The Most Important Thing In Your Business

Do you know what the most important thing is in your business? It doesn't matter whether you're offering a product or service. It doesn't matter whether your an engineer, artist, accountant, or anything else. Most people don't realize it, but sales is the most important part of your business. Why? Because no matter what you are offering, if no one is buying it then you are not successful. In fact, you're out of business!

Isn't that a terrible thought? Dealing with sales is the last thing most people want to do and yet you just found out that it is required to survive in business. Yuck! Who wants to deal with something like sales? Most people, when asked about sales, conjure up images of the fast-talking used car salesman that we all have a stereotype of pictured in our minds. But that's not what we're talking about here.

You need to know that you can get people to buy your product or service without being a salesman!  And that's great news!

Businesses all have products or services that they need people to buy. But for most business owners and managers, the last thing they want to do is get involved in selling. Whether it's selling the product or service themselves or having to hire salespeople and manage them, they want no part of it. And why should they? The stereotypical salesperson is the kind of person no one wants to deal with.

In an effort that is either conscious or unconscious they do everything they can to avoid sales. They rely heavily on marketing hoping that that will solve their problems. And what makes it worse is that marketing people don't understand the problem either. There is a vast knowledge gap when it comes to marketing and sales.

Most people, marketing people included, think that if you just do enough marketing, you will never have to deal with sales. But that won't work. And if anyone is telling you otherwise they are either lying to you or don't understand sales and marketing either.

What most people don't realize is that marketing is only the beginning of the job. Marketing is the big picture process that brings people in contact with your business. Whether it's getting them to walk in your door, go to your website, call you on the phone, or whatever method they choose to make contact with you, marketing ends as soon as the customer makes contact with your business. Marketing, in the simplest terms, involves things such as advertising. It brings people to you.

If you are hoping that once the customer gets to you and sees your product or service that they will automatically buy because your marketing is so good, or your product is so good, or your reputation is so good, or whatever then you are wrong. Most people need to be taken from the point they first make contact with you through a process that facilitates their buying. It doesn't sell them in the typical sense of the word. It leads them through the buying process.

When asked to describe salespeople we often hear such things as rude, obnoxious, high-pressure, pushy, and other terms. And the reason is that most people who call themselves salespeople really aren't salespeople at all.  They are what we at G. R. Johnson & Son call sales clerks. They are order takers. They and their managers have no idea what the Professional Sales Process™ really is all about.

G. R. Johnson & Son have specialized in the Professional Sales Process™ since 1946. The basis of this process was developed in the late 19th century. It changed sales from that of manipulation like that used by the medicine show snake oil hucksters of old to a proven professional process that became the cornerstone for the successes of many major companies. These companies became household names due to their success and growth during the Great American Industrial Revolution.

Now you'd think that something this successful would become an unchangeable tenet of the way these companies would do busienss forever. But that wasn't the case. During the last quarter of the 20th century businesses quit using the most proven sales training methods thinking it would save them money. The result has been a deluge of wannabe "sales trainers" promoting everything from positive thinking to high pressure tactics. And with all these methods has come an abandonment of true sales professionalism and an embracing of procedures that for the most part boil down to those used by the hucksters in traveling medicine shows of the 19th century.

In resistance to these methods many businesses have virtually abandoned sales efforts and tried to rely solely on marketing. Since marketing is the big picture that drives customers to your business but only leaves them at the door, companies are losing business. Sales takes the customer from the point where marketing drops them at your door. Then sales moves them down the path to make a decision to purchase the product or service you offer. Without a proven and effective sales process your business will waste the opportunities provided to you by your marketing efforts.

G. R. Johnson & Son Consulting, L.L.C. believes in returning to the methods taught by the true sales professionals of old. We have found that when businesses use these methods that not only does business increase but customer satisfaction and referrals increase, too.

Your business becomes solid as long-term relationships are developed with clients. Competition is no longer about price, but about a relationship.

Is your company in need of more sales?

Are you a Customer Service Manager or Director who wonders why customers are never satisfied?

Are you a business owner, director or manager who struggles with being a manager? Do you wonder what it really means to manage a sales staff? (Yes, most sales managers struggle with this, too, but they'll rarely admit it to themselves, let alone anyone else.) Does your training involve product knowledge but no real training in how to sell?

Are you a salesperson who continually has trouble making their quota?

Do you wonder why you can't perform like the top sales performers around you?

Are you a top performer who just wants to be better at what they do?

Do you find yourself trying all the different "closing" methods you've been trained only to wonder if there's a better way?

Relax, we can help with all of these things. We offer consulting and coaching to help you move your business to the next level.