Your Product May Be Ready to Ship, But Are Your Salespeople Ready to Sell It?

Years ago telecom company Nortel started short shipping customer orders: Customers received most of what they ordered, but not everything. Nortel showed the shipments as revenue, but customers were billed for systems missing components required to provide the solution they wanted. Of course the customers became very unhappy and complained vehemently to management.

Soon the CEO called an all-day staff meeting to set a threshold for when a customer order could be shipped. On a flip chart the CEO wrote “ready to ship” to lead the discussion. As the meeting was winding down, having made progress on the issue, the vice president of sales stood up and crossed out the word “ship” and wrote “sell.”

The VP’s observation was that too often products are announced, but the material and programs needed to effectively sell them are not provided. Being ready to sell is just as important as being ready to ship.

Too many firms do not have a list of what is needed for salespeople to sell products. Material may be ready for generating awareness, but not for closing the sale to generate revenue. This can increase the cost of selling and decrease the sales capacity and the potential market share.

Several elements that should be included in the “ready to sell” checklist include:

• Specific, quantifiable advantages and values of your product or service.
• Evidence that makes your advantage and value claims believable.
• Comparisons to your competition.
• Selling messages that are understood by salespeople.

Generating revenue and customers is no longer just having Willy Loman shake hands with prospects and customers. You may have some exceptional salespeople but probably not enough to meet your revenue growth goals.

Lead generation, sales training and sales compensation are increasingly process-driven. The next challenge is applying process systems to work that requires multiple functions such as sales, marketing and product management.

Do an assessment to make certain that you have a “ready to sell” process that is complete and effective. Include the perspectives of sales as well as marketing and product management.

About the Author | Bud Hyler

Bud Hyler is the founder of Logical Marketing, a B-to-B marketing firm. He has worked with IBM, AT&T, Microsoft, HP and other brands to champion customer-centered marketing. He can be reached at budh@logmkt.com.