The recession has left an indelible mark on many occupations, not the least of which is selling. Mark Ellwood, president of Pace Productivity Inc., in Toronto, has conducted extensive research on sales activities in multi-national organizations across industries. He concludes that salespeople in any economy need to rethink their selling time.
Ellwood had subjects press a button on his TimeCorder, an electronic device, when changing activities. The 126,563 pushes recorded by 414 outside salespeople became data over 35,131 hours. Prior to the research, the sales reps said that they averaged 41 percent of their time prospecting, generating sales, orders and marketing, the study shows. However, all of that button-pressing led to only about 22 percent of the time in selling, or "39 different occasions per week," he reports, "primarily phone calls and meetings with both current customers and prospects." That adds up to 10.8 hours per week. He recommends 33 percent or 13.2 hours on a 40-hour week.
ON THE STREET
Are successful outside salespeople increasing their sales time, changing how they do things or both? Michael Browning, director of Strategic Development at Chapman Kelly Inc., in Jeffersonville, Ind., says that he's engaged in "marketing and sales 100 percent," but, because of rapid growth, 40 percent to 50 percent of the time in selling by itself (up from about 20 percent). This includes "reacting to incoming requests" from articles he's written, weekly blog updates and the owner's public speaking, while communicating research findings and consulting prior to a sale. The company has a sales staff handling requests he can't. Chapman Kelly's health care cost containment products — audits for carriers with at least 1,000 employees — require a six-month sales cycle — "a lot of conversations." They cost $50,000 to $.25 million.
Jeff Cress, in Business Development for Mgecom Inc., in Cary, N.C., spends all of his time developing online partnerships with businesses. That translates to:
— "actively engaging with the customer in the selling process — 25 percent;
— "contacting new leads and qualifying — 25 percent;
— "following up and handling back-end processes, including developing business plans — 40 percent; and
— "10 percent creating marketing materials."
Cress works on full commission, replacing individuals who couldn't overcome price objections for $40,000 to $75,000 partnerships. "I'm closing sales at a rate of roughly 300 percent that of the highest-performing prior BD professionals after being on the job for four months," he comments. "Since I started, two others have failed." He attributes his success to being consultative and determining whether his affiliate marketing program management services will lead to a substantial ROI. If not, he recommends that prospects invest elsewhere, for a total of one or two turn-downs per week.
NEW INITIATIVES
Both Cress and Browning are using new initiatives to stimulate sales. Chapman Kelly did an about-sface last year when it reduced the time in cold calling by using articles and e-mail. "In the past," Browning notes, "we might have made 100 to 200 calls per day. We make 20 calls now, perhaps, of higher quality." The shift to search engines, writing and speaking has reduced the need to reach out directly to customers, which used to involve 80 percent of the time. Now 80 percent of time is engaged in customers coming to the company. The company also consults for free, directly contradicting standard practice. It's working.
Cress is moving toward selling as a business transaction, requiring spreadsheets based on revenue and cost projections. The relationship gels as he and the customer discuss the projections. "If I can't make the business case early," he observes, "no one wants to take the time to develop a relationship."
Browning certainly believes that "market downturns are a great opportunity for both businesses and individuals to work hard and (emerge) ahead of the competition." For him and for Cress, successful selling is a mixture of time allocation and marketing strategy.
Dr. Mildred Culp welcomes your questions at culp@workwise.net. Copyright 2009 Passage Media.
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