What they do not tell you about selling.

Many Companies are completely unclear about the concepts I am going to explain.

Selling today more than ever is the consequence of well-defined and organized processes.

I have toured many companies and I can say that the average Italian entrepreneurial level is still very improvised. Almost always there is "O Mast" who thinks he knows how to do everything and instead has 4 ideas in the cross and confused too. Often then they are competent only of the Product/Service, and a little of the price, but of the other 5 levers (Promotion, Place, Processes, People and Physical Evidence) they have little knowledge, if any.

Many understand only Sales, as if only the role of the striker existed on a soccer team.

The Sales Consultant, Account Manager, Sales Manager, etc...on the other hand, is part of a team where everyone has a distinct role and everyone concurs to make GOAL!

An important first role of a Consultant is to call the Suspect customers assigned to him, i.e., those who have already purchased at least once, and close subsequent contracts by doing upsells and cross sells, increasing ARPU (average revenue per user).

His "second" round should end with the development of Refferals (referrals) and certainly needs to be included in Caring, Retention and Redemption campaigns.

For everything related to first Funnel, Prospect hunting and first customer acquisition should be handled by marketing professionals, depending on the Communication Plan, with the right tools.

From those below the line (Promoter, Public Relations, Events, Print media, brand image elements, merchandising), to those upon the line typically Digital (Contact Center, DEM, SMS, WebSEO, WebSEM, Social Platforms, you name it).

I myself have been in companies where their only "Winning Marketing" strategy was "to go bayonet fighting a war where competitors are armed with sophisticated automatic weapons and drones." Do you understand the metaphor?

The bayonet for those who haven't figured it out are: cold calls and a list of contacts....

And the puzzling thing is that they are convinced that this is still the methodology of the salesperson to "bring in" new customers....

When they then come up against the harsh reality of the market, the blame inexorably falls on the "salesperson" who is not capable...

And so turnover is inevitable where resources, time and money are thrown into the dustbin, hoping to find the really good one...

Let me reveal a truth to you. The good ones don't come to you who have at best Donald Duck and Duckoga running Marketing in the company.

Until next time.