There are so many ways of looking at this issue. I am convinced that there is no right answer. But, I believe that getting closer to the optimal answer lies in stopping thinking of the question in these terms. How many — stop that thought! Each salesperson is a human being, and each human being has unique characteristics. My goal in hiring people is to find people who have unique ways of thinking that can help me find amazing new ways of doing things that will lead to business growth that I never thought was possible. You will not find this amazement if you simply hire a calculated amount of staff who do the same work every day. Don’t stifle the talent of your hired staff — nurture it!
Basically, what many companies don’t get, is that by banging your head against the wall, trying to get sales out of people, you are missing the point. To get ahead, you need to have a goal of adding value to society and NOT selling things. You should be there to EDUCATE your clients, not to sell to them. Guide them to the best choices for them instead of pushing them around. They will like you a lot more in the short run and the long run and trust you much more. Trust translates into sales. In short, you sell without selling which is a Zen principle!
So, what should you look for in your sales force? I have been selling the same products for years, and my sales techniques were mediocre at best. What I learned is that I needed to spend more time listening to my clients. I needed to learn how they think, what mattered to them, and what makes them tick. Everybody is motivated differently. My mistake was simple. I think in a logical way, therefor, when presenting reasons to others, I use logic and assume that that is the ideal way to motivate others. My mistake was that only 1% of Americans are logical, and the rest think emotionally (if at all). My new sales technique is based on listening to my clients and seeing how they typically react which is emotionally, not rationally. So, I tell them stories (true stories without embelleshment) which make them gasp. I even make myself gasp and say, “Oh My God”. I tell them horror stories of dangerous and stupid things that other people did who didn’t educate themselves enough about the business, and I use this to sell courses. We also give mini quizzes over the phone to highlight what our clients don’t know which can hurt them. Now, our sales have tripled. The root of the increase is all about tuning in, not selling.
The question is — can you hire salespeople who are experts at tuning into your clients and finding out what makes them tick? That is how you adapt your sales techniques, and develop better products that are more catered to what your clients really want.
So, stop thinking about how many salespeople you need, and start thinking about how to get salespeople who tune in and give you information you can use in battle! You might want to have extra salespeople around to give yourself plenty of time to feel out the market and gather critical information which could multiply your business by 100x. I kid you not!
Tweets:
(a) The perfect # of salespeople is that there is no perfect #. It is about tuning into your clients.
(b) It doesn’t matter how many salespeople you have — it is about LISTENING to the clients!
(c) I mistakenly thought that Americans thought logically when 99% think emotionally. Highly illogical captain. #sales
(d) Spock hired a salesforce to sell advertising and found that 97.6% of American consumers were highly illogical. #sales
(e) Trust translates into sales. In short, you sell without selling which is a Zen principle!
(f) You annoy by overselling; Gain trust and you’ll find that sales will go through like a hot knife through butter.
(g) Is it the number of salespeople or the character of the salespeople that really matters?
(h) Don’t count the number of salespeople you have, count the number of sales
You might also like:
The power of knowing people for outsourcing
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/10/the-power-of-knowing-people-for-outsourcing/
Capitalizing on the shock factor in sales
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/03/capitalizing-on-the-shock-factor-in-sales/
How to sell like a pro, what exactly do they do?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/06/25/how-to-sell-like-a-pro-what-do-the-pros-do/