Some companies believe selling systems are restrictive.  Other companies view them as methodical and clumsy.  I, for one, am not a fan of the sequential step approaches that require this question be asked first, followed by this question and so on.  Those approaches drip with insincerity.

But a selling system is important.  From ManageSmarter.com’s What’s Your Plan?

The survey of over 500 sales professionals proves what most executives should already know: Their reps need a plan of action.

TAS found that companies that give their sales staff a concrete plan to close deals experience 39 percent less turnover. Their salespeople are also more than 50 percent more likely to meet sales expectations.

I’ve often wondered how a sales manager can manage a team without a selling system.  How does the manager guide the team to similar objectives?  How does the sales manager know what stage each prospect is at?  How does the sales manager identify the stages at which salespeople are losing prospects?

Imagine if a football coach didn’t require his players to follow a gameplan.  Each player would be asked to just run around the field and make things happen.  I could go on, but you get the picture.

My guess is that retention improves among companies with a selling system because the salespeople know specifically what is expected of them.  It also stands to reason that the majority of sales managers who incorporate a selling system stay active in coaching their salespeople and holding them accountable.  In other words, they are engaged sales managers.

I believe the best selling systems are those that specify specific information that needs to be learned before classifying a potential customer as a prospect.  Salespeople each have their own style and approach to qualifying, but certain key criteria determine what are the real deals.  Having a selling system provides a guarantee that the salespeople are focusing on the specific qualifying tasks that lead to pursuing prospects instead of tire-kickers.

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Hammer’s recent post brought back the memory of a experience I had about 18 months ago. I was with a sales rep at a meeting hastily put together because a vendor’s VP of Sales was coming to town. Although we had several very good, qualified meetings on the schedule, our local rep wanted to make sure the VP was kept quite busy with appointments.

So we walked into this last minute meeting not really knowing much about why we were there (man, do I hate that!!!). I asked the attendees to tell us what their role was within the organization, why they were attending the meeting and what they hoped to gain by meeting with us. (By the way, I had to interrupt the VP that wanted to start his presentation without asking any questions….)

One of the attendees responded by saying “I’m the vendor guy.” I was a bit confused so I asked him to explain. He went on to tell us that his role was to talk with vendors about their offerings. Period. Still confused, I asked him to explain his process and methodology.

This company had decided to have several resources within PURCHASING dedicated to talking with vendors. This plan was put in place to avoid having vendors talk directly to individuals within the company who were too busy to spend time with individual vendors. I was shocked. I simply asked, “How does that work?”

His reply was even more shocking. The gentleman went on to explain that his department knew what the company needed in virtually every area of the business. If they heard something that would pertain to a need, they would investigate further, then perhaps allow direct dialog with the actual users of products and services.

Needless to say, I was stunned. He went on to “assure” me that the individuals in his group specialized in certain areas. He said he was the right internal person for our product and would review it with potential users within the organization.

Wow. Those are some extreme measures to keep truly professional sales people from doing their job. Wrong way prospecting meets wrong way purchasing.

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We post ads in many locations as part of our sourcing activities. Those ads usually lead to solicitations for services as a set response to new listings. We received one email today that caught my eye. Here is an excerpt:

We can have qualified candidates available for you to interview, hire or work within 24 to 48 hours. Our extensive database of qualified candidates and team of experts enable us to provide you with candidates who exactly match what you are looking for.

An interesting proposition, don’t you think? Here is the rub for me – how do they know what I need? 1 to 2 days and they’ll have them available to hire or work, no less. This approach is what bothers me most about low-end, quick-turn recruiting.

My guess is that this company will send a bunch of resumes to me and make me sort out which ones to interview without truly knowing what I need. The fact that the candidates may be able to work within 24 hours sounds like summer staffing candidates.

The icing on the cake – our ad is for a VP of Sales.

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Selling Power.com published an article entitled Six Sins of Selling that discusses modern changes in selling and sales people’s need to change and adapt to them. Certainly that statement is true, but item #2 especially caught my attention.

Sales Sin #2: Selling personality rather than value
Customers will buy from people they like. There is no question about it. Today€™s buyer, however, is much more sophisticated and has much more information at his or her disposal. The information revolution gives customers a global arsenal of data and an almost limitless number of options. In the past personality may have been your core value. Today it will deliver only a slight edge, all things being equal. Today, value almost always trumps relationship. Learn your product, and practice ways to effectively articulate your value.

I was going through some old training materials that were gathering dust in my office. I read through the notes I had made about the course and notes to myself on some things to try. The Selling Power article is right on. I’m afraid some of the techniques of old would fall flat today. It truly is about value.

A good relationship brings value, but it is no longer a “primary” value to most buyers. It seems the ability to outline, explain and qualify the points of value to an individual prospect are far more important than how easy you are to get along with.

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