As we enter another tough year for growth, our sales cultures will be even more important for survival and productivity. Yes, it is a journey! The foundation of strategy, structure, systems, etc has to be built for the long term in a dynamic environment and amongst continuous competitive disintermediation. Rolling out another training course without the foundation in place wastes money, staff time and confuses customers.
Start with the premise that everyone in your organization is part of the sales culture from the CEO to the newest recruit. Accept the principles of continuous learning and innovative thinking. Generally, institutions need external expertise to get the foundation right even though internal staff believe that they can do it without that experience. I remember back in 1985 when my employer RBC (Canada's largest bank) decided to start its journey and asked me to head it up, the first thing we did was reach out for professional guidance on a number of fronts.
Build your strategy around customers' preferences plus your channel and product profitability. Remember, customers control channel access/convenience and they are multi-channel users. You can not survive on branch sales alone even if everyone therein is actively engaged in the sales experience and not tied down or hidden behind "administrative duties".
This Christmas Season again saw the rapid expansion of online purchases by all age groups for a mass variety of products and services. Additionally we saw more collaborative or partnership selling with productline extensions everywhere. Look at WalMart with their Super Stores and how much they sell online including financial services. In Canada, Rogers Communications, who have filed for a banking licence, will also add a new national dimension to mobile sales.
The sales culture requires experienced leadership and knowledge with an integrated distribution strategy. Let the learning begin properly or results will be compromised.
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