Sales Blog: Become the Chef of Your Organization-Create a Cookbook for Successful Selling

You would never imagine beginning to cook a new dish without first looking at a cookbook or recipe. The same goes for selling. You should never imagine sending a sales professional to sell a product without first defining the “recipe” or strategy that meets your businesses` ultimate sales goals. The salespersons cookbook should be a defined recipe of how to reach  selling goals and the businesses larger objectives. 

Without a roadmap or foundation, how will your sales force get to where you need them to be? By creating a few simple steps or a recipe to success, you can help your sales professionals create personal  cookbooks based on your product or service.

1. Define your ratios-The first step in creating a selling cookbook or strategy is outlining what actions lead to results. This can be achieved by reviewing the ratio of first time, unique appointments being made after an action is complete. For example, your leading indicator may be cold calls, and of the 100 cold calls your sales team makes, 10 to 20 percent answer the phone. Out of that 10 to 20 percent, your team is able to set one to two appointment with first time prospects. By defining these rations, your sales people know the amount of calls necessary to reach their selling goal. 
2. Create reachable goals- After determining your ratios, you can begin to set S-M-A-R-T goals for your team. And no, they are not smart goals, but goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and have a set period of Time. These S-M-A-R-T goals should be behaviors your sales team can  focus on in order to reach your business` ultimate sales goal. An example of a S-M-A-R-T goals would be holding your sales team accountable to make 160 cold calls a week. This goal is specific to the action you will take (cold calling), has a measurable number (160 calls), is attainable and realistic depending on your product or service, the period of time in which you will be measured (1 week).
• Whenever determining your teams activities and behaviors in order to reach your business` final sales goal, you should plan to participate at least 3 to 4 leading indicators, such as cold calls, networking, trade shows, etc. By balancing the 3 to 4 leading indicators, your team is more likely to reach the final objective then they would be with one focused activity such as primarily cold calling. 
3. Reflect-The final step in creating your business` recipe for success is to reflect upon the actions your sales force takes every day. By looking at the behaviors and goals that have been set and comparing your sales professionals current state of mind and selling with where they would like to be, you can adjust your team`s attitudes and habits to reflect your desired results. By reflecting upon what your team has learned and how these lessons can be applied to everyday techniques and behaviors, you can increase your sales team`s  success.

By using these steps to formulate a sales recipe tailored to your business, you can increase the likelihood that your sales team will reach monthly objectives and quotas, leaving not only a happy "chef" but a happy salesperson.