{"id":900,"date":"2007-05-08T12:20:56","date_gmt":"2007-05-08T17:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/05\/focus-on-your-selling-system\/"},"modified":"2007-05-08T16:00:10","modified_gmt":"2007-05-08T21:00:10","slug":"focus-on-your-selling-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/05\/focus-on-your-selling-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus On Your Selling System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SellingPower.com offers up an interesting article in their CRM newsletter &#8211; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sellingpower.com\/html_newsletter\/article.asp?NLid=2&amp;Layout_ID=637&amp;ARTid=2908&amp;nDate=May+7%2C+2007\">Is CRM Really Improving Sales Productivity?<\/a>  The short answer is no for a handful of reasons.  One item resonated with me:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Mike Bosworth, author of the bestseller <em>CustomerCentric Selling<\/em> (Wiley, 2005) argues that the sales process must be adapted to customer buying processes prior to being automated. But that\u20ac\u2122s not what\u20ac\u2122s happening. Instead, when sales managers see sales productivity dropping, they\u20ac\u2122re likely to turn to CRM in an attempt to make their existing, traditional process more efficient. That\u20ac\u2122s like stepping on the accelerator when you\u20ac\u2122re heading for a cliff.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He&#8217;s right &#8211; there is no reason to automate a &#8220;traditional&#8221; process if it is not adapted to modern-day realities.  I have personally seen this approach fail at previous employers (full disclosure &#8211; I spent a couple years selling CRM software back in the &#8217;90s).  Adding a CRM system to a sales department without a clear selling system (approach) institutionalizes existing problems.  I particularly enjoyed this description of the changes in today&#8217;s market (emphasis mine):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The report explains that because of the availability of information on the Internet, <strong>the buying process often starts long before the sales process<\/strong>, as prospects access product facts, pricing, reviews, existing customer feedback, etc., without ever talking to a salesperson. When sales reps are eventually brought into the process, buyers are now expecting the reps to bring much more to the table than just a rehash of product knowledge, features, and benefits. Instead, they expect the reps to have done the homework on their needs and be able to describe how the product\/service offering will meet and exceed their expectations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Any selling system that does not adjust for this tremendous shift in the modern marketplace is woefully inefficient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SellingPower.com offers up an interesting article in their CRM newsletter &#8211; Is CRM Really Improving Sales Productivity? The short answer is no for a handful of reasons. One item resonated with me: Mike Bosworth, author of the bestseller CustomerCentric Selling (Wiley, 2005) argues that the sales process must be adapted to customer buying processes prior to being automated. But that\u20ac\u2122s not what\u20ac\u2122s happening. Instead, when sales managers see sales productivity dropping, they\u20ac\u2122re likely to turn to CRM in an attempt to make their existing, traditional process more efficient. That\u20ac\u2122s like stepping on the accelerator when you\u20ac\u2122re heading for a cliff. He&#8217;s right &#8211; there is no reason to automate a&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/05\/focus-on-your-selling-system\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,9,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-management","category-sales-techniques","category-trends"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-ew","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":380,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/10\/selling-power-daily-video-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":900,"position":0},"title":"Selling Power Daily Video &#8211; 2","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"October 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"As I stated in my previous post I would keep you updated as to the effectiveness usefulness of Selling Power's daily video clip. I have been watching them off and on the past couple of weeks and each time I find a usable tidbit in them. For instance, today Gerhard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":287,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/09\/top-50-sales-websites\/","url_meta":{"origin":900,"position":1},"title":"Top 50 Sales Websites","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"September 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Selling Power's September issue has a compilation of the Top 50 Sales Websites. They have it broken down into the following categories; Sales Training, Lead Management, Sales Meetings, CRM, Sales Technology and Hiring & Testing. It's a great resource for anyone in sales to add to their tool box. Selling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2643,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2015\/10\/one-third-of-ceos-are-worthless-in-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":900,"position":2},"title":"One Third Of CEO&rsquo;s Are Worthless In Sales","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"October 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Those aren\u2019t my words but rather the findings from a Selling Power survey.\u00a0 From the article: A recent Selling Power online survey found that 29 percent of sales leaders judged their CEO useless when it comes to creating a sale. Almost one third and I think I have worked for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59750,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2020\/01\/orientation-vs-onboarding-vs-onramping\/","url_meta":{"origin":900,"position":3},"title":"Orientation vs. Onboarding vs. Onramping","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"January 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the keys to successful sales leadership is getting newly-hired salespeople up-to-speed quickly.\u00a0 The time it takes to move them from wide-eyed new hire to qualifying ninja is critical to any company.\u00a0 High-performing salespeople are the lifeblood of any company. The way I see it, companies employ one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Leadership&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Leadership","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Onramp.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Onramp.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Onramp.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":226,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/08\/what-we-cannot-have\/","url_meta":{"origin":900,"position":4},"title":"What We Cannot Have","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Dan Tudor has a great post on his Landing the Deal blog - \"The Takeaway Close\". The takeaway close is a powerful tool for a salesperson when used properly. I used to work for a sales trainer who taught this technique and it is most effective. Here is the gist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":767,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/are-leads-dying-on-the-vine\/","url_meta":{"origin":900,"position":5},"title":"Are Leads Dying On The Vine?","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"March 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"There is an interesting article in the recent Career Concepts USA newsletter (sorry, no newsletter link). Career Concepts USA offers recruiting solutions through Career Fairs, Sourcing, and Partnership Services. They have an article on research done by Salesnet.com which found that 87% of all leads are not pursued by salespeople.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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