Case : Better Sales Networks By Tuba Ustuner And David Godes

Salesperson skill
To better understand sales network, it is helpful to view the sale process as distinct stagesidentifying prospects ,recognize potential customer, creating solutions and closing the deal. In each stage sales person effort can be boiled down to two essential complementary types of network management actions i.e. managing information flow and coordinating the efforts of contacts So, to succeed they approach to right information ,the ability to disseminate to right people and have right power to communicate to deliver value to customer.

Various skills a sales person should possess

1.

Effective Communicator

Communication covers a large territory. Not about superb skills here, but the ability to speak clearly and in a manner that is easy to understand. Sales is all about talking to people and getting them to understand what you are trying to communicate.

2.

Ability to Listen

Along with speaking, a great salesperson knows when to stop talking and listen. They never cut someone off while they are talking, because in doing so they would fail to hear a key element in identifying what that person's needs might be.

3.

Asks Questions

Salespeople are naturally inquisitive and know that in order to isolate what the real need or desire is in the buyer, they need to ask questions that will lead them to the answer. They naturally ask questions because they have a desire to help solve the problem.

Problem Solver

Another natural skill is the desire and ability to solve problems. Great salespeople are always solving problems. The ability to hone in on what the buyer's problem is and offering suggestions that will effectively solve the issue with respect to what products or services you sell, generally results with a sale.

5.

Well Organized

Much need not be mentioned about the surroundings, but more with the thoughts and methods of planning. Sales people have a keen ability to break things down into smaller steps and organize a plan of action. They know how to analyze what their goal is and in what order the steps need to be in order to reach the goal.

6.

Self-Starter and Self-Finisher

A successful sales person moves forward on his own. They never need anyone to tell them when it is time to go to work because they know that if they do not work, they will not earn. They are also very persistent to finish what they start. They achieve their goals, even if they are small ones.

7.

Positive Self Image

Having the attitude that they can do just about anything that they put their mind to, is usually very common among sales people. They do not tremble or quake from meeting or talking to people or try something new. They rarely allow negatives that are either spoken to them or about

them to affect what they are trying to accomplish because they know who they are and what they are capable of doing.

8.

Well Mannered and Courteous

The best sales people are very well mannered. Others may not realize it, but good manners are a way of showing respect to others. People are attracted to those that respect them and mutual respect is fundamental in building lasting relationships with people, including buyers.

9.

Naturally Persuasive

Another very common inherent skill with great salespeople is that they are very persuasive or know how to get what they want. They focus on what they want and they are persistent to keep chipping away until they get what they want. They almost never give up or give in.

10. Know your Product/Service (Domain Expertise) This is one of the main requisite to sell anything to anybody. A good salesperson knows in and out of a product/service very well. Customers/Buyers are interested to know all the possible solutions that a product can suffice, because you can convince someone to buy something, if you know everything about it. The Point of caution here is, when a sales person is presenting about a product/service; he/she would always camouflage as a Product/Service Specialist role rather than urging to sell something (using more of a sales tone).

These skills may be not be the exhaustive list for a Successful Sales person, but are definitely the key drivers that a Sales person should posses. As mentioned in the initial paragraph, there are a few natural skills that should already exist within those who want to be successful in selling.

Dense social network is one of the most effective ways of communication for exchanging of Ideas.
Working and contacts with people having different background but having same goal or for same customers , helps a lot to achieve success in terms of making profit for company and benefits are as follows:-

Benefits which contribute to your own personal growth-forgetting the backgrounds are different , new things, adapting to newfound knowledge, developing of coping and socialization mechanisms based on experience of new interactions with others, networking possibilities , expanding your world view)

Benefits which contribute to the growth of the community around you (changed attitudes , greater understanding of one and other networking capabilities/larger project scopes.Its more interesting)

Benefits which contribute to the others perspective, experiences, network and abilities the same as your own will not only benefit them it will benefit you.

2. A closer look at social network It is good to be connected to other organizations people. But one can get better information out of this connected zone. Contact with different representative at other firms having same customer base is good as they may have similar motivations but are not competitors.

3 .Matching network to the task Sales people and managers having good understanding in network functioning can take the right action Many sales people waste a great deal of time calling into old leads.

So sales people looking for new and unique information should cultivate broad marketplace network. So, they have to find first and sole informer it helps company in leading to get unique information.

