September 3rd, 2010 Posted in Newsletter | No Comments »
Welcome to the September 1, 2010 edition of BPI News!
In this issue, we talk about variables that contribute to your sales success.
As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts.
Walt
P. S. Is it time for your Business Health Check? Call us now at 617-532-0918 and lets chat about completing a Business Health Check-Up to get you ready for 2011.
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Selling IT in the Eye of the Storm
by Paul DiModica
Selling IT successfully is based on more than just your skill and knowledge as a salesperson or your firm’s advertising budget. It is more integrated than that. You are not a silo who inherited a sales quota which was calculated in the back room. Instead, you are a recipient of the success or failure of your firm’s marketing, strategy and product development.
IT salespeople do not operate or sell in a vacuum.
When consulting with clients to determine why their IT firms either did or didn’t hit their forecasted sales numbers, we have observed a pattern of five primary variables that contribute to the result.
For you to sell IT successfully as a quota-carrying salesperson, you are dependent on these five business variables. Some are your responsibility; others are the responsibility of your company.
When all five of these business variables are present and both the sales team and management team are continually trying to map this approach as a coordinated effort, individual IT salespeople hit their assigned sales quota.
When one or more of these variables is missing, individual IT salespeople stumble and are held accountable for lack of corporate revenue.
Below are five variables that contribute to the ability to hit your sales quota:
1. Your individual sales effort and sales skill;
2. Your market demand analysis and prospects’ needs;
3. Your knowledge of the product and/or service you sell;
4. The qualification of the buyer with whom you are dealing; and
5. The strength and competitiveness of the product and/or service you sell.
So, in the eye of your sales quota storm, what should an IT salesperson do?
First, determine if you are maximizing the three variables which are in your control as listed above (effort, IT knowledge and dealing with qualified buyers). This is a personal assessment that only you can calculate. Don’t look at your management for input on this - it is between you and yourself.
Second, if you decide you are not giving 100% in all of these areas, develop a personal MAP (Marketing Action Plan) to adjust your performance in the areas that need additional improvement and then commit to it.
If after an honest assessment you conclude that you are giving 110% in each of the three controllable areas you are responsible for and you still cannot hit your sales quota, then rest assured it is not your issue.
When the salesperson or the company fails to deliver the business variables which they control, the imbalance causes the storm to overpower the company and then everyone fails.
Selling IT is like living inside the eye of the storm. Peace and stability can only happen when all business variables co-exist to create a perfect selling environment of calm.
“It takes more than just luck to grow your business”
Walter Wise
President & CEO
BPI Strategy Group
617-532-0918
TWITTER: BPIStrategy

