The moment a salesperson is provided an account base for new and existing clients, the pressure begins to mount. New representatives focus on the learning ahead plus the pressure to meet their quota. Stress heightens, and the thought of communicating the sales success triangle fades away quickly.
What is the sales success triangle?
The salesperson does not solely own sales. It is to be viewed instead as a team effort. The better outcome arrives when the focus is on the client to uncover all of the issues at hand. An in-depth understanding presents the opportunity to provide a more robust solution. And when the extra effort is seen by the prospective client, credibility, and trust build to the extent, a sale is soon underway.
The third point of the sales success triangle is in the delivery of customer service. Describe how you uniquely deliver service upfront. Honesty and sincerity increase interest the first time around. After the sale, and upon providing service according to your words upfront, will earn you a loyal clientele.
Stories deliver an illustration of how the ideas can be put into action. My fond memory is of when networked printers were first introduced. Similar to mainframe computers of long ago, the printers were enormous and took up large amounts of space. Not too many clients of the entire sales team were able to accommodate the latest upgrade.
Management took it upon themselves to put out a special bonus offer to the team. We were to supply the names of candidates we believed to be in a position to purchase and accommodate the machinery. I entered one name, confident they would buy.
On the back end, my third point of the triangle was dealing with the inequities of pay. I chose 100% commission because a base pay was laughable if not insulting. Equally unfortunate was the low income the technicians received. Yet, we all depended upon them to keep the equipment up and running. Following sage advice, I gave a percentage of my commission to the technician assigned to my account. This way, the technician and I were loyal to each other, and the client was loyal to both of us.
Upon seeing my client’s name on the account list of potential buyers, the assigned technician paid a visit. He sadly returned to the office to exclaim there is no way the equipment will fit in the designated room. My manager reprimanded me saying I should have known better and not have wasted everyone’s time.
Instead of getting angry, I began to laugh.
My response was, ‘for the equipment to fit; they will find a way! For us, they might rebuild the walls!’ The manager had no clue what to do, so he decided not to talk to me until the calamity ended.
From my perspective, the sales success triangle was in perfect order:
- The client liked and trusted me
- The technician was at their service
- The executives had the desire to purchase the new equipment.
According to my prediction, the walls were rearranged to accommodate the networked printer. Management was in disbelief. It went to prove the theory that if you have your sales success triangle in good order, the goodwill follows. A generous bonus was mine, and the technician was very pleased with his cut. We proved once again that we deliver excellence in equipment and service, and the best part of the sealed deal was the continuing client loyalty.
Sales Success Triangle Summery
Whichever business model is yours, focus on the all-around client experience, deliver on promises, including excellence in service, and become the go-to person for future orders.
Comments (1)
“become the go-to person for future orders,.” I felt that.