Chapter 16: Opportunity Management: The Key to Greater Sales

Productivity
Learning objectives
 Discuss the four dimensions of opportunity management
o All salespeople can learn more about their products and improve their selling skills.
However, there is no way to expand time. Our only option is to find ways to improve
in the 4 dimensions of opportunity management discussed in this chapter: time
management, territory management, records management, and stress management
 List and describe time management strategies
o Effective time management methods can pave the way to greater sales productivity.
To achieve greater time conservation, salespeople should adopt the following time
saving strategies: develop a series of personal goals; prepare a daily to do list;
maintain a planning calendar; organise selling tools; and save time with meetings in
cyberspace and other methods of communication
 Explain factors that contribute to improved territory management
o The first step in territory management is the classification of all customers according
to sales volume or some other appropriate criteria. Salespeople normally should
spend the most time with accounts that have the greatest sales potential. The
second step requires developing a routing and scheduling plan. This plan should
reduce time spent travelling between accounts. Salespeople are often guided by a
sales call plan
 Identify and discuss common elements of a records management system
o A good record keeping system provides many advantages. Accurate, up to date
records can actually save time because work is better organised. The company also
benefits because sales reports provide an important communication link with
members of the sales force. Computers are used to develop more efficient record
keeping systems. Common records kept by salespeople include customer and
prospect files, call reports, expense records, and sales records.
 Discuss stress management practices
o There is a certain amount of stress associated with sales work. This is due in part to
the non-routine nature of personal selling. Salespeople must learn to cope with
factors that upset their equilibrium. Stress management strategies include
developing a stress free home office, maintaining an optimistic outlook, practicing
healthy emotional expression, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle
Opportunity management – A 4 dimensional process
 What Makes a Salesperson Successful?
o Hard work
o Careful planning
o Being organized – plan and have purpose and direction
o Efficient use of time and energy
o Prioritizing sales decisions – customers less tolerant of delays
o Ability to perceive opportunities and seize them (identify prospects, make sales,
improve service)
 Opportunity management should be viewed as a 4 dimensional process:
o Time management
o Territory management
o Records management
o Stress management
Time management
 A salesperson can increase sales volume in 2 major ways
o Improve selling effectiveness
o Spend more time in face to face selling situations
 Time consuming activities
o 60% = administrative duties or travel
 Completion of sales records and time spent on customer follow through and
follow up
o One way to assess time is to keep a time log (recording, at the end of every hour, the
activities in which you were engaged in during that time)
o At the end of the week ask yourself “Is this the best use of my time?”
o Wasting time is usually a habit, so to manage your time more effectively, you need
to form new habits
 Time management methods (you first need to view time as a scarce resource)
o Develop a series of personal goals
 Know your goals (career, family, life) to have direction
 “Your ability to set clear, specific goals will do more to guarantee you higher
levels of success and achievement than any other single skill or quality
 Be clear about what you want to accomplish (not general/vague)
 Goals have a psychological value (e.g. motivation)
 Goal setting principles
 Reflect on things you want to change in your life
o Then prepare written goals that are specific, measurable,
and realistic
 Develop a written goal-setting plan that includes necessary steps to
achieve the goal
o Review your plan daily
o Repetition increases the probability of success
 Modify your environment by changing stimuli around you
o This may involve finding a mentor or spending less time with
persons who are negative
 Monitor your behaviour & reward your progress
o Reinforcement from yourself and/or others in necessary for
change
o Prepare a daily to do list
 Plan and prioritize events in your life every day
 Start each day by thinking what you want to accomplish – write it down
 Putting your thoughts on paper (or electronically) forces you to clarify your
thinking
 Avoid non-paying activities during working hours
 Prioritise your to do list and do not let outside distractions interfere with
your plan
 Begin each day with the highest priority task
o Maintain a planning calendar
 Have a single place to record daily appointments (personal and business),
deadlines, and tasks
 Don’t use “floaters” – writing on random pieces of paper that are forgotten
 Select a planning calendar design that brings efficiency –more focus, no lost
info/missed appointments
 Can use PDA’s (personal digital assistant) to organize information
o Organise your selling tools
  Organize sales literature, business cards, order blanks, samples, etc. needed
during a sales call
 You may waste time on a call-back because some item was not available
during your first call
 Using one or more file systems
 Arrange selling tools in an orderly fashion
 “Time is money”
 Saving time with meetings in cyberspace and other methods of communication
o Ask yourself if personal visits are necessary and desirable from clients view
o Cyberspace meeting – video conference, skype etc.
o Determine which communication mode customer prefers
 Telephone, email, voice-mail, cell phone, fax etc.
