Growth Dynamics Get Down

Do you prefer hotdogs or steak? I bet you said steak.

In this episode of Fast Tip Friday, Charlie talks about the analogy of Steak and Hotdogs to encourage your sales efforts.

Chris is concerned about his sales team. They are active, they are selling, and sales are up but margins are way down. The business model allows reps to be flexible in the field and sell at the prices they feel appropriate. But something is missing, and Chris is unsure how to help his field reps get more margin. He doesn't want to kill the ability of his reps to set pricing in the field, but doesn't know what information they need in order to be better at the task.

Symptoms:
One of the most common objections salespeople get is about price: "That's a bit more than we were thinking about paying." "Your prices are kind of high." "That just doesn't fit our budget" are typical comments. Salespeople tend to be very quick to take these comments at face value. They assume these price objections are the real issue standing between them and an order, so the path of least resistance is almost always to begin dropping their price to get the sale. And, more often than not, once the price issue has been "resolved", more resistance comes to the surface.

Face it; sales is difficult even for the best in the profession. For many sales provides too many opportunities to give up or make excuses for not making quota or just setting an appointment for a sales call. Being significantly successful in business development requires a commitment to being significantly uncomfortable a significant amount of time. You must learn that without risk of failure there is little chance of experiencing the rewards that top producers enjoy, and frankly, for many that cost is too much to pay.

Symptoms:
Carlos believes that sales success is simply a game of numbers, and his commitment to relentless

prospecting has proven him right quarter after quarter, year after year. However, all that prospecting creates problems, for Carlos often finds himself so overwhelmed by follow-ups and open opportunities

Monday Morning Manager

Symptoms:

The last quarter’s sales numbers were posted online for the entire sales team to review. There was no hiding once the sales manager sent the email out to his entire team, and Darren hated seeing his name in the lowest 25%. What made him more confused was that he had been with the company for 14 years, yet three of the top five producers had less than half of his experience.