SALES STRATEGY


A Better Sales Strategy WILLIAM F. KENDY


In many respects, selling is like juggling. As a sales- person you have sales projects, in different stages of closure, which require your constant attention and nurturing to come to a close. Then there is prospecting and cold calling. You consistently have to replace the customers who have left, for what- ever reason, and increase your customer base. As a result, when a complex project is added to your workload, it’s like juggling one big ball and a bunch of smaller ones. It’s demanding, challenging, intimi- dating, and – if you’re not careful and don’t keep your eye on all the balls – you may drop a few. But what happens when you add one more juggling ball to the ones already in the air? And what if this one is bigger than all the others?


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CHANGE IS A FACT OF LIFE Once you acquire a large, complex project, you need a strong sales strategy to proceed effectively. That’s a good time to redefine your attitude and objectives and reorganize how you work to make sure you do the right thing for all your customers – and still land that big new one. “Sometimes you have to adjust your schedule to accommodate the priorities of the day and deal with things in life as they come up,” says Jill Arnault, the national sales man- ager of a large importing company. “You have to be flexible and deal with it – even though that may entail changing the strategy you have in place,” says Arnault. “On the other hand, you can’t afford to get flus- tered or so totally absorbed with one project that you ignore your other customers and lose the customer base that you worked hard to build.” “When you agree to take on a complex project – whether it is sales related or corporate – you need to be willing to pay the price of suc- cess,” says Will Mangione, district manager for a payroll and check writ- ing service corporation. “That means


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REFERRALS


PROSPECTING


TIME


COLD CALLS PROJECTS


CLOSING


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