o Phone calls are appropriate when:
 Call In advance to make appointment – client knows when to expect you,
save time
 To keep client informed – instant, low cost communication
 Building goodwill with a follow-up phone call
o Busy people often discourage telephone calls as a means of minimising interruptions
o Voice mail automated systems, cell phone, pager, fax machines, computer scanning
equipment
Territory management
 Many marketing organisations have found it helpful to break down the total market into
manageable units called “sales territories”
 A sales territory is the geographic area where prospects and customers reside
 Sales territory is a group of customers and prospective customers assigned to a single
salesperson
 Each territory is unique
o The geographic area where prospects and customers reside
o The class of customers to which a salesperson is assigned
o Classified according to sales potential
 Management facilitates the salesperson’s ability to service his assigned region/area/class
 Sales territories are a specific number of current and potential accounts that can be called
on conveniently and economically
 What does territory management involve
o Step 1: Classify all customers
 Territory is divided by: area code, industry product, projected sales volume
 Review & identify which accounts = most sales & focus majority of selling
efforts
 Sales territory constantly changes – realign from time to time
o Step 2: Develop a routing and scheduling plan
 Travel is one of salespeople most time consuming, non-selling activities
 The primary objective of a sales routing and scheduling plan is to increase
actual selling by reducing time spent travelling between accounts and time
spent waiting to see customers
 Consider variables: new accounts, customer service, solving problems etc.
 Guidelines
 Obtain or create a map of your territory, and mark the location of
current accounts with pins or a marking pen
o colour code accounts according to sales potential
o Can use a mapping software TerrAlign
 If territory is large, organize it into smaller zones (e.g. zip codes)
  Develop a routing plan for a specific time period
 Develop a schedule that meets customer needs and decide on sales
call frequency schedule
 Establish multiple tentative calls to take advantage of extra time or
cancellations
 Decide frequency of calls based on sales potential
o The more potential, the more calls
o 80/20 rule = 80% most productive customers, 20% smaller
 Sales call plans
o Use information from the routing an scheduling plan to develop a sales call plan
o A weekly action plan designed to ensure efficient and effective account coverage
o Plans like this are a part of most CRM systems
o One section = planned calls, the other = completed calls, extra space = firm names
o Success = persuasive sales manager, training, staffs belief in the plan
o The sales manager must not only present the plan in a convincing manner but also
provide training that helps each salesperson implement the plan successfully
Records management
 Up to date records make your work more organised, and provides quick accessibility to
information which makes it possible to close more sales and improve customer service
 A good record keeping system gives salespeople useful information with which to check
their own progress
 Reports from the field help management make important decisions
 Common records kept by salespeople
o The only records worth keeping are those that provide positive benefits to the
customer, the salesperson, or the personnel who work in sales supporting areas of
the company
o Each record should be brief, easy to complete, and free of requests for useless detail
o Where possible, the format should provide for the use of check marks as a
substitute for written responses
o Customer and prospect files
 Name, address, phone number, personal characteristics
o Call reports/ activity report
 Record call info, what happened, future actions to take
o Expense records
 Selling expenses (meals, lodging, travel, entertainment, etc.)
 Automated expense reports save salespeople a great deal of time and allow
them to get reimbursed while still on the road
o Sales records
 To analyse salesperson performance (designs vary greatly)
 Maintaining perspective
o The emotional highs & lows of personal selling = easy to lose perspective
o Carefully prepared records = reality check
Stress management
 What is stress
o Non-routine nature of sales = new experiences = stress
o Two simultaneous events
o The external stimulus, (stressor) & the physical/emotional response to that stressor
o Such as:
 Anxiety
 Fear
  Muscle tension
 Heart rate and blood pressure
 Headaches
 Insomnia
o Some stress keeps us motivated
o Too much is unhealthy = hurts relationships and productivity
 Causes of stress
o Pressure to meet sales quotas/targets
o Missed appointments
o Pressure to present in front of large groups
o Lack of feedback concerning performance
o Non-routine nature of work – on call 24/7
o Smartphones (difficult to escape pressures)
o Loss of job satisfaction
o Strained personal relationships
o Information overload
o Sales call reluctance
o Long hours
o Travel schedule
o Communication expectations with customers and management
 Stress management strategies
o Develop a stress free home office
 Phone or fax that only rings in the office – family shouldn’t answer
 Meet clients elsewhere if your space isn’t appropriate
 Establish set hours - don’t let work hours extend into evenings & weekends
o Maintain an optimistic outlook
 View problems as only temporary setbacks
 Focus on potential success rather than on their failures
 Optimism is a learned behaviour, visualisation is key
o Practice healthy emotional expression
 When stress occurs, you may undergo physiological and psychological
changes
 Avoid any fight or flight reaction – talk about it instead
 Find ways to cope with daily stressors
o Maintain a healthy lifestyle
 Exercise to burn off harmful chemicals that build up in the bloodstream
 Eat healthy & incorporate leisure time – come to work rested & relaxed
 5 minute stress buster
o Take 5 minutes to identify and challenge unreasonable ideas that precipitate your
stress. Replace them with positive and realistic ideas.
o Take a 5-minute walk outdoors.
o Take a 5-minute neck and shoulder massage.
o Spend 5 minutes visualizing yourself at your favourite vacation spot.
o Take a 5-minute “nap” at lunch.
o Spend 5 minutes listening to your favourite comedian