Clients come to you because they have problems they need to solve. But for many China sales teams, the only problem is how to transact on this deal right now. That leaves a lot of money on the table, because the client has a whole range of problems, and he is looking for answers - not transactions. How can a salesman be a problem solver? Its time for China sales professionals to start acting like consultants who get paid to improve the overall business of their clients and not just suppliers of parts and services.

Consultative sales takes place when we work with a client to raise his sales or lower his costs. There are basically 2 ways to do this.

1) Become an expert in how our product or service can help his business.
2) Become an expert in the client’s industry.

The main idea behind consultative sales is about providing solutions. If we are just filling orders, we are not consultants. But if we take the time to learn about our client’s problems and use our experience and training to provide a solution that he wouldn’t be able to think of on his own, then we are acting like a consultant.

Another important feature of consultative selling is that it is part of a long term commitment between the buyer and seller. Sometimes we will be able to identify our client’s problem very quickly, and provide a solution right away. Usually, however, consultative selling requires a longer-term relationship and a series of very open, honest discussions about his problems and your solutions.

The basic steps to consultative selling are:

Understand the client’s business challenge.
Develop a value-added solution to his problem using your company’s product or service.
Present you solution in a powerful and pursasive way.

Consultative selling is more difficult and takes longer than regular sales, but it builds long-term, value-added relationships that will be the foundation of your sales career.

Performance first, Recognition after.

It doesn’t seem fair, but that is the rule for success in most businesses today — Chinese, Multinational or JV.

Some young managers purposely “hold back” thinking that they will really shine once their boss gives you the right respect/position/salary/etc.

The problem is, unless you are already giving 110% then you have two problems: You r boss may think you are both incompetent AND lazy. Give your best effort all the time, and then demand to be measured by your successes.

Don’t talk about how hard you work
Don’t talk about how busy you are
Don’t complain about being tired, overworked, or under-appreciated.

Why not: because people really will believe you! And then they will give the important tasks and responsibilities to someone else who seems more willing and able.

As many sales and marketing professionals in China have discovered, online and email marketing can be very effective tools for targeting specific groups of clients and prospects. But like all successful tactics, once they get too popular they begin to lose their effectiveness.

Email and eNewsletter marketers in China feeling the