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Edward Golod is the founder of Revenue Accelerators. A successful Fortune 100 sales professional, entrepreneur of three business, and impassioned sales evangelist, Ed has sold over $160 million in hunted new business from a career totaling twenty plus years of selling complex, software technologies into the Enterprise. Leveraging his background as an AE, Director, VP of Sales, Country Channel Manager, President, and tenures at Microsoft and SAS Institute, Ed's deep knowledge is gleaned from years of intense training and self-study in every major sales technique.

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Sales Force Spinach: How to Strengthen the Team, Close the Deal, and Sign the I/O

Written on
May 1, 2006 
Author
Ed Golod  |
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Sales Force Spinach: How to Strengthen the Team, Close the Deal, and Sign the I/O

All too often I get asked as a Sales mentor and one who should have all the answers, “why can’t you just teach them to close…to make more cold calls…to just work consistently every day”. It is usually followed with “we pay them enough, in fact when I was selling….” It goes on and on. In the end, the answers seem too diagnostic and obscure, but that is the very reason why they work. Because online advertising and technology companies do not readily practice sales disciplines and methodologies, they are constantly challenged. And the ones that do have a strong competitive advantage.

There are many factors that make online sales harder today, but the key ones that stand out most are:

1. Increased competition, especially among giants: Sales people need to quickly brand your company, and this is especially difficult when you’re a small startup or unknown, while being compared to Google or Yahoo. Too often, once the resistance starts, and it always does, the technical barrage and server-side complexities start spewing from the sales person. Why? Because it is easy to do and can be easily memorized requiring no emotional controls.

2. Customers are more wary than ever before: With thousands of potential clients who advertise online, there are so many with mixed results. Unfortunately, online sales people often do not account for this, and approach the prospect with the latest claim for terrific conversions, lower CPA’s, increased lead gen, etc. They forget to find out what has worked well for the prospect in the past, how they felt about it, how it impacted their business, and what it means to them now as they spend money. Usually, they are too busy “pitching”, which is a phrase I recommend banning form the market because it fosters all that does not work and is the antonym of what does…consultative selling approaches.

3. Lack of substantive ROI and proof metrics: This one I realize is often not easy for online ad firms, but there are ways to deal with it. Sales people owe it to the customer to try their best to drive measurable value and make an attempt to prove that their solution will be worthy of the client’s money. After all, whether you’re selling ads, or a million dollars of software, you still need to deliver increased revenues or lowered costs…or at least if you want to sell to decision makers.

4. Increased roll-ups, mergers and acquisitions: To add insult to injury, sales people sell hard when at firm A, only later to resurface now at firm B. Naturally, they call their contacts and tell them the good news, to begin touting new technology, new networks, and new formats that will help make more money than ever before. Of course, in the prospect’s mind, they would like to be assured, and at ease that there is some stability behind all the market dynamics. After all, if the relationship was not essentially strong when the sales person was at firm A, where will it be at this place and time as they sell from firm B?





Reader Comments.

It goes to show that sales hasn’t really changed much, you need to build relationships. I see people who bang out numbers and bring in a lot of clients but they are working harder and harder and then completely stop communicating with their clients once they have signed on.

Posted by Wison Davalos | 11:54 am on May 3, 2006.

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