Sales Territory of The Living Dead!
Have you ever been hired by a major sales organization to “resurrect” a dormant sales territory? If so, were you provided any guidance or recommendations by your management team on how to actually go about tackling such a monumental sales task? If not, how was this territory historically defined? And for what reasons was the territory allowed to go dormant? There are compelling and necessary questions to ask your sales team. But, how does the tenacious salesperson go about actually go about devising a successful plan to awaken those customers from the dead and get those commission dollars floating into your pocket? Fear not, as I have successfully walked the walk in the….”Sales Territory of the Living Dead” and here’s how I did it!
Establish Firm “Minimum” and “Stretch” Goals for Sales Attainment: Possessing a positive mindset is paramount to achieving success in any sales territory, let alone a dormant sales territory. Learn if there are reports that can be accessed to review how the dormant territory had produced for any sales for the past three years. Take an average of sales attained for the past three years and multiply that figure by 70%. That number becomes your “minimum” attainment goal from the dormant territory. Again, take the average of sales attained for the past three years and multiply that figure by 90%. That number becomes your “stretch” attainment goal from the dormant territory.
Gain Management Buy-In and Approval: Before embarking on your sales “resurrection” journey, it’s important to consult with your sales management team and determine if your “minimum” attainment are truly realistic and can be accomplished. Your sales manager can help provide valuable insights into not only recommending if your minimum sales number for the territory can be achieved, but also make suggestions on how to logistically approach the dormant sales territory that can save both time and the company’s investment into reasonable sales efforts.
Literally Map Out A Territory Penetration Approach: When I was working for Panasonic America, I was charged with “resurrecting” the Southeast portion of the United States from a once active sales territory. I took out a geographic map and started “mapping” from the center of my home territory, which was in the state of Georgia. So, I started taking the accounts in Georgia and started actively calling them on the telephone to arrange an onsite appointment with purchasing agents to discuss why they were no longer purchasing the Panasonic ToughBook laptops and mobile devices. For every unanswered or unreturned phone call, I would make it a point to drop to stop by the place of business and wait to speak with the appropriate contacts. Many times, these dormant customers were pleasantly surprised that a Panasonic Account Manager would take the time and trouble to make a personal appearance at their place of business. (For the remaining states within a dormant territory, make an aggressive account penetration plan with the states that had produced the largest frequency amount of sales - and NOT the highest amount of revenue because frequency can equate to larger volume sales for a former dormant territory.
LISTEN and Empathize with Your Sales Prospects: Many times it’s important to actually listen to your prospect about their feelings and their sentiments about your company and your products. In sales, there’s an old adage that everyone has two ears and one mouth and they should all be used in that proportional ratio. So, as I traveled from state to state and site to site to learn why former customers no longer chose to be Panasonic customers, I learned that it wasn’t a matter of Panasonic ToughBooks being the most expensive laptop on the market, but that many healthcare Panasonic customers did not feel as important to Panasonic’s mainline customer vertical of Public Services, such as fire and law enforcement agencies. After listening and learning that the healthcare customers didn’t feel as important to Panasonic’s overall business, it was time to draft a sales strategy to win back the confidence of these important Panasonic customers.
Devise and Implement A Confidence Sales Strategy: After learning the hesitations of former healthcare Panasonic customers, I devised a “confidence in Panasonic” sales strategy to re-engage these former customers into returning back to Panasonic. After a level of reassurance and committing personal customer service, I was able to persuade several customers to place small trial orders of Panasonic Toughbooks to regain their trust and confidence back in Panasonic.
Monitor and Manage Your Commitments To Your Customer: After securing the orders for new Panasonic ToughBooks for my healthcare customers, I set up a logistics and delivery fulfillment system with Panasonic America to ensure that the orders were not only going to be accurate for the customer’s unique specifications that the ToughBooks would be delivered in a timely fashion. It’s important to back up what you are committing to for your customers and that even means putting your personal integrity on the line to regain customer commitment and building unquestioned trust for future orders of Panasonic products.
The Results of Going “The Extra Mile” for Your Customers: As a result of revisiting the dormant sales territory and restoring confidence back into the customer base, I was able to produce and generate $2.2 Million Dollars of new Panasonic ToughBooks within my first 90 days of venturing out into the dormant and untapped sales territory. In spite of sales territories going dormant and becoming a “sales territory of the living dead”, with your renewed efforts, genuinely listening to your sales prospects, and a solid sales strategy that you can personally commit to, you can revitalize that sales territory into a thriving, healthy revenue-generating sales territory.