4. Gaining buy in and upselling In this stage of selling process the sales person must build relationship with people in the prospect company beyond his or her initial contacts information . Such as broker ,he can provide a lot of information about prospective firm on tapping efficiently.

5. Creating solutions On the note of technical product selling ,sale person must have a network of expertise which give a right information to maximize his coordination of their efforts.

6. Closing the deal 7 .Network -smart sales strategies for managers Sale must have record as well as connection to past consumers .who could become a good referral in persuading to buy a product.

Sales force structure

In decoupled structure person who is good at particular skill deal a separate segment of market but it works against the basic premise of network. As network is effective when participants share with one another.

If all workers are comfortable in working together, management provide good networking system to give expertise assistance to them .so that, they can direct their effort towards developing marketplace or customer network.

If a specialist is brought in a company to discuss a issue. It strengthen network but company has to maintain a secret contact between client and specialist.

How to develop new contacts to boost your sales skills

1) Managers should organize culture friendly network activity. 2) He should sponsor social events to bring new people of other industries which helps to interact with each other and enhance contacts 3) Salespeople must be taught how to evaluate their own networks.

4) All sales people should coordinate to work effectively and should asked politely the customers id if they are comfortable to give, if not then salesperson should have feedback forms for the customers. 5) A salespeople can create large sales by using intra-organizational networks to deliver the right information to the right customer

6) Identify the needs of your client (in this case, your team, boss, or external customers), and then suggest products and solutions that meet those needs. 7) Identify your target audience With whom will you speak? Is it your boss, a key client, or your team? And is just one person involved in the purchase.

Sales Skill 1: Qualifying Fast to Avoid Wasting Sales Time Develop a list of sales qualifying criteria that prospect's must meet in order for you to invest your sales time with them.

Sales Skill 2: Motivating Prospects Qualifying goes beyond budget, authority, and need. You want to sell to prospects who *want* to buy from you. Finding prospects that need our products usually is not difficult. Finding those who really want our products though can be very hard if we wait for them to come to us. Determine which problems that you eliminate or solve for your prospects. Plan and ask questions to uncover and agitate those problems.

Sales Skill 3: Selling to People Outside Your Comfort Zone Most salespeople who are "people persons", already think that they are good at this. Let me ask you a question. When you last lost a sale, how was your rapport with the key person who decided against you? You can't afford to look away and ignore people that you don't have natural rapport with. The good news is that people like people like themselves. All you have to do to gain rapport is stretch your behavior outside or your comfort zone until you become like another person. Match speech patterns with people to gain rapport outside of your typical sports or weather conversation.

Sales Skill 4: Reaching Decision-Makers through Voicemail Prepare 3-5 separate benefit-focused voicemail messages that you can leave over a period of days or weeks for a single decision-maker before you give up on her. Each message should focus on a single unique customer-focused benefit.

Sales Skill 5: Delivering "I Gotta Have That" Presentations Study 1-3 of your best customers and develop detailed customer success stories that will put emotional power into your presentations.

Sales Skill 6: Gaining Commitments Instead of Closing Eliminate "Closing Cheese" from Your Vocabulary. You know what I am talking about: "Would you like that in gray or in black?" or "If I can show you how this will help you will you buy today?". Lines like these are why salespeople are down on the bottom of society's respect list somewhere near lawyers.Learn the power of asking for incremental commitments from the beginning of your sales cycle. It is not an easy shift to make. First you got to get the prospect to show you what they most want (Hint: See Skill 2 above). Then you can negotiate incremental commitments in return for more of your time, information or resources.Practice asking for simple commitments once someone has expressed a clear want, pain, or desire.

Sales Skill 7: Have More Fun Sales is fun when you are in control and closing deals. Selling is miserable when you are under pressure to close business.Take the pressure off yourself to close and instead focus on qualifying and motivating your prospects. Shift the responsibility back to the prospect to solve his own

problems, and the pressure to make the sale will be gone. Focus on selling at your best only to qualified prospects and you'll close more and have fun doing it.

Case: Bausch & Lomb Sales Force Reorganisation

Aim & Objective

Aim: To understand the given case which gives a situation and how to deal with it Objective: To reach a appropriate solution of the problem/s highlighted in the case and the steps to solve the case.

