Solution selling is evolving
- 1. 20 PAGES OF RESEARCH-BASED INSIGHT, INCLUDING: SALES MANAGERS’ REAL-WORLD MASTERS PROJECTS… ETHICAL COMPLIANCE… SALES SKILLS DATA: FINLAND V UK V CHINA V NIGERIA… IN-DEPTH GSSI REPORT + SALES RESEARCH ROUND-UP LEARNING TO CHANGE Some components of the sales ecosystem are responding. Others stand rooted in the past. Journal of Sales Transformation THE INTERNATIONAL P8 THOUGHT-LEADERS THE DIGITAL SALES FUNNEL Grant Leboff P16-19 REFLECTION SALES TALENT— THE FINAL PROFIT FRONTIER? Nick de Cent P23 AWARDS PROFESSIONAL SALES AWARDS Donna O’Toole P51 CONFERENCE REPORT THE ERA OF EMPOWERED BUYERS Roger Byatt NOVEMBER2016/ISSUE2.4/ISSN2058-7341
- 2. International J ournal of Sales Transformation 23 Awards New awards scheme for the 21st centuryDonna O’Toole Donna O’Toole, managing director of August, introduces the Professional Sales Awards. S ince the beginning of the century, and until recently, the sales profession in the UK has enthusiastically supported two sales award schemes: the National Sales Awards and the British & European Sales & Marketing Awards (BESMA) organised by the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management. Together these two events attracted some 2,000 diners to prestigious West End hotels to celebrate the highest achievers in the profession – both individuals and teams – in the challenging theatre of acquiring new business, prosperity and employment for their companies. With the recent decision to merge the National Sales Awards into the National Business Awards, and the BESMAs not announcing a new programme following their event earlier this year, Awards International, the UK’s largest live business awards company, wasted no time in introducing a new programme. The Professional Sales Awards were launched at this year’s National Sales Conference at the Ricoh Arena in October in partnership with the Association of Professional Sales and training and skills partner, Huthwaite International. Additionally, the International Journal of SalesTransformation and the National Sales Conference have agreed to support the Awards as media and conference partners respectively. Professor Malcolm McDonald: “Great strides have been made in most areas of sales force management.” In spite of these dramatic improvements, however, the sales force is still a grossly underutilised and poorly directed resource. This has more to do with ineffective marketing strategy than with ineff cient sales strategy.
- 3. Q4 2016 Awards Meanwhile, Professor Malcolm McDonald, Emeritus Professor at Cranf eld University, pioneer of KAM development and author of over 100 books on marketing and sales, has agreed to become academic advisor to the programme. This will inject extra rigour into the judging process and enable the programme to undertake and publish research and latest best-practice development based on the outstanding entries and winners. Addressing the changing sales world Don Hales, Chairman of Awards International, is especially excited by the opportunity to re-enter the sales awards arena for it was he who launched the original National Sales Awards in 1997 and remained closely involved until 2007, when the programme was acquired by United Business Media. Hales is renowned as the doyen of the awards industry in the UK and has been involved in over 50 different awards programmes since 1997. He still regards the sales awards as his favourite event on the calendar: “Sales awards have a vitality and competitiveness beyond any other programme. Also whilst pure results are very important, judges have to examine the durability of that success and the degree of integrity involved.” He adds: “Much has changed in the sales world since I was last involved in sales awards, especially on the technology front where management and customer information have revolutionised many activities. But I continue to attend sales meetings all over the country and the same issues are being discussed today as they were over a decade ago. Issues such as: how can a company encourage a team-selling ethos when there is a continuing need for individuals to hit targets and why is it diff cult for a leading sales person to morph into a great sales manager? These are age-old problems that, I believe, will be addressed by some of the new award entries.” Continuing on this theme of the development of sales in the period between the launch of the National Sales Awards at the end of the last century and now, Professor Malcolm McDonald declares: “Vast sums of money have been spent during the past two decades by many organizations, with the aim of improving the sales force’s productivity. “Great strides have been made in most areas of sales force management. In particular, most salespeople today recognise when to sell and when to negotiate. Territory allocation and planning is no longer the hit-and-miss affair that it used to be. Recruitment is now a much more scientif c process, with most f rms aware of the value of psychometric testing as part of the selection process. “Sales managers tend to use more supportive team- building methods rather than the old, hierarchical, tyrannical ways. Remuneration packages are better related to the tasks that have to be performed. Evaluation procedures have improved dramatically with the advent of relational databases. In general, it can be concluded that today’s sales forces are more motivated, more professional, and more productive than they were ten years ago.” Need for more professionalism In spite of these dramatic improvements, however, the sales force is still a grossly underutilised and poorly directed resource. This has more to do with ineffective marketing strategy than with ineff cient sales strategy. There is, after all, little point in implementing the wrong strategy well. The marketing community has failed dismally to professionalise its discipline, with only a minute percentage of its members holding a professional marketing qualif cation. Yet in spite of this, it persists in referring to itself as a profession. There is a massive opportunity to f ll this void in the much bigger sales community through the professional qualif cation route. It certainly isn’t going to happen in our failing business schools, where, with a few notable exceptions such as Cranf eld and Portsmouth, selling, sales force management, and key account