Three Field Sales Tactics to Abandon Immediately

Technology has revolutionized the way that we interact with the world. These days, consumers trade in their coffee socials for social media, brick-and-mortar establishments for e-commerce, and The Yellow Pages for Google searches. Among the casualties of these technological advances are many of the sales techniques and practices of our forefathers; the sales techniques used by CPG giants of the past few decades simply do for today’s buyers. Here are just a few of the sales practices that you may want to eliminate from your field sales efforts.

Being Pushy/Overselling

In the past, pushy sales tactics could take you far. Suppliers sold their products and services with little regard for whether the consumer would actually benefit from the purchase. However, in today’s world consumers are savvy buyers who like to give public feedback about the products and services they use as we see below.

Customers are quick to share their experience with a brand on social media.

If you are using forceful, heavy handed, and deceptive sales tactics today, the approach is likely to work in the short-term. However, don’t expect that to translate to long term growth in sales. If you make promises to customers that do not actually come to fruition, chances are they will find a public way to let their friends, family, and/or other potential customers know about their lackluster experience with your product.

Field sales rely heavily on referrals, and pushy sales tactics put referrals at risk. If you can't guarantee success backed by hard data in your key accounts, how can you expect another retailer to take on your brand? The short-term benefit of that sale will haunt you for years to come.

Do This Instead:

That is why it is so important to treat today’s sales transactions more like an effort in problem solving rather than focusing on the short-term sale. Identify your niche in the marketplace to bring real value to retailer who's stocking your brand and subsequently the end-user who's buying it. RISE Brewing, for example, offers a nonstandard RTD coffee option - nitro cold brew (in three flavors to boot). 

Provide retailers with something one-of-a-kind instead of aggressively selling to them

By using this approach, there may be times where you realize that your particular product or service may not be the best fit for the potential customer’s needs.  If that is the case, you’ll be forced to decide whether you can customize the sale in a way that will benefit both you and the customer. If not, you may have to walk away from the sale entirely.

While this may mean that you don’t make the short-term goal of an immediate sale, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Those potential customers will appreciate your effort as well as your integrity.  Not only will they be inclined to seek you out when they have a problem that your product or service can solve, but they will also be more inclined to tell their friends, family, or even perfect strangers to do the same.

Not Adapting to Technology

If a system worked for you in the past, it is natural to assume that same system will continue to work indefinitely. However, in the fast paced, cutthroat world of sales, failure to take advantage of the the technological advancements that have improved business communications, organization, and data management can mean the difference between making a sale and walking away empty handed.  

Twenty years ago, there was a much heavier dependence on paper files. Methods for managing client data were far less sophisticated--often cobbled together by each business owner through a series of Word Documents and Excel spreadsheets. Even more recently, growing brands rely on a web of shared Google docs and Slack messages to manage their field sales operations. If you are still running your business this way, it may be time to reconsider your technology needs.

Do This Instead:

A Customer Relations Management (CRM) system is a digital method for keeping track of client data, files, and communications that has been slowly revolutionizing the way that businesses sell products and services for years. Today’s CRM systems are easier to use, easier to access from a mobile device, more functional, and more secure than ever before.

Mobile CRM systems allow sales people to access client data on a secure network when they're working out in the field. This makes exchanging information, negotiating agreements, signing contracts, completing projects, and corresponding with your clients more streamlined than ever. Even better, sales managers can reap the benefits of the data amassed from a Mobile CRM tool through more accurate forecasting.

Not Sharing Best Practices With Team Members

While ambition can encourage hungry salespeople to work harder, it is important for employers to carefully balance healthy competition with team building and collaboration. A failure to do so may result in a sales team where coworkers refuse to cooperate and rabidly devour their own in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage over one another.

Engaging in or fostering  unhealthy competition in the workplace may do more than just create a toxic work environment for salespeople and their support staff.  It may also hurt your bottom line. Successful businesses are successful because they are constantly finding newer and more efficient ways to make and save money. If you are a salesperson, you may successfully close sales on your own. However, your coworker may have an idea or practice to share that would make your work even more effective or efficient. Together, you can only make each other better.

Do This Instead:

Try finding ways to collaborate and share best practices with other salespeople. Attitude alone can go a long way, but there are also tools employees can use to communicate more easily and effectively with one another.  For example, there are a number of messaging tools that can be integrated with your existing data management systems that will allow employees to share information and to communicate instantaneously with one another from anywhere in the world. Some CRMs even have messaging functionality built into their interface. Have the team document sales practices and come together over a project management tool (find some great recommendations here) to discuss best practices and learn how to better serve customers.

The bottom line is this:  In today’s world, the best way to reach a customer is not high-pressure sales tactics. If you really want to increase your business, you’ll need to find time and cost-saving ways to reach potential customers. Rather than pushing potential customers into a deal that makes them uncomfortable, find ways to make them seek you out instead. After all, in the age of accountability, the best sales you can make are the ones that involve customers willing and eager to utilize your product or service.