Break Free And Win Big By Car!
Get back in your car!
Sales managers mean well, even when they are wrong. Like when they tell you to call on every account in the area before you get back in your car and move on. We know what they mean. Well meaning managers want you to be efficient with your time and they want to help you overcome the ‘sell and run' syndrome. ‘Sell and run' when you make a sale and jump in your car to drive across town rather than calling on the prospect next door.
On the surface their ‘scorched earth' method makes sense. You should cover the territory completely, showing you are a thorough sales professional who leaves no stone unturned. You're also showing your diligence to the task and your ability to make a few more calls every day in spite of success or failure. Unfortunately you're also wasting your time!
The problem with the ‘scorched earth' method is that it is totally out of alignment with most company's goal of increased sales per person per day. Look at it this way, is it better to sell 1 big client and 10 little ones or 4 big ones? If Perato's law of 80/20 holds true in your business, the big ones are 4 times as big as the little ones. By my calculations the score in this example is scorched earth 14, sell and run 16. Ok, I cooked the numbers but let's apply a little more logic to this equation.
Are you more likely to sell a client on a first call or a call back? Since studies have shown the average buyer buys on the 10th to 12th call, doesn't it make sense to make more calls on fewer accounts so that each account reaches the magic 12th call? In the oil business it's called deep drilling, staying with one hole until you either get results or reach a clear no-go indication. Since the average oil well is hundreds of feet deep, how much oil would you get if you drilled fifty holes ten feet deep?
So what about the old persistence ethic that the ‘scorched earth' approach professed to develop. The truth is, it was never really there. Every sales person knows how to make their sales log look good by ‘touching base' with huge numbers of accounts just to satisfy the boss. "If the boss wants to see large numbers of calls every day, we'll give him large numbers", they say. It is often much easier to put the required contacts on each day's sales log than it is to focus on a few accounts and make the 11th and 12th calls after weeks of rejection. The successful sales professionals are in the ‘even dozen club'.
As for efficiency, the deep hole approach wins here, too. With the exception of one time purchases like caskets and ‘going out of business' signs, you are more likely to get your next sale from a client who has already bought from you than from one who has not. So let's keep returning to the same well over and over again until it shows signs of running dry and use the time spent driving from one to the other to properly prepare for each call. Your client will love the service and your competition will never get a change to take the business.
Does all this mean we are going to ignore the smaller or new accounts? Not on your life! As each sales person works the territory and finds a significant number of key accounts, they will begin to shed accounts for which they no longer have time. Management must then decide whether to add additional staff or service these accounts through other channels. Direct marketing, telemarketing, or self service are a few of the successful strategies being implemented to handle these 2nd and 3rd tier accounts. Done correctly, some of these will show enough promise to warrant moving them to the key account list, but in the meantime they will not have detracted from your key account efforts.
To implement a Focused Account Strategy in your business, try this three step approach. First, list your top 10 clients and make sure they are getting the best service you can give them. Also, make sure you are selling them everything you can. Next, list your top 10 prospects, and make sure they are on their way to 12 successful, well-planned calls. Finally, list your 10 weakest clients and stop calling on them. Use the time you save by not calling on the weaker clients to sell the best clients and prospects in your territory.
Resist the temptation to obey the old rules. Break free and win big by aligning your sales strategy with your personal and company goals: more sales! With an effective strategy, you can make it happen!
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