Nowadays, a lot of people talk about business, and the mass media around the world produces thousands of publications on business and finance topics every day. Though the Financial Times, Business Week, and the Economist are circulated in millions of copies around the world, the writers rarely have the magical effect of the quotes made by the big players in the business world – those who have made millions, and even billions, of dollars themselves. Really, what makes their quotes so appealing to the public?
A couple of points have to be kept in mind here. Firstly, the financial sayings of the rich and famous short and concise, and yet are packed with wisdom. Let us put it like this – it may require some knowledge in business and economics when it comes to grasping the ideas of business writers (three or four pages in length), while the quotes of the rich and famous are golden nuggets of information and advice.
There is another reason why those who make their first steps in the world of business prefer to trust the big magnates more than the business writers and lecturers. The first are basing what they say on personal experience, and that kind of experience is invaluable. The second acquired their knowledge from thick business manuals and endless amounts of lectures and seminars. Their knowledge is usually worth only several thousand dollars a month.
When asked about the idea of innovation and change, Rupert Murdoch stated that it is no longer a case of big always beating small. It is rather a case of the fast beating the slow. You could read hundreds of pages on the importance of innovation and change against the background of rapidly changing financial conditions on the world markets. Or, you can take Mr. Murdoch’s simple words that growing a big business is not as important as growing one which is quick to adapt to changes in the market.
If you are an entrepreneur yourself, you can use the clever thoughts of magnates and witty leaders in the same way that they do – to motivate your sales team. You know more than well that an unmotivated sales team is no good to you at all. Your salespeople have to be aggressive about closing deals, making contacts, and the like. As a rule, the work routine of a good sales team is tense. Sales have to be made or your people are wasting your time and money. If your employees are not in the mood for work every single day, its time to find another team. If they are tired or stressed out, however, you can motivate them by using witty quotes by famous business people.
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The goal of every marketing and sales organization is to consistently articulate unique, compelling and credible messages to their customers throughout the sales process. Market Strategy
While companies use both “air cover” such as advertising and “ground cover” such as field-based salespeople to deliver their messages, studies have shown that up to 85% of a company’s brand image and the purchase decisions of their customers are determined by the direct interaction between salespeople and target buyers
Unfortunately, none of the stakeholders are happy with the interactions:
• Target customers—of executives that take regular meetings with sales reps, more than 80% say the reps are unprepared, at least 70% simply “talk product” and know little about their business
• Marketing and sales management—less than 25% of CMOs and senior sales executives are satisfied that their sales teams can accurately and consistently communicate targeted messages to their customers
• Salespeople—salespeople spend up to 40% of their time creating presentations, customizing messaging and getting ready to interact with customers ; they use only 20%-50% of the materials created for them by marketing ; and only 10%-20% of salespeople are creating the “best” message for their prospects.
The job of front-line salespeople is not getting any easier. A recent study by IDC found that sales cycles have increased 24% and the number of decision makers involved has increased to seven.
Salespeople and marketing and sales management need a tool that:
• Connects salespeople with the best content, peer insight and subject matter experts (“sales assets”) for each specific selling situation
• Enables salespeople to intuitively access the best sales assets on-demand
• Promotes the most appropriate content to the salespeople and allows them to personalize it while reinforcing the brand
• Enables marketers to develop messaging and sales assets that salespeople actually use by ensuring they are aligned with the way salespeople really sell
• Allows subject matter experts to publish and promote their knowledge, content and insight without duplicating their efforts with every salesperson
• Allows marketing and sales management to see how the sales assets are actually used and get feedback on the quality, relevance and effectiveness of them from the sales team Sales Tool
In essence, marketing and sales teams need to harness the collective genius of their organizations and make it easily accessible to every frontline sales resource.
The field of “sales enablement” has emerged to fill this gap in marketing and sales, and a Chicago-based firm, SAVO Group, has distinguished itself with its award-winning on-demand application.
Frank Lynn & Associates has partnered with SAVO Group to extend the application to organizations whose sales coverage models include indirect sales channels such as consultants, system integrators, VARs, manufacturer’s representatives, dealers and distributors.
Sales Channel Workshops
Organizations that leverage indirect sales channels in complex, consultative sales situations benefit greatly from the use of sales enablement tools. FL&A and SAVO work with clients whose sales coverage models include indirect sales channels to:
• Define and document the client’s sales strategy (e.g., target markets, key sales situations, value propositions, sales processes)
• Map the indirect sales channels to the sales strategy
• Align sales assets with the key sales situations and selling processes
• Configure SAVO’s application software to enable the channel’s sales processes
We invite you to learn more about sales enablement and how FL&A and SAVO can help you use it to enhance the performance of your direct and indirect sales teams. You are welcome to contact Jim Fogarty at 312/558-4803 or jfogarty@franklynn.com.
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