Frank Speaking Live

Monday, November 10, 2008

Your Hidden Sales Force by Frank Furness

The economy is affecting so many businesses right now and this is the time to be pro-active and get back to basics.

This is also the time to focus on sales and finding new business and clients.


Having worked in 48 countries with numerous organisations and individuals I have discovered that just about every company has three sales forces:
The traditional sales force
The unrecognised sales force
The unseen sales force


The traditional sales force – this is what we all know, these are the people in our organisations out there prospecting for new business, conducting meetings with prospective and existing clients and bringing in the business. Now is the time to ensure that their sales skills are sharp and that they are focusing on results.


The unrecognised sales force – this is everyone that works for your company that is not involved in direct sales, but has contact with your clients and prospective clients. These are your account clerks, truck drivers, technicians, essentially everyone that works for you. It is traditionally known as customer services, but it is much more than that.


I worked with a company in Pennsylvania where I was booked to do a one day sales seminar. When I arrived, there was an audience of about 200 people and when I mentioned to the CEO that he had a huge sales force, he said this was not the case. Only 25% of the audience were sales people, the rest were chemists, truck drivers, clerks and maintenance workers. He said that he wanted everyone to know that they were relationship managers and sales people. If a truck driver was rude when making a delivery, he could lose his biggest client.

So with your organisation, is everyone sales focused, have you provided them with the right sales training as well as ongoing skills and customer service training? Without constant training and motivation, your company will soon be lagging behind the competition.


Remember, I can help with your organisations sales and technology training and consultancy.


The unseen sales force – These are the people looking for the products or services that you offer on the internet. If your website does not show up in the first page of a search or if your sales copy on your site is weak, you will be losing a ton of business to the competition.


Try this exercise: put yourself in the position of a prospective client and write down all the keywords or phrases you think they would type into a Google search if they were looking for your products or services. Now take these words and type them into Google and see who comes up on the first page. If you are not there, you will see your competitors who will be taking the business away from you.


If you are in a very competitive area, you can try paid advertising (pay per click) which will get you to the top of the searches, but this will cost you a fortune if you don’t know what you are doing. Once again, this is an area where I can help with training or consulting services.

My 60 websites are bringing in a steady income stream and I have found a ‘whiz’ who is a specialist in Google Adwords that almost guarantees me top placings for some of my sites. Drop me an email at frank@frankfurness.com and I’ll put you in touch with him if you are interested.
So, this is the time right now to evaluate your three sales forces and optimise them all for effectiveness.


Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and technology. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. He is the author of ‘Walking with Tigers - Success Secrets of Top Business Leaders’ and ‘How to Find New Clients and Business’


For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. http://www.frankfurness.com

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