Effective sales management for business success

BY KUNLE ADEBIYI

Sales management has changed dramatically over the past decade and continues to evolve at a rapid pace. It is a critical aspect of any business — irrespective of the scale of the business. Although much has been written about effective sales management, today’s complex and unpredictable business landscape requires a robust and strategic sales management approach.

By understanding sales management from the perspective of salespeople, customers and business, organisations can set themselves up for success. It is important to understand and appreciate the following to develop a strategy that works.

Sales connect a company to its customers: Sometimes, customers are introduced to a company’s offerings when they have an intention to purchase a product or service. The key driver for most customers is the fulfilment of particular needs. Irrespective of the sales touchpoint, customers experience and receive information about a company as they progress through a sales funnel. To ensure that customers encounter the right experience in their purchase journey, it is essential to optimise every sales channel. For instance, sales channels such as wholesale, retail (both online and in-store), direct-to-consumer (DTC) and B2B should be optimised to meet the needs of potential customers. Depending on the product or service, your company’s business model and your customers, among other things; you can choose to focus on optimising a specific channel before others. The goal here is to meet your customers at the point of their needs. The customer journey must be such that the steps are clear, easy and consistent across all touchpoints.

The customer is even more powerful now: As a result of the advances in technology, customers now have information at their fingertips. The era of transactional sales is long gone. Today, customers don’t want to be sold to; they want to be guided in a way that helps them make informed decisions. They are quick to spot and reject rehearsed sales tactics and one-size-fits-all solutions that don’t address their complex business or individual problems. More than ever, customers are willing to find the answers themselves. According to a 2019 Gartner report, it is estimated that a billion service tickets will be raised automatically by customer-owned bots. To make a buying decision in most places, customers would check on Google first. Comparisons are made and in a few cases, the customer understands your product, understands your main competitors and can lecture you on the defect of your products that you didn’t even know existed.

Tools and tech help make informed decisions: Technology has empowered customers as well as organisations. Businesses and organisations need to make sure that when a customer has a difficulty, the right tools are available to them, so they can solve it themselves. The more problems a customer can solve on their own, the better for the organisation as this directly impacts the cost of doing business. Simple interactive messages on social media platforms work. In addition, a good portion of the sales budget should be allocated to customer research. Understanding customer preferences will help the sales team focus on what matters to customers.

For instance, the advent of the pandemic has now made home delivery the choice thing among consumers. We now have a lot of food and other items delivery companies springing up in Nigeria daily. Data became easily the most purchased item after food during the pandemic. We launched ‘Project Rescue’ during the lockdown. The project was aimed at delivering modems to people in the comfort of their homes. It remains one of the best initiatives as consumers were happy while the company was making a profit.

Your competitors are still important, study them well

It is common for the sales team and salespeople to run out of ideas. As new products and services continue to enter different markets and industries, salespeople need to study the competitive environment in which they play. In our business climate today, we have seen competitors take over businesses that were at their peak. Disruption, innovation, and cutting-edge technologies have created new opportunities that businesses can leverage to meet customers’ dynamic needs. What happened to Nokia and Blackberry? How did digital cameras overtake the cameras with films? Netflix and Blockbusters. Survival will be Herculean without a good understanding of competition and the competitive environment.

As a sales professional, you must understand what your competitors are doing. Beyond competition, you must also be abreast of the latest trends and disruptions happening in both your country and the world at large. A major item on the performance review agenda should be competition analysis.

Superior service delivery is non-negotiable: At the core of sales management is excellent service delivery at all times. We all want to be treated well, and the same principle applies to the sales experience. Bearing in mind that today’s prospective customers can become tomorrow’s company advocates, you must take service delivery seriously.

At every point in time, look for innovative ways to exceed customers’ expectations. How are they being served today? What improvements could be made to their experience worth sharing with others? It is essential to note that as customers interface with your business, they stock up stories about their experiences. You should know your customer’s needs, the timing and peculiarity of those needs and the best way to deliver the solutions to those needs. When designing your customer journey, pay attention to how goods and services can be paid for from your fingertips.

Digital channels are gaining traction: COVID-19 brought about unprecedented change in the way we do business. Increased use of digital technologies by customers and changing customer expectations require novel sales models. Ease of payment, home delivery, and other emerging delivery models are more critical than ever before.

For instance, the number of steps between initiating the purchase and clicking submit should be few. I always recommend three to four clicks. The shorter the steps, the lower the chances of failure. Another issue is building trust for the channel, especially where the customer must input their card details. Ensure the channel is secure and that all items paid for are delivered to the customers.

Sales professionals should look beyond the traditional ways of doing things. Today’s business system is complex and ambiguous. Customers want you to meet them at the point of their needs; they want convenience and an excellent experience. Digital channels are becoming customers’ first destination before approaching the sales team.

How do your digital channels attract and interact with current and prospective customers? Are you building a loyal community as you work? These are some questions you need to have suitable answers to.

Building an effective sales management process that delivers on business objectives takes time, effort, and a great deal of commitment. It’s important to bear in mind that sales professionals who put customers first stand a better chance of meeting customers’ needs, delivering value and maximising profit.

Adebiyi is an award-winning business leader dedicated to helping corporate organizations achieve scale through excellent sales growth and channel development