Sales Trends: Finding Sales Reps & Succeeding In Sales
We’ve talked about suppliers or providers of financial services (known in our terminology as a “Principal”) finding sales reps and then hiring the qualified commission-only sales reps for your product in (“How to Find Great Independent Financial Services Reps”). These are great tips for identifying which independent reps should be part of your core commission-only sales staff. To increase sales and keep your team happy, it’s important to make sure your reps are the right ones and attuned with the most effective sales strategies for today’s economy and general business environment. Read our tips below for getting the most out of commission-only sales in the financial services industry.
How to Hire a Sales Rep – Screen Thoroughly
Taking extra time to review applicants can result in a hardier sales staff that you can rely upon to grow your business. Learn more about their past experiences. Former teachers can be great assets as sales staff, for example, in their ability to communicate effectively and sympathetically. Dive deeper into resumes than you would on the first interview and get a good feel for the person. Find out if they’ve ever used your service or a similar service, and what they thought of it at the time. Break the churn and burn rep cycle and find superstars.
Select & Foster Today’s Sales Skills to Keep Up With Sales Trends
As with every other industry, the financial services industry has been deluged with information that puts potential buyers of your service at a higher info level than ever. Prospects will be checking reviews and learning information online before you have a chance to pitch them. This means that people pursuing financial services sales rep jobs need to be more informed than ever about the industry around them – competitors, misinformation, new sales trends, and more. They need to know about your company’s reputation, and be prepared to respond to online reviews of your service.
In fact, reps should welcome this – the high info skeptics are beginning to drive purchasing more than the chummy types. It is up to the rep to help buyers make a decision, and show them the efficiencies in making that purchase with you, rather than simply packaging a product. Sales reps need to engage in a critical process with prospects to determine what unmade needs haven’t been met, what aspects of the business can be connected that are not now, and provide informed support through what has become a longer sales cycle.
What sales trends do you think will affect sales this year? Let us know how you are affected as a sales rep or as a Principal below.