This article is the first in a series about sales and salespeople. Our aim is to help small, independent ISP operators make the most of their business by building a courteous, knowledgeable, and successful sales staff.

by Brock Henderson Brock Henderson & Associates [May 6, 2002]

It is often said that sales is just a "numbers game," meaning that the more people you call on the more sales you will make. While there is some truth to this, it is very much old school thinking.

Decision makers are becoming more insulated and protected from salespeople. Once a salesperson finally reaches a decision maker, they often find the potential client more skeptical and untrusting of sales people, than ever before. The dynamics of your company and its sales needs is also changing—it's becoming more multifaceted than it ever was before. Old school numbers-game selling methods are time consuming, often a waste of human resources that leaves sales personnel feeling frustrated and downtrodden.

So if cold-calling potential clients up and down Main Street is out—what exactly is in—at least when it comes to effective sales strategies for ISP?

What do you want?
The key to successful selling in the 21st century is to know what your ISP businesses sales objectives are and then match up these expectations with skilled sales people. Rather than putting warm bodies out on the street or parked in front of telephones, you must clearly identify what your ISP's sales goals are and help your sales people reach their individual goals.

Working smart is more important that it was a year ago, or even six months ago. You and your sales staff must work much smarter, and you must do it together in order to fulfill your overall ISP business goal.

Before you hire any sales representatives, you need to determine what you expect from each and every sales person—both in short-term and long-term sales goals. You must ask yourself what is more important to your ISP business—the number of new accounts or the dollar amount of revenue generated by these new accounts?

For example, let's say you have two salespeople—Barbara and Tony. Barbara goes out and sells five $10,000 accounts one week, but Tom sells only one $50,000 account. Larger accounts are harder to sell and bring more prestige to your ISP business, which makes it easier to sell your services to skeptical decision-makers in the future. But smaller accounts offer the potential to grow your ISP business through up-selling. Both Barbara and Tony brought in $50,000 worth of business—so who did the better job of selling? It depends on what you wanted from your sales team in the first place, doesn't it?

Here are four elements to consider when deciding what your sales expectations are for your ISP business:

1. Total sales dollars generated.
2. Number of new accounts created.
3. Amount of up-selling accomplished (in dollars).
4. Level of customer satisfaction.

Initially, select one and only one sales objective. As your ISP business and its sales force grows, you can add to your minimum expectations, but first focus on what is most important to you and your ISP business. In the very beginning of developing a business I would suggest that you focus on the quantity of new accounts, as opposed to dollar volume or quality of services sold. Getting your initial cash flow established is pretty important before you start looking at taking the next step. .

As your ISP business and its sales force grows, you will need to look beyond the quantity of new account sales to establish other areas of your business and help improve your bottom line. This is where sales goals targeting up-selling, customer satisfaction, or targeting prestige accounts comes into play.

What do your salespeople need?
Some time ago Entrepreneur Magazine listed the basic attributes of top sales people. I've listed them below and expanded on several concepts slightly:

• Aggressive: Self-starter, someone who doesn't let the fear of rejection stop them from taking a deep breath and walking through the prospects door. They are not pushy, but they understand that "no" doesn't always mean "no".
• Winner: Positive and self-confident.
• Personable: Friendly, genuine, sincerely interested in the success of the customer, not the phony smile but the honest smile.
• Can Prioritize: Able to set their own goals and schedule; knows when and how to adjust to changing conditions of the customer, your business, your industry, and the marketplace in general.
• Is Product-Smart: Knows the products and services of your company and can explain them in non-technical terms; this is especially important in the ISP industry.
• Good Listening Skills: There is an old sales saying that "God gave man one mouth and two ears so he could listen twice as much as he talked". That is so very true in sales as in other areas of business; good listening skills make for effective selling.

The best indicator of a successful sales person is past experience. However, you need to be cautious. For example, assume you are just starting out and need quantity of accounts above all else, and the candidate you are interviewing is good at up-selling his client base—this is not the right salesperson for your ISP business right now. Conversely, let's say you need someone good at up-selling, but the candidate is good at bringing in new accounts—again, this is not the right salesperson for your current needs.

Hire the right person for your ISP business needs and you'll both be happy because you will both grow and prosper from the working relationship. But hire the wrong individual and you'll both be miserable and disappointed. Take your time and act with extreme caution in selecting the right salespeople. They are the face that represents you and your ISP business to the community—choose them wisely.

—End