Introduction
Bausch n Lomb had laid 10% of its work force and revenue slowly eroding due to lack of disciplined Cost Management Stock had dropped from $75/share to $35/share and Revenue Stream threatened due to infringement lawsuit launched by Cuba Vision against Pure vision, B&Ls key contact lens product In November,2001, Ron Zarrella , appointed as CEO of B&L. Tom Glenn, head of U.S business unit ,announces his new vision of Stronger as one: one vision, one goal, one team

Business Portfolio

Product Overview

B&Ls

Product

Portfolio

included

Lens

Care(cont:30%),

Pharmaceutical(cont:27%),Surgical(cont:23%) Lens (cont: 20%) Its two major customer groups were : Optometrists(ODs) who performed eye test and fit patients for spectacles and contact lenses

 Ophthalmologists(MDs) who were surgeons performing cataract surgery and other operations

Sale Force Structure(Product Basis)

The U.S Pharmaceutical Sales Force 70 Territory Managers (TMs) having averagely one to two years of sales experience. Compensation was split on 75% base/ 25% bonus. Focused primarily on MDs since they wrote significantly more scripts than OD. Would leave samples for the MD as an incentive for him to prescribe B&Ls product to his patients.

The U.S Contact Lens Sales Force 70 Territory Managers (TMs) having slightly more experience than Pharmaceutical TMs. Compensation almost similar to Pharmaceutical TMs Sold exclusively to Optometrists(ODs) 15-20 minutes meeting with their customers presenting the features and benefits

The U.S Surgical Sales Force 70 TMs. Most skilled and experienced with over 20 years of experience Compensation almost double than Pharmaceutical or Lens TM, heavily skewed towards bonus

 Accompanying MDs into Surgery and helping them operate more safely and efficiently. Longer sale cycle and insistence on long term relationships.

Lens Care/OTC sales force 40 TMs. Sales force organized by geography Long term relationship maintained with the buyers of their accounts

Market Overview

Market Overview & the Challenges

Challenging Economic Conditions Underinvestment in R&D during the preceding years and having a weak product pipeline in Contact lens market

 Private label products which were priced at less than half of branded products, leading to a flat lens care product market. In the surgery market, surgeons were delaying large capital expenditures due to the soft economy. Its Pharmaceutical revenue was growing rapidly due to an acquisition but the concern was whether growth would grow organically

Changing Customer Landscape MDs were opening Ambulatory Surgery Centers(ASCs), who often hired ODs to offer a broader range of services to their patients and Cross Selling. So basically B&L was loosing both of their previously distinct customer groups ODs who had obtained licensing permissions to write scripts continued to grow and were making more enquiries into the companys Pharmaceutical offerings. Though B&L was not the leader in the majority of its market segments but it positioned itself as the only company that offered the full spectrum of vision, eye care and surgery products.

Stronger as One: Phase 1(Reorganization) Individual T.Ms continued to sell lenses, pharmaceutical ,etc Each RMs became a RBD (Regional Business Director). RBDs were charged with identifying and coordinating cross selling opportunities in order to grow B&Ls share of wallet with customers 3 President positions(Vision, Pharmaceutical, Surgery) were abolished and replaced by four area VPs who were charged with coordinating all three divisions in their territory

 21 Strategic Business Manager(SBM) roles were created to target large accounts with the goal of leveraging the full B&L portfolio

Stronger as One: Phase 2(Reorganization) TMs were provided with B&Ls full product line to leverage itself as a full eye service provider There was a backlash from Surgery group that RMs who were not from Surgery backgrounds couldnt speed up to manage their Surgery TMs Surgery division remained as a stand-alone business. So the previous Surgery VP reassumed his role and took over the management of the Surgery TMs With the separation , Stronger as One continued for the lens and Pharmaceutical sales forces TMs of Vision & Pharmaceutical became Eye Health Reps and carried the lens and pharmaceutical product basket.

Can Strong as One Revive B&L?

Facilitating Cross Selling and Reorganizing the entire sales team was an intelligent move by Glenn, considering its vision to exploit its unique market position as the company with a complete birth to death eye care product offering, unmatched in the industry . But there are other areas where the company needs to look upon very meticulously . They are :

R&D The company needs to invest more in R&D by reappropriating funds from other departments and allocating it on weak lines .So, it can channelize funds from Lens Care and invest more in Contact lenses.

 Brand Building Since B&L is not competing on Price, it must push the quality aspects of their brand. It needs to come up with ad campaign to promote its one stop shop by advertising on ethnic population and focussing on consumers , not just customers.

B2B Customer Base It can build incentivized referral network by reaching out to loyal customer base . It can give referrals for appointments by giving out gift cards and the best thing is that it doesnt require extensive time commitment.