NFIB

How Are Your Salespeople Representing Your Company?
10/ 15/ 2002

When starting a small business, the founder usually handles most of marketing and sales, two of the key ingredients for any company's success. As your company grows, however, youÆll need to hand these duties off to someone else. But what if their methods of selling differ from the ones you want associated with your business? In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses shows how an owner can determine and monitor employees' sales methods to ensure that company policies are maintained.

During the hiring process, owners and managers of small businesses should take special note of the personal characteristics of sales applicants. It's often difficult for a salesperson who is accustomed to using hard closing tactics to adjust to softer, more customer-service based sales methods and vice versa.

Ask the applicants: "What do you feel is the most important reason a customer buys?" "What is the most important quality in a salesperson?" and "How do you prepare for a sales presentation?" The answers to these questions will indicate whether the sales applicant has a natural tendency to sell in a way you are comfortable with.

Sales training offers the best chance to encourage a salesperson to make presentations in ways keeping with company traditions. Examine the methods of your own sales that have been most successful, and include those techniques in your training manuals.

Once youÆve trained your salespeople and let them know the methods you prefer they use, you might find that some sales staff resist implementing your policies. To make sure your sales staff are on the same page, you might consider following up on sales presentations by personally calling the customer. Ask if all the customer's questions were answered, if the salesperson was friendly and professional, and if customer found the sales methods too aggressive.

If some of your salespeople are not representing your business the way you want them too, you might consider replacing them, allowing you both to find a better fit.

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