Do you have a sales management process in your business? Chances are you only have a few if any performers. How can you bottle their magic sales dust? Who should you hire to take your sales to the next level?

Why is Sales Management Important?

I just read a great article from the Harvard Business Review and they conducted a global study of on the productivity of 6,000 sales reps across nearly 100 companies. The study identified some interesting characteristics among sales people.

Every sales rep falls into 1 of 5 profiles.

1. Relationship Builder which focuses on building a strong personal relationship across the customer organization.
2. Hard Worker shows up first and is the last one to leave. They go the extra mile and outwork everyone in making calls and tactics.
3. Lone Wolves are the cowboys and outlaws that do it their way.
4. Reactive Problem Solver are the ones that focus on the post sales follow up, ensuring that all questions in the sales meeting are answers as soon as possible.
5. Challengers use their knowledge of the customer’s pains to take control of the conversation. They are not afraid to share their opinions even if it challenges the customer.

So, which kind of sales people do you have? Which ones do you think would be the best fit for your agency?

Drum roll please…. The answer is CHALLENGERS!

• Challengers teach their customer and drive the conversation. They offer the client value rather than selling features and what you do.
• Challengers can press the customer when needed because they have their finger on the pulse of the business.
• They come to the table with new ides for their customers that can make or save them money.

A lot of agencies have Relationship Builders, which in this study came in dead last and accounted for only 7% of the high performers.

Why? Relationships are certainly important in business.

• Challengers win by pushing the customer to think differently; using their experience to create tension verses the Relationship Builder who focuses on relieving tension by giving into the customers needs.
• Challengers push the customer outside their comfort level and focuses on delivering value while the Relationship Builder focuses on being likable rather than providing an effective solution.

What challenge do you need help with?

I’ve set aside some time to talk to you, personally. And during that time, I’ll evaluate your business and work with you collaboratively to create an immediately actionable plan to increase your sales and profits. Learn more…

Improve Your Agency

Have processes and strategies in place can only improve your agency from sales management down to how your team operates. But have you taken the time to see if they are working successfully or need to update your strategies? Now is also a great time to step back and look at other processes that need attention. No matter what challenge your agency is facing, I can help you get through all of it.

There are many topics I can give advice on from what to do when you want to speed up sales processes to how you can build authority for your agency.

Growing your agency can be a major struggle for any agency owner and I can show you the different phases of growth you will experience, how placing a process for performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your business and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more!

Want more? Learn about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.