Sales fundamentals build a solid foundation for growth

Welcome, to the finding business podcast. Five minutes every Sunday to help you learn something new, about attracting ideal clients and accounts. I’m your host, Scott Channell. For more about this show, show episodes and services offered go to Scott Channell, with two t’s, two n’s and two l’s, dot com. Now on to the show.

Today we talk about a factor which, I believe, is the core driver of sales and marketing success. If this factor is present and rock solid, the probability of business growth, competitive advantage, and new revenue increases dramatically. If this factor is missing or broken, incomplete or weak, you might still win, but those wins will be due more to randomness than solid selling.

Broken clocks are right twice a day, but you wouldn’t depend upon them to tell the time. Just as you cannot count on business development programs that are weak on sales fundamentals, to provide competitive advantage and a winning difference.

Do you want a quick business turnaround? Sorry to bust some bubbles but I have seen far more sales and marketing success stories driven by focusing on proper execution of sales fundamentals, than from a new technology, a strategy of the month, or a proclamation that just one thing that will change things overnight. How many of those T-shirts have we bought?

You cannot build a winning sales or marketing program on a foundation of sand. You can’t. You should focus on making sure that your sales fundamentals are rock solid before you add anything else on top.

Getting your sales fundamentals right means clearly identifying your ideal client bullseye and making sure that most of your sales and marketing effort is interacting with your ideal client profile or pretty darn close to it.

Many of you listening to this may be thinking, we have that covered, we know who our good prospects are, what else have you got Channell, well, let me tell you this, if you are struggling to grow sales, if growth has stalled, if margins could be better, if you and your team are working way too hard for too little, and if competitors are signing up clients that should have been yours, it would be a safe bet that you are not hitting your ideal client bullseye, you are probably not even hitting the side of the barn that the bullseye is hanging on.

The odds would be that way too much of your time, money and effort is hitting the fields surrounding the barn that your bullseye is mounted on. Interacting with the right prospects is 50% of the reason, I do truly believe it is 50% of the reason why programs are successful. I see it time and time and time again that companies are spraying their efforts into a group that contains far too many lower probability and no probability suspects. And why? Because a sales fundamental, defining your target audience, was not rock solid right.

The other sales fundamentals that mold and strengthen a solid sales foundation include being able to articulate proper positioning, what you do and the value you bring. Setting standards and expectations for common sales behaviors such as making calls, conducting meetings and asking questions. Having readily available the words, stories, proofs, examples and specifics necessary to communicate your value proposition.
It is the mastery and consistent use of basic selling skills that provide the rock solid foundation you can build upon for long-term growth and profitability.

If you are puzzled, frustrated, as to why less capable and lower value competitors are signing up accounts that should have been yours, improve your sales fundamentals. Improving sales basics is often the #1 thing to do to quickly impact sales success.

Hope this got you thinking.

For more information about this podcast, show episodes and service offerings, go to Scott Channell, with two t’s, two n’s and two l’s, dot com.

Thanks for listening