Most people don’t have the skills to sell. As a result, salespeople are often forced to take advantage of their clients rather than helping them succeed. In this article, we will discuss how sales competency model work and how you can apply these tools to build your sales career and become a more successful salesperson.
We will also look at some of the common scenarios where a new sales competency model is needed in an organization.
The majority of times, buyer's psychology depends on their background information such as experience levels with similar products or product categories.
A clear understanding about your buyer can help you be more effective during sales meetings by providing an implicit radar that helps you maximize your time spent on prospects who are worth your time.
When deciding which way to help buyers achieve their goals, most salespeople tend to rely on generalizations and stereotypes .
To build a strong network of relationships that will keep you successful in the long term , it is important for you as well as prospective clients (customers) to have reliable information about what happens under the customer development cycle .
This helps with understanding readiness for action, determining purchase options & helping build trust.
Develop an objective assessment of sales skills.
Sales personnel are often trained to become more knowledgeable, skilled and effective in their activities than what they had been previously.
They are also required to take a proven approach to improve their performance at different stages of the cycle, like prospecting or closing a sale.
Evaluation is important so that these skills can be optimized and developed easily. Before sustained efforts into improving your abilities as a professional buyer should lead you to identifying where you stand currently on the standard practices of your industry; before devoting time and resources to improving your career.
Following are the top sales competency model basics:-
1. Foundational Sales Knowledge
If you feel like a total rookie when it comes to sales, there are some fundamental skills you should develop right away.
The first and foremost is customer service. Being able to offer great customer service is not only invaluable in the workplace now, but will help many future hinges on your closing ability as well.
While customer service isn’t necessarily a skill that can be developed overnight (though it decidedly shouldn’t be), it makes sense that reps who show they know how to help customers out would immediately gain more credibility with prospects and other employees in the company.
2. Communication Skills
The ability to effectively and coherently relay information is pivotal for any sales professional.
This will include proper grammar, creative use of language, the ability to deliver expansive presentations, visual aids and body language – all critical elements in your success as a role model.
To be able to communicate on a deeper level with the people you'll be communicating with every day is one key element that sets you apart from other reps.
In addition, being comfortable working within teams means excellent communication skills which allows you to produce higher revenue without jeopardizing working relationships. A great example of this was an internal call center.
3. Willingness to Learn
Sales competency model involves willingness to adapt and learn. This is one of the most important factors for any salesperson. As we all know, without continual development and learning you will soon be out of a job.
No matter how good your product or service is, if it's not being used by customers in a way that benefits them then they're essentially wasting their time (and yours).
That means sales professionals must maintain an attitude of continuous self-improvement.
To do this you need to constantly learn new things and stay up-to-date with trends in technology, business practices and customer needs; all so that you can use those skills to achieve your goals.
Representatives who are working with a sales competency model need to have the following basics.At the heart of every great sales relationship is trust and honesty.
The best reps are also honest, take pride in delivering results for their clients, and make an effort to provide helpful input that leads to a more mutually beneficial business relationship.
This ultimately helps them earn higher ratings from prospects who already appreciate all they do for the company.
Integrity pays off when you tell prospects about their options and guide them to smart decisions based on your experience with similar products or services. You help evaluate a direction or strategy as people weigh it against other potential choices that may be available.
1. Prospecting
Prospecting is all about identifying prospects, qualifying them by the products they use and understanding their motivations to buy (and why they are not buying).
While many sales reps will have extensive experience prospecting with past clients, it's important that reps remain properly trained in this aspect of the sales cycle.
Prospecting takes hard work, dedication and discipline on behalf of every agent as she has to understand what differentiates her client from others.
The more qualified a prospect is at using your product or service and understanding WHY he needs it, typically the more committed he will be to purchase when you present him with a presentation of your product.
Prospecting involves following up on leads from past clients and taking the initiative to contact people who may be interested in buying but had, for whatever reason either not expressed an interest or were unresponsive when asked "if they needed anything". No matter why this occurs, follow-up is very important.
It keeps everyone aware that you are committed no matter what happens within the sales cycle afterward.
2. Product Knowledge
Regardless of the stage in sales, proper product knowledge is a must.
This can be shown through aligning your solution to the needs of your prospect and determining if they need your product.
To ensure you have all relevant information available to answer their questions, ask as many questions as possible during initial outreach to determine what issues are most pressing for them.
Here are some key steps to build the necessary product knowledge:
During this phase, be sure you research all aspects of both your own product and that of any competitors when presenting it to prospective clients. Since prospects would prefer not having too many decisions.
3. Customer Service
It’s not enough to sell, you must also provide support for your customer.
A company's ability to solve customer problems is directly influenced by the quality of its reps and the services they provide.
