IT’S THE ZIKA VIRUS OF SALES
I heard it from another client today. I’m beginning to hear about it everywhere I go. I fear an epidemic.
This one will be costly to business, especially small business. But those involved in the long sales cycle of the complex enterprise selling world will take the blindside hardest.
It’s O.C.W.
This new sales virus is called O.C.W. - and I suspect one or two of your sales producers have evidence of infection. There is good news, it can be cured with some forensic undercover work and an immediate application of sound coaching.
O.C.W. sneaks up on salespeople. Buying customers, typically a guarded purchasing agent, initiate the condition. It serves the buyer’s purpose well and gives them negotiating leverage while you’re in a weak, subservient state. Salespeople who allow themselves to be referred as ‘vendors’ or who act like a typical salesperson catch it first.
If you struggle to gain equal business stature in your business development role, you’re vulnerable.
Veteran performers are vulnerable, too. Managers, if you catch one of your sales veterans playing money manager instead of money producer while nesting at key accounts, get them into treatment right away. The sooner you catch this rapidly spreading virus the better you’ll be. Profits, growth, and marketplace success are all at risk. O.C.W. can stall your efforts by several years
O.C.W. – One Contact Weakness – can be found and destroyed with sound pre-call and debrief work. If, in your role as sales leader, you hear your producers using the same contact name over and over when you ask about a particular account, they’re infected. If, when you examine their expense reports, you see the same name being entertained over and over, they’re infected. They’ve got One Contact Weakness.
Those suffering from One Contact Weakness are holding your business plan hostage. They have failed to underscore the process used in the Decision Suite. They have forgotten that decision-making has changed drastically and that in place of one person, there are many layers of decision making.
Protect yourself and your team – don’t let one person tell you they’re the decision maker. Having multiple contacts within your customers’ walls is critical to your sales health.
O.C.W. is serious. And it’s spreading quickly.
At Sandler Training Trustpointe we help our clients stay healthy. To learn more about the sales Zika virus, vulnerable sales veterans and the scourge of vendor status, contact Tim Roberts at 317-845-0041 or tim.roberts@sandler.com
Code Blue. First Floor. All Managers Report Immediately.
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