Manufacturers & Sales Managers…

The challenge of today's competitive marketplace puts pressure on everyone. It taxes company resources and stretches organizations ever thinner. New competitors appear on the horizon every day, and old competitors enter new markets (often ours).

Customer demands and the quest for bigger discounts and better deals squeezes profit margins. The need for more sales, improved profits, and better use of resources has never been greater.

Sales managers know that to increase strategic territory management and account coverage demands more and better attention by the field sales force. Finding and keeping good people, and getting the most out of the existing brokers and sales reps is a continual challenge. To exceed sales objectives and budget requires a high performance field sales force.

Your sales force must use advanced skills and methods in order to consistently outperform their competition. They must continually improve and change in order to meet the needs of a competitive marketplace. But how much are they improving? And what steps are they taking to acquire new skills? Finding the time and resources to make that happen is key.

As a Business Coach working with sales teams from the Natural Products Industry, I have helped them differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. They have increased sales, opened new accounts and positioned themselves with key buyers. They have improved territory coverage, added new sales people and made competitive inroads. I invite you to examine your own position in connection with these issues. Is your sales force as effective as it should be? What actions should you take to initiate higher performance?

Do you wish your sales force would…

• Increase territory coverage
• Improve account penetration
• Open more new accounts
• Establish more strategic key relationships
• Improve selling skills
• Develop better business strategies
• Run their business like a business
• Improve personal productivity
• Become better negotiators
• Learn consultative selling skills

It is my firm belief that you can greatly improve the effectiveness of many more of the salespeople in the field. My focus is on making the top 31% even better, and developing the 40% to become high producers. The other 29% will not like, or want anything to do with my program. It exposes their low productivity and results.

This approach is not meant to replace direct training by Sales Managers, Sales Team Leaders or Manufacturers as they ride with field salespeople. There is no substitute for observing direct store visits on the part of salespeople. This system will greatly increase their effectiveness as they learn and apply the principles of relationship building, account management, personal organization, and selling skills. This system will support the field training provided by your organization, helping you to raise their level of competence, application and direct sales results.

In today's competitive marketplace buyers and store owners do not have time for everyone. Therefore it becomes imperative that to be successful, field salespeople need to bring value on every visit. They must learn and hone consultative selling concepts and advanced skills to bring that value. They need to be the field reps that the buyers will take the time to see… every time they call for an appointment.

The challenge that many manufacturers have is educating and developing a sales force. While some can afford to have a direct field sales force (which has its own pros and cons), most manufacturers rely on independent brokers or distributors. This presents a different challenge.

While large Distributors/Brokers may represent a long list of manufacturers, the question is how do those manufacturer’s products get attention during the sales call? How can a Distributor/Broker representative who represents a dozen (or dozens) of manufacturers do any consultative selling even if they know how? The truth is, they probably do not.

Smaller independent sales teams often represent a viable alternative to this since they represent fewer manufacturers. But this fact alone does not guarantee that their people will regularly feature your product, or do a good job representing it. Another concern is whether or not the field sales force is progressively trained and developed. While some independent sales teams run their business like a business, many do not. Some field sales representatives have excellent people skills and selling skills along with good product knowledge. Many do not. How is this challenge to be met? It isn’t easy.

Our Selling Naturally System™ is designed to help sales people develop more effective skills. It is organized in a way that allows busy people to progressively apply and practice the skills and techniques they need. While it requires time and effort on the part of the sales force (nothing meaningful happens without the investment of time and effort) it supports the field visits already being made by your Sales Managers and Independent Sales Team Leaders. It provides a “template” against which to evaluate and measure progress.

To see the 10 Key Strategies outlined, [click here]

How do we deliver our Program?

We use a combination of methods…

• The Coaching Gym
  
• Weekly Workout Logs
  
• TeleForums & Group Coaching
  
• Webinars & Internet tools
  
• Email support
  
• Workshops and Seminars
  
• Support Materials and Resources