How to ‘Build’ a Sales Rep –Farquharson/Tedesco

Greetings from the 
future. Printing Impressions has asked us here at Robosales Inc. to submit a report on our newest Cyborg offering: The Perfect Sales Rep. That's right; you can now custom-build your own salesperson from the wing tips up or the makeup down, choosing the size, gender and personality that best suits your needs.

We've been perfecting this process during the last few years. And, now that our beta tests have come back overwhelming positive, we're ready to announce the newest additions and options. Imagine, for the first time, you have the ability to customize just the components you are looking for in a sales rep. No more Help Wanted ads. No more Recruiters. Now, you pick from a list of descriptors and options.

Let's listen in to Customer Service and hear an order being placed: "Okay, then, I want to go over your request one more time. We have the age and physical characteristics confirmed. There's just one more thing.

"This year's models can come preloaded with up to five of the most important sales skills that every printing sales rep needs. We've ranked them in order of importance. Would you like to hear them?

Option #5—"Motivation. We have two settings to offer. The first is motivated by Reward. That is, the rep responds positively to the mention of commission checks and sales contests. Number of calls increase and they tend to push a little harder to close a sale, especially as the time period specified ends.

"The other setting is Fear. Here, we upload a program that tells the rep he/she has a mortgage and a family, and that if sales are not made, bad things will happen. This generally gets sales activity going!

"Um, I must warn you, however, that if you choose this option, know that once this rep becomes successful, he/she ignores this program and complacency sets in. In this case, you will need to have your unit serviced so that a different motivator can be introduced, such as a second home or a sports car. But, hey, you could have worse problems, am I right?

Option #4—"Listening Skills. Our studies have found that those people with whom our reps come in contact—those who procure print—have a strong desire to be heard. They abhor interruptions and know-it-all salespeople who blather on and on.

"As such, we offer an option whereby your sales rep exhibits outstanding listening skills. Our new models repeat back what is said, ask for clarification and make certain that they fully understand objections. Oh, and speaking of objections, we've defined that word as 'A request for more information' in the rep's glossary.

"That way, your rep will be sure to hear what the customer says, but provide a response that gives the customer a better understanding of your unique offerings instead of getting defensive or whiny.

Option #3—"Product Knowledge. This one sounds like a no-brainer, but we've found that it's in the top three of what your clients value the most. So, we sat and interviewed pressmen and finishing experts to learn what they know about the print products they produce. We then created an algorithm that takes the customer's needs and processes a series of optional solutions before coming up with the best one for that particular situation.

"I do need to tell you that this option is still in beta. So far, we've not been able to control the reaction of our Cyber Sales Reps when their customers take this perfect solution and go out to bid anyway. There have been incidents of beatings, but, moving on...

Option #2—"Tenacity. This is one of our more popular options. I think you'll agree that tenacity is something that cannot be taught to a human sales rep. It is either there or it isn't.

"You know how they say there is a sales gene? Well, you now have the ability to add additional drive to the rep's hard drive (forgive the pun). The extra tenacity upgrade comes in modules, so buy only what you need. The "Farmer" setting is the cheapest, and the "Hunter" setting the most expensive.

"We've discontinued last year's 'Glengarry Glen Ross' edition after the unfortunate recall that we experienced. It seems that many reps pulled their own plug after failing to make quota. We call it the 'Alec Baldwin Effect.'

Option #1—"Customer Knowledge. Finally, we come to a very important option, and one that I highly recommend you add to your sales rep. When our R&D department studied why some printing salespeople succeed and others fail, 'customer knowledge' kept popping up as a critical component.

"We then interviewed their clients and learned that what a print sales rep knows about a com-
pany—its business issues, challenges and opportunities—made for better voice mail messages, more appointments, improved customer loyalty and actually bypassed any price objections.

"So, we now offer an option that teaches the sales rep how to examine a prospect's Website and look for clues that will help to create an opening line. We also make them experts in using LinkedIn and Giga Alert. Part of this process involves replacing a rep's belief that he/she sells print with one that says he/she solves problems.

"So, we switch the old 'Print Sales Rep' software with one called 'Business Growth Strategist.' That way, the rep starts thinking in terms of 'How will my solutions help the client to grow or to solve a problem?' instead of 'How do I get my foot in the door using price?' Sir, if you spend your money on only one option, this is my recommendation."

So, there you have it. Funny, looking at the list of options, they could all be categorized as Fundamental, don't you think? We here at Robosales Inc. believe that the perfect sales rep is built, not born.

The next time you are looking to add to your sales staff, please consider us. A new sales rep, built to your specifications, can be ready to go in just two weeks.

Say, if you'd like to purchase one that has some, um, 'experience,' we do have a few that have been refurbished. The good news is that they come with a book of business. Frankly, though, whatever they say they can bring to you, believe only half of it. You know how these salespeople are! PI

—Bill Farquharson, T.J. Tedesco

About the Authors
Bill Farquharson is the president of Aspire For (www.AspireFor.com). 
His Sales Challenge can help drive your sales momentum. Contact him at (781) 934-7036 or e-mail bill@aspirefor.com. 
T.J. Tedesco is team leader of Grow Sales, a 15-year-old marketing and PR 
services company. He is author of "Playbook for Selling Success in the Graphic Arts Industry" and five other books. Contact Tedesco at (301) 294-9900 or e-mail tj@growsales.com.