by Shawn Grundy

Created on: January 22, 2009   Last Updated: February 13, 2009

The day I was promoted to Vice President of Sales for a Software Development Company was the best day of my career. There I was, placed atop a team of professionals to build a game plan that would lead our company to new heights. "This will be easy!", I thought to myself. Business was great and the demand for our product was very high. Our customers were having stellar years once again and getting our projects into their budgets was not hard at all. Even our Junior Sales Representatives were making mid-six figure salaries.

Then, in what seemed to take only one day the economy soured, budgets dried up, customers closed their doors, the demand for our product went from "through the roof", to "in the basement". This was a chilling moment for me. I had no plans for this. What can I do? Actually, there's a lot I can do, and did do, successfully. Before, we would sell our products based on the convenience provided to our customers. Convenience, which used to be a necessity when the money was flowing, is now a forgotten luxury. To make a capital purchase simply for convenience in today's world is as much fiction as the Nancy Drew series. I had to find another angle.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

In today's world you need to provide "what your customer needs". This goes back to the very basic fundamentals of Sales. Simply put, it's "Solution Selling". Ask yourself these questions, and then ask your sales staff the same questions.

"What problems do my products solve for my customers?" "What tasks do my products automate or make easier for my customers?" "How does my product make my customer's operation more efficient and dependable?", "Does my product/service save my customer time or money? If so, how?", Does my product eliminate unnecessary positions, thus saving FTE hours?", "Does my product add convenience for my customers?", "Why is my product better than my competitor's?", "What changes have my competitors made to adjust to the decline in the market? Are they successful?", "Can we calculate our product's return on investment and show this to our customers during the sales process?"

I'm sure you can come up with more questions, but these show which way you should be headed. Whenever you are faced with a challenge like this the best thing to do is to get your salespeople involved in the solution. Adding creative work like this to a salesperson's agenda will keep their minds off of negatives and have them focused on a positive

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