I'm going to make this one pretty short because a lot can be said about service from everyone else so I encourage you to look up others if you're interested in learning more details.
Customer Service includes:
A) How consistently customers are contacted and how long they have been waiting;
B) Overall satisfaction with current level of contact;
C) Most common issues encountered with the reps ( By the reps) and how they are handled;
D) What major problems or complaints customers have had,
E) Reviewers comments (e.g., on blogs like Yelp);
F) Things staff members would like to change about service.
4. Data Analysis
In today’s world, sales reps must be able to calculate and analyze numbers in an easy-to-understand fashion.
This requires the ability to properly allocate your time as well as perform rudimentary analysis of potential business opportunities.
You need a company that can clearly explain how they decide on what products or services you offer through market research, so that you aren't working blindly based on anecdotal information from long-term clients or past deals without statistics backing it up.
5. Solutions-Oriented
Sales professionals should always be solution-focused in the manner they run their company. Reps need to know that, when they are talking to a prospect or customer, they are not just selling them on the features of your product but taking into account the overall value it will bring to their business.
6. Upselling and Cross-selling
In order to increase the likelihood of selling a higher-valued product or service, reps must upsell and cross-sell.
There are great sales tools you can use as an agent that will help you track how often you're making these suggestions and how effective they are at increasing your total sales volume.
7. Negotiating Skills
It is important to successfully close sales in the beginning of a relationship, but it's just as important not to lose deals once you've acquired them.
A solid negotiating skill helps reps build business relationships that last based on trust and loyalty. The ability to be flexible in negotiations can also help your company save costs when cutting deals from time-to-time.
8. Relationship-Building
An effective salesperson must be able to build relationships with their clients, both online and locally. Building a relationship before the sale is critical as it helps to bond you with the buyer quickly and shows your brand’s trustworthiness.
This can also come in handy if there are multiple buy-in points that need to be covered prior to closing.
A solid, established relationship can help you make more informed decisions when presenting or negotiating offers, giving buyers confidence that despite any previous non-compliances they may have had in buying from your company before, this time will likely end well for them.
9. Results-Driven
In an otherwise uncertain sales environment, results-driven reps are in the best position to succeed.
Organizations that differentiate themselves from their competitors have a clear and defined strategy for meeting goals - whether it is finding clients with profit margins or increasing revenue by signing on new customers.
To stay on track, effective salespeople will turn every deal into a chance to meet certain goals and KPIs.
Some successful sales leaders and managers go beyond the core competencies of selling. They focus on 5 additional areas and are known as "superstars":
1. Change Management
2. Strategic Alignment
3. Coaching and Mentorship
4. Building Trust
5. Systems Management
1.How can I improve my sales skills?
To improve your sales skills, you should try to learn how to:
1. Understand what your customers want
2. Create effective content that will help them make a decision
2.What is a sales competency model?
A sales competency model is a model that focuses on the skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed to effectively sell a product or service. It can be used as a template for performance management, coaching, development planning, and training.
The purpose of the model is to help guide how to assess what skills are required for employees in order to improve their effectiveness in selling products or services. The model is not meant to be exhaustive but rather helpful in understanding what an employee needs to have in order to perform well.
3.What are important skills to have for sales?
To be a successful salesperson, you need to have the following skills:
1. Communication Skills
2. Listening Skills
3. Social Skills
4. Verbal and Written Communication Skills
5. Reading Skills
6. Persuasive Communication Skills and Self-awareness .
4.What is email marketing, hiring, and sales organization?
The email is one of the first features keen customers will look at when evaluating a business, which means you really need to ensure it’s good.
In fact, 'offers that are poorly written send negative signals and actually make prospects less likely to purchase your product or service in the future,' said David Federico, founder and president of sales training company , Sales Training Enterprises.
The sales hiring process is a complex sequence of steps and several decisions that need to be made. In today's competitive hiring market, many organizations are struggling with how best to hire new sales talent.
Some use competency models in the hiring process, but most don’t even try. The huge potential benefit of using a competency model goes unnoticed by many leaders because they fail to recognize it or put enough effort into implementing one for their organization's needs.
A sales organization needs to earn, retain and empower salespeople in order for it to be effective. The sales organization needs strong leadership, clear roles and responsibilities and consistent support from the top.
Sales competency modeling is the process of aligning competencies with skills. Sales people need to learn more about their selling, and training them on how to sell better—the result of which should be an improvement in sales results.
The model helps organizations by providing a common language and standard to work from, making it easier for all parties involved to do their jobs effectively, improving communication between departments within the organization, partnering with your external customers better while they understand you better as well...and see improvements are measurable across the board.
