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In part one of this article, telecoms sales expert Andy Preston explains what actions you need to take, now that the summer holidays are over, in order to get your sales figures back on track.
The summer holiday period can be a frustrating time for telecoms salespeople. Buyers and decision makers are on holiday (or are busy covering for colleagues who are), your own customer service and operational staff are off, and you’re probably still in a holiday mood yourself.
If we’re not careful, that summer holiday feeling can drag over into late September, and even October in some cases. And by the time you come to your senses, it’s nearly Christmas and your sales figures are nowhere near where they should be.
To avoid that summer holiday hangover, follow the simple tips below and just watch the positive impact on your sales figures.
Sales tip number 1
For most telecoms salespeople, September is a great time to sit down and analyse your sales pipeline. You’ll have had a number of people say to you call me back after the holidays, and perhaps now you’re struggling to get hold of those people. Or they don’t sound as keen to meet you (or buy from you) as they did before the holidays.
That’s probably because the “Call me back after the holidays” line was a simple objection, and you didn’t deal with it very well. Now, it’s four to eight weeks later and their level of interest (if they had any in the first place) has cooled from lukewarm at best to pretty much cold. Sometimes you can revive it, and sometimes you just need to move on.
Sales tip number 2
As salespeople, we tend to be positive. Sometimes we’re even guilty of being over positive. Nowhere is a better example of that than with our own sales pipeline.
I’ve worked with some telecoms salespeople in the past that are entirely convinced that evrrything in their pipeline is going to come in, and probably this month. And most salespeople probably need the majority of it to come in, to have any chance of hitting their target.
This is true whether they’re target on gross profit or total revenue, and whether they’re in mobiles, landlines or hardware. September is the time for more realism about sales pipelines, and you need to check yours (or your team’s) right now.
If the people who said “Call me back after the holidays” are no longer that interested, get them out of the pipeline.
Part two next week!
Andy Preston is a recognised sales expert who specialises in working with mobile phone companies in particular, helping them generate more appointments, stand out from the competition, and close more deals. You can see and hear more about Andy at
http://www.andy-preston.com/.
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