The Sales Archaeologist

Last week I attended the Annual ACCE Convention in Los Angeles and spoke on the topic of developing a Sales Strategy.

In addition to speaking myself I had the opportunity to listen to other speakers myself. Some shared fascinating stories like Tommy Spaulding – check out his book at some point, it makes some great and practical points for sales people.

It was an exciting event, great location and a chance to meet and talk with lots of CEO’s from around the country. What was on their mind? What were their people struggling with? Where did they need help?

You may not know much about the ACCE members but let’s just say they focus very heavily on the relationship side of things. Whenever someone or some group or some company has a focus that is good of course – but if that focus becomes too narrow or the only thing that sales people focus on then it is not a good thing. There was clearly a need in the following 3 areas based on the fact that this was where my conversations kept going.

1. Starting with Big Picture Issues that resonate with the prospects.
2. Focusing the conversation on Outcomes and Results.
3. Following a Repeatable Sales Process

So these are pretty common issues, we see them all the time. But none of the people I spoke with were able to identify them as such initially nor were they able to rank which were the most critical. That means that many would simply plod along not realizing what was really undermining their sales efforts and instead blame a lack of progress on the economy or the competition.

What about you? Which of these three issues are hurting your sales efforts each and every day? If you don’t know or if you do know chances are you could use some help defining a “how” strategy when it comes to fixing them – if so let me know.