty in achieving sales targets. To prepare yourself, you need a sharp sense of identity, trust in your abilities and perseverance. Successful sales reps are confident in themselves and the products they are selling. Self-confidence translates into enthusiasm which potential customers will believe and perceive you as helpful and genuine which leads to a sale. Don’t attempt to persuade someone of something that you don’t believe in.
- Qualifications for Sales Success.
There are multiple courses, degree programs and classes available both online and offline that gives insight into selling techniques and best practices. A degree does not necessarily guarantee your success in sales. Much of the theory surrounding persuasion and customer service in Marketing, Communications and Advertising can be applied to selling. Inevitably, strong selling skills may develop overtime through trial and error, mentorship and consistent practice and improvement.
Where Can Success in Sales Carry Me?
Given that selling is such a valuable part of the business process where you can develop many skills, there are multiple career opportunities to explore. There are many career paths for a sales professional.
- Sales Manager – you can work your way up and gain valuable selling skills and insights that would equip you to manage your own sales team one day.
- Client Relationship Manager –Relationship building is such a powerful selling strategy. You can take the experience you have accumulated interfacing with customers to management level.
- Product Development – You would have been highly trained about the features and benefits of the product or service. You can build on this knowledge, and venture into product development to identify improvement methods and expanding the product line.
- Marketing Manager – As a sales rep, you have valuable knowledge about the behaviour of the customer and market. You can capitalise on those skills to build marketing plans, innovative campaigns, conduct market research and promote the products into new markets as a Marketing Manager.
- Entrepreneurship – If you can persuade customers, you may be able to convince them to do business with you one day. You can establish your own business and use your selling skills to establish a loyal customer base of your own.
- Consultancy – With the accumulated years’ worth of experience, you can branch out on your own and advise other companies on how to increase their sales revenue and build strong client relationships based on the expertise you would have refined over the years.
