In my last blog post, I highlighted the need for a compelling value proposition as a starting point in launching a company’s sales effort. Whether you are selling a car, real estate, clothes, or freight transportation services, having a strong and differentiated value proposition helps get the attention of prospective buyers and creates a sales opportunity for you and your company. If you don’t have a solid value proposition, I urge you to make this a priority before you move forward. In this blog I will discuss four other key elements of the sales process.

P for Passion

I have written about the importance of having a passion for your company and its products or services in the past. If you don’t have a strong belief in the company you work for, this inhibits sales success. In fact, if you don’t have this conviction, and you cannot fix this situation, you should probably be thinking of working for another organization. Passion gives you the energy and motivation you need to drive your sales effort.

T for Trust

Another link in the chain is being able to form a trusting relationship with your prospects and customers. In addition to being passionate about what you are selling, it is important to be able demonstrate that you are honest and have integrity. You want your customers to know that you are looking out for their best interests, that you are going to do the follow up that you promised, that you are there to help them with a problem, in other words, that they can trust you when they buy something from you and your company.

W for Work

I know that there are lot of people who feel that sales is a pretty “cushy” profession. They think that salespeople drive around all day in their subsidized automobiles, having breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with their clients, and taking them to baseball and hockey games. The fact is that sales is a very results-driven profession. While salespeople are measured on several metrics (e.g., sales calls, size of sales pipeline, conversion of prospects into customers), the key measure of sales success is often revenue. Sales results come from hard work. Salespeople need a good work ethic and must handle a great deal of rejection. There is no substitute for hard work, for doing your due diligence, for learning as much as you can about your prospects and their needs, maintaining a full sales pipeline and converting prospects into customers.

S for Solution

The job of a salesperson is to develop differentiated solutions. at competitive prices, to address customers’ problems. This requires refining the customers’ needs, during the initial sales call, and through subsequent sales calls, matching these needs with your value proposition, and then developing a solution that is the best fit for them.

P + T + W + S = Sales Success

Taking your differentiated product or service, linking it with a passion to serve your clients, the ability to create trusting relationships, the requirement to create a customized solution to your customers’ problems, and doing the hard work to evaluate your prospects and close sales, is a formula for sales success.

To stay up to date on Best Practices in Freight Management, follow me on Twitter @DanGoodwill and join the Freight Management Best Practices group on LinkedIn. In you need help with your Business Development Strategy, contact me at dan@dantranscon.com.