Everybody is Selling Something

And everybody is on commission

A short week calls for a short article.  This one is easy to explain and easy to understand.  Simply put, “Everyone is Selling Something!”  You might not have the designated title as a salesperson or you might not interface with the external customer, but trust me, you are selling someone something.  That someone might be an internal department and the something is the services your department provides.  Or that someone might be your manager and that something might be a raise or an idea.  Either way, you are selling.  To be successful, the basic skills and art of good selling practices are needed.

Are you trying to reduce the number of tasks you do for your accounting department?

Are you a support role to the sales team?  You’re a product manager and you want the sales team to sell more of your product.  You’re a vet or PhD in agronomy and you want your external customer (and your sales team) to understand the complex technology of your products.

Are you convincing your company that you need $30mln to build a brand-new elevator?

Maybe you just need a new copier like the folks on that episode of the Office.

Whatever you want, you’re going to need to sell someone on the idea.  Solid selling skills can help.

You need to Connect:  identify the decision maker, gain an appointment with them, and do your pre-call plan so you know how to approach them.

You need to Understand:  Opening the discussion with your requests will be less successful than if you start your discussion with questions.  Seeking first to understand the motives and needs of the other person will allow you to move to the next step.

You need to Position your request:  The same way you would position your products as a salesperson.  You position them to the needs and motives your customer just told you.  You solve their problem with your solution.

You need to Close:  Yes, even after you explained yourself completely, you are going to have to ask for what you want.  Don’t wait for them to figure it out.  They might never.

You need to Follow up:  Depending on the size of the request, it could take weeks, months or years of following up and pursuing what you want.

“But Greg, I don’t need to use all these salesy tactics.  Especially since I’m not in sales.”  I understand your comment, but you will certainly have greater success if you apply some of the basics in your approach.

“But Greg, I’m not on commission.  I’m salaried or hourly and I get paid no matter how much we sell.”  Better rethink that thought process.  With agribusiness in a tight economy for farmers, which backs into a tight economy for their vendors (you), then your job is dependent on your productivity.  One look at the latest news and you see mergers in agribusiness at an all-time high.  Getting lean and merging is a reality for the foreseeable future.  If your role is not important to a customer (internal or external), you might find out that your salary will go away.  No, it’s not commission, but it is dependent on how well you sell to your customer.

Please understand that I am not advocating that you make your job more important than it is.  We’ve all seen too many people who overinflate what they do.  What I’m saying is go see your customer and do what’s important to him!

Hear what Mark Cuban thinks about the importance of sales in his life.

https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/want-to-be-a-millionaire-with-1-sentence-mark-cuba.html

Make your next meeting memorable by bringing in a speaker who’s been there.  Contact me to find out how Greg@GregMartinelli.net  (608) 751-6971

For more Ag Sales Training, Ag Sales Coaching, and Leading Ag Sales Teams, go to http://www.GregMartinelli.net/