Teams that win are structured in a way that engages the customer
properly, with a
minimum of
in-fighting.
I remember
working for a
company in sales
where we had
three sales
teams competing
inside the
company over the
same customer's
business. It was
amazing that we
hardly won any
business until
the third
salesperson was
reassigned, and
the other team
agreed with me
to let me lead
the account.
Once that
happened, I
assigned a
representative
to the customer
for
administrative
billing, another
for operational
support,
introduced
relationships
with all of my
upper managers
to their upper
managers, and
then I drove
sales efforts.
We wrote over $2
Million in
business over
the next six
months.
Everybody won by
building the
right team.
Teams need to
be aligned with
their customer
to succeed. I
discovered this
model in
evaluating my
own sales
success with
enterprise
clients, which I
call the Sales
Diamond. We can
help you
implement it. I
have a vision of
companies
empowering
employees and
creating more
success through
dynamic
structure of
organizations.
You can read
more about it
here:
The idea is to
create a team where
the sales person
creates
relationships and
discovers
opportunities with
each customer. The
salesperson also is
charged with
ushering each
opportunity through
the selling
organization and
buying organization
through to the
completion and
hand-off of
implementation, then
maintain continuity
through follow-up
and proper gratitude
and further
development.
But the salesperson
is not the only
person who is
"selling" for the
seller.
Administrative
contacts are crucial
to help gain
how-to's, create a
nurturing
relationship and put
more of a face on
the company
relationship.
Operational contacts
are crucial in
discovering and
expanding
opportunities. How
many times did I
find, when selling
technical support,
that a prospective
customer might tell
my technical guru
something that they
never mentioned to
me? And, managers
often communicate at
levels higher than
their salespeople.
How many deals were
discovered and
developed on a golf
course? More than
we'll ever know. In
Asia, it might even
be a gentleman's
club, where the idea
is discussed, before
it ever even reaches
the boardroom.
My focus with
ARRiiVE Business
Solutions (www.ARRiiVE.com)
is to help each
company recognize
that when ALL parts
of their company map
to their prospect
and customer's
organization, their
odds of success
increase
dramatically.
If you'd like to
build a team that
wins in your
organization, we can
help. Click here to
contact our team
and begin a needs
assessment, starting
now.
Learn more about the business challenges we're helping
leaders resolve
Scott
Andrews is CEO and Founder of AspireNow (www.AspireNow.com),
a leading business productivity and personal development firm based in
California. AspireNow recently spun our business solutions into ARRiiVE
Business Solutions (www.ARRiiVE.com)
through whom we help organizations launch new products and
services, maximize sales, and innovatively change businesses through
cutting-edge and semantic collaboration-oriented business models and processes. For more
information, contact info@ARRiiVe.com.