management are almost totally absent from the curriculum. So I welcome any initiative, especially initiatives such as the setting of professional sales standards, the delineation of a route to a professional sales qualif cation (the Association of Professional Sales) and sales awards (Awards International) that help to recognise the massive impact salespeople have on our economy. One other domain-changing development, particularly over the past decade, is the almost unlimited availability of data, information and intelligence; the impact of which, has led to increasing sophistication of the sales force. Today, salespeople understand that buyers no longer rely on getting product information from them and that they don’t want to be “sold to”. All they want to know, is how the supplier can add real value to their business. In particular, this means having a deep understanding of the customer’s business and working out how the supplier can create f nancial and economic advantage for them. This is very different from merely helping them avoid disadvantage. Consequently, salespeople are having to understand the real meaning of the word “value”. This has moved the very best of them way beyond the notion of consultative selling and has meant the acquisition of a new set of knowledge and skills not far removed from those taught on MBA programmes. The rapid development of account- based marketing is but one manifestation of this change. In spite of the advent of digital and social marketing, no one has yet found a more effective way of communicating real value than through the personal interactions of the sales force with customers. The future is bright for a fully professionalised sales domain. Don Hales: doyen of the awards world. Tony Hughes: Huthwaite International is a headline sponsor.
- 4. International Journal of Sales Transformation Solution selling is evolving Tony Hughes, Managing Director of Huthwaite International, who has been closely involved, as a headline sponsor, with both the National Sales Awards and BESMA says: “In 2012, HarvardBusinessReview stated that: ‘The hardest thing about B2B selling today is that customers don’t need you the way they used to.’ “Nowadays, intelligent data and analytical tools mean customers know far more about their problems and how to solve them than before. Sales professionals in 2016 are facing a more informed customer than their predecessors of even 15 years ago ever did. But does this mean the age of solution selling is over? Not really. But it is evolving. “It’s now becoming more crucial to help customers understand problems and issues they haven’t yet recognised. It means there’s a greater need to understand the drivers behind customer need in order to demonstrate a deeper value. It means that questioning techniques which are core to world-renowned selling methodologies such as SPIN, are becoming more important than ever. Understanding how to ask deeper, more insightful questions and how to pose questions that uncover fresh perspective and realisations, will likely make the difference between business won and lost in the years ahead. It will be what sets the best salespeople apart. “Our mission at Huthwaite International is to help sales professionals out-think and out-perform their competition. Our partnership with the Professional Sales Awards allows us to celebrate great achievement as well as light the path for those who want to be nothing short of world class.” Peter Gerlach, one of the original judges from the former National Sales Awards, who works across Europe, but especially in the UK and Germany, is able to put an international perspective on the subject. He states: “A very large number of salespeople, regardless of the country, industry sector or whether they simply sell an ordinary product or service or are responsible for large and strategic key accounts, most of them massively lack in the ability to deeply understand their clients, the clients of his or her clients, and the business as a whole. “They are more concerned in meeting as many prospects and clients as possible and pushing a sale forward than understanding the real issues the client is facing today, may face tomorrow and how to overcome them. All this has a detrimental effect on the current sale, the selling f rm’s reputation, revenues and prof t margins. “Clients and buyers nowadays are cleverer and smarter than years ago. They do not need salespeople to educate them as much as they have done in the past. They do their own research and know what they want. What they need instead are salespeople who help them to add consistent value to their business. This is what motivates them, gets them out of bed and challenges them all year round. Salespeople who understand this, take a real interest in looking at the broader issues, are self ess, strategic and totally focused on adding constant value to their clients’ business will always win and will survive in today’s very competitive market”. Perhaps we should leave the last word to conf rmed awards supporter Gavin Ingham, who is also a commentator and presenter on today’s sales issues. He states emphatically: “Over the past decade selling has matured and professional study and training have become a must for the serious salesperson. Recognising achievements gives credibility to winners and the industry which is why now is the perfect time to be launching the National Sales Awards.” About the author Donna O’Toole, MD at August, is an awards and personal branding expert with a reputation for helping clients to win valuable and prestigious awards. She has helped major brands and businesses large and small win coveted industry awards across every sector; She has previously achieved 100% success in The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise competition. She has also personally helped some of the most accomplished entrepreneurs, business leaders, VIPs, and charity champions in the world to receive personal recognition from Her Majesty The Queen via the honours system. Peter Gerlach: Customers need salespeople who help them to add consistent value to their business. Gavin Ingham: “Professional study and training have become a must for the serious salesperson.”
- 5. For more information please call Fiona on 0207 193 2009, email fiona@awardsinternational.eu or visit our website http://salesawards.co.uk/