How to Get EVERYONE Selling

How often have you heard an executive say, “We expect all our people to sell, not just the sales staff” ? But in the real world, how often does a nonsalesperson have the opportunity to generate a sale (frequently) and then actually take advantage of it (not very often at all)? Why is there such a large disconnect between the executive’s statement and reality? More importantly, can the situation be changed so that all people really do sell all the time? A few obstacles exist to enabling all personnel to sell. First, unless the person contacting the client is skilled in identifying opportunities and presenting company’s ability to provide a solution to the client, the opportunity may never be properly identified, quantified, and revenue realized. This problem typically has two sources: 1. Fear of selling, and 2. Lack of knowledge in how to cross-sell opportunities Fear of selling is a major impediment to any increase in sales, both from professional salespeople and from other employees. Although it seems obvious, overlooking the importance of the resources that interact with the client in the sales process is a critical mistake frequently made in organizations. Most companies use very few resources dedicated to selling, and even less focused exclusively on selling additional services to current clients. Training for a staff accountant to retain their CPA credential is taken for granted; training them in how to identify opportunities and approach the client about solutions is often relegated to a five minute discussion or a memo asking everyone to “be aware of new business opportunities.” Providing a training session to all employees on the capabilities of the company, how to identify needs at customers that the company can take advantage of, and what to do once they identify an opportunity can result significant additional revenues. The session could be as short as a few hours with the final step being to send and email to the sales manager identifying the opportunity. The second obstacle is compensation. While most salespeople generate a significant portion of their compensation from commissions, many companies don’t think of rewarding their employees for business referrals that lead to new sales. If incentive compensation drives sales professionals to increase sales, it can also drive non-professional sales people to find new business opportunities. The actual structure of the program will vary by company, depending on the complexity of the sale and how involved the employee is in the sale. On a final note, any marketing or sales training should be conducted as part of an overall sales and marketing strategy program. Implementing a training program like this without incorporating it into an overall strategy and without measurable metrics could lead to indifferent results. Aligning your training and compensation programs with your sales objectives in order to utilize all your employees’ capabilities and strengths will result in new sales opportunities for the entire organization. ---Paul Bayne is a consultant and professional sales executive with over 15 years of experience in a variety of industries. He can be reached at bayne.paul@yahoo.com.