Studies show that top sellers sell approx. 20% more than the average seller. Less than 10% of sellers are top sellers. What distinguishes the top salesperson from the average salesperson is the strategic and tactical sales behaviors. How can sales managers increase these skills in their account managers?
Salespeople who work with consultative/complex sales are faced with both strategic and tactical challenges every day. But what does it really mean to work strategically & tactically as a salesperson. What skills do you need to master?
Strategic sales Working strategically in complex sales is about being able to navigate forward in the customer's decision-making process in the long term. Talking to the right people at the right time and about the right things.
In other words, "what activities" should the seller do in order to ultimately reach a common goal with the customer.
In order to be able to act strategically, the seller therefore needs to understand his customer and specifically the customer's way of making a complex decision.
A buyer goes through different decision phases to choose to buy a product/service. In each phase, the buyer has different goals, needs and behaviors. An example of a decision phase is the hesitancy before decisions that customers sometimes exhibit at the end of larger and complex decisions. Sometimes doubt takes over and the customer decides not to carry out the purchase/procurement.
Although hesitancy before decisions is a phase in the customer's decision-making process, it does not mean that the customer is always aware of it. However, the seller needs to be in order to act with the right behaviour.
Several people involved in a decision An additional complexity in the strategic work is that there are several decision makers/influencers in every major decision.
Each individual involved in a decision may be in different phases of the decision-making process. That is, as a salesperson, I need to constantly keep track of where the individual I am talking to is located and adapt accordingly.
Other decision phases are, for example, aware of needs, evaluating alternatives, etc. The strategic challenge for a seller is to constantly understand which phase the buyer is in and how to act. You could call this situational selling.
Successful salespeople work strategically by constantly keeping track of where the customer is and acting accordingly.
What, then, is the risk of not adopting a " situationally adapted sale "? Using the wrong sales behavior in the wrong phase can have consequences such as an unsatisfied customer or a lost deal.
Sometimes you can hear salespeople express "I sold our product too early...he wasn't ready to hear my solution"; this is an example of when it was not strategically understood where the customer was in their decision-making process.
That is, the salesperson must constantly understand where the customer is in their decision-making process and then navigate correctly in order to then use the right tactical behaviors for that particular phase.
Tactical sales - being good at the strategic work is not enough A salesperson must also be good at the tactical work. To work tactically, the salesperson needs to know the " How ".
How should I act if my customer is doubtful about my product?
How do I get the customer warm to change?
How do I ask questions to find underlying problems and needs?
How do I create value (instead of telling about it)?
How do I handle objections to my product or price?
In tactical selling, a salesperson's verbal behaviors are really put to the test - to carry out the right activity with the right behaviors and with great skill. Sales organizations tend to be good at describing the strategic work in different types of documents, i.e. what must be done to achieve a sale . However, the seller is usually given less guidance in the important "how" .
The tactical sales behaviors, the "how" are crucial to achieving your sales goals.
Sales training It is not uncommon for salespeople to be either good at the strategic or the tactical. The challenge is to be able to combine both in sales work. If you succeed, this increases the chances of higher sales and more satisfied customers.
One way is to improve these skills is through continuous sales training. This is where the sales managers need to offer coaching/training for their account managers in the strategic/tactical sales work.
In conclusion, how difficult can it be to be a successful account manager in complex sales using the right behaviors at the right time and to the right person, both strategically and tactically – very difficult I would say!
Good luck with the sale!
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