Sales and marketing are different today.
Let’s face it, the world as we know it has changed. With technology progressing at lightning speed, today’s customers are inundated with information and choices. For salespeople, it is getting harder and harder to reach prospective customers and develop new business using the traditional means of prospecting. It is increasingly difficult to reach decision makers via cold calls or prospecting over the telephone. The internet has increased competition and forever changed the way customers buy. Being “introduced” is practically a necessity today, whether that introduction comes from a client, a strategic partner, social media or your marketing programs. The client development strategies and tactics that were effective just a decade ago simply no longer work today.
Regardless of what you do, you are in the business of marketing and selling.
Think about it. You can be the very best at what you do, but if you don’t know how to attract prospects and invite them to become your clients you won’t succeed. Today you actually need two professions: the one for which you have studied, trained and prepared, and your “other profession,” the profession of selling that enables you to make good use of all those years of education, practice and having paid your dues.
Successful companies are built around systems.
A system is “a way of doing things” that ensures a consistent level of quality and results. Businesses operate according to systems in order to save time, reduce mistakes and maximize effectiveness. Systems are absolutely essential to compensate for the disparity between the skills your people have and the skills your business needs if it is to produce consistent results.
While almost every business has a system for operations, production, distribution, and accounting, when it comes to sales and marketing many companies simply “wing it.” To be successful, a company should also have an effective system for marketing and sales.
Even business owners that have a “knack” for selling eventually reach the point where they need to build a sales organization around them if they want to grow. When this day arrives, they often discover that the skills that came naturally to them are not readily transferable to the people they hire. Without a system for selling it is virtually impossible to build an effective sales force.