The majority of businesses don't have a systematic sales approach. That means the strategy, tactics and conversational behaviours used by their salespeople to engage with customers and prospects is inconsistent.
We know this because we conducted research in which just 22 per cent of British business decision makers reported their organisation had a consistent sales methodology, while 8 per cent did not know whether their business had this in place. Considering most businesses have been set up in order to sell goods or services, it's simply baffling that so few have a systematic approach to it.
This lack of a standard sales approach was apparent regardless of business size or sector. We found 71 per cent of people in small companies don't have a single sales methodology, which is perhaps understandable if they have only just started up. However, we also found that 67 per cent of people in large companies, with 250+ employees, also didn't have a systematic approach, and for these businesses there really is no excuse.
Similarly, no sector performed particularly well, although retail had the highest proportion of organisations with a common sales methodology, with 37 per cent of respondents saying they had this in place. At the other end of the spectrum, a paltry 12 per cent of respondents in construction said they had a systematic sales approach.
Despite talk of how the manufacturing sector could rebalance the UK economy, just 16 per cent of respondents in manufacturing said they had a single, commonly used and understood sales methodology. While manufacturing experienced an upturn during the economic recovery, that now seems like a distant memory. If manufacturers are serious about growing their slice of the pie, they need to start thinking about selling in a different way.
So, while we've been a trading nation for hundreds of years, it's clear many companies, regardless of size or sector, still don't appear to have a professional approach to selling.
It's time for businesses to realise that ‘sales' is not a dirty word and giving salespeople the tools to succeed can make a huge difference to the growth of the company. A sales methodology - and the skills that bring that methodology to life - allows customer-facing staff to build the value of the product or service with buyers, along with the value of the organisation itself.
So what would a smarter approach to sales look like? A defined methodology is a good start and should include a consistent approach to uncovering and developing customers' needs, as well as a common language for presenting solutions - ideally focusing on benefits not features - and calibrating progress in the sale.
Our previous research has also shown that salespeople are not listening to their customers enough and are not asking the right questions - addressing this should also be part of a better sales method.
A smarter approach to listening and communicating with customers needs to be part of a consistent sales approach - businesses must take defining this seriously, recognising the extent to which they harm their potential by selling themselves poorly.
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