by Betty Maes |
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Sales management is a process of integrating various sales functions
to achieve specific sales and financial objectives. To integrate
sales management routines into the current work flow and priorities
of sales managers, an effective sales process usually contains a
planning component followed by several management routines that
enable the process to come alive.
The first step in developing a strong sales management culture
is to define what the bank wants to accomplish. Outcomes must be
translated into goals that can be measured, managed, and controlled
at first line management level.
Sales planning involves translating product goals into sales goals,
determining the priority markets and target customers that offer
the greatest potential, identifying key sales skills and activities
most critical when calling on those markets and customers, and writing
individual sales plans that reflect and support the bank's goals.
Sales planning must include a buy-in, or commitment process, designed
to help managers get input from relationship bankers regarding their
goals, markets, customers, and activities.
Once sales planning and personal action plans are complete, other
routines help to break these goals into workable pieces and to make
them weekly priorities. These steps develop the discipline and accountability
necessary to implement the sales plan. It focuses on the "important"
instead of the "urgent" and helps the sales manager review weekly
priorities and accomplishments.
The approach of many who are attempting to build a sales culture
is that "more is better." More sales activity,
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| Certify the Mastery of Selling |
| Nothing in sales
development is hotter than licensing and certification.
Now SSM, Inc. is introducing the financial service industry's
first self-study professional certification process for
mastery of selling skills, a program called SaleSkill
Mastery®. While there are a lot of licensing or certification
programs based on product knowledge, this is the first
financial industry training program to certify the mastery
of selling skills. |
Mastery® will
be one of several qualifiers for recognition or compensation
awards - the documentation of skill mastery that is missing
in most career development programs. Completion of certification
modules may also be a goal for personal development in
quarterly action plans. Employees are encouraged to stay
with their organization longer and to become skilled at
selling by theorganization's recognition of their step-by-step
achievement.It's like earning your black belt in selling.
Since the cost per |
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To increase profitable sales and improve service, this
new program successfully incorporates these three important
principles:
1. Salespeople are more effective when they're held
accountable for improving their selling skills and their
sales production.
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participating
employee is less than for traditional classroom training,
you can deliver certain, measured improvement in skills
for less money than with traditional training without
sacrificing mastery of the "art" of selling as you do
in computer based training. The SaleSkill Mastery® program
uses state-of-the-art software to provide electronic scoring
of |
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2. Salespeople increase their sales faster whenthey
develop mastery of selling skills step-by-step in small
increments.
3. Salespeople learn more when they are consistently
trained, tested and coached over many months on their
demonstrated use and mastery of a wide range of selling
skills. SaleSkill Mastery® consists of two levels of
certification, each requiring at least eight months
of self-study, video review, skill application, and
testing plus successful completion of a comprehensive
final exam and the achievement of specific increases
in personal sales production.
For most participating financial institutions, completion
of SaleSkill
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constantly changing tests to prevent cheating and to
complete all program administration for you so you can
focus on coaching your employees. Community First Bankshares
of Fargo, ND which operates in eleven states has had
such wide acceptance of the program among its 3,000
salespeople that they've now asked Schneider Sales Management,
Inc. to develop a third level of certification in sales
management skills.
For more information call Tien Schneider, Chief
Operating Officer, at Schneider Sales Management, Inc.
(303) 221-4511.
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more sales meetings, and more training equals more sales effectiveness.There
are only so many people who can make so many calls on so many clients
and so many prospects.
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Not all sales calls activities
have the same cost or the same payoff, nor do all products, clients
or prospects produce the same revenue stream. |
| Continued
on Page 3 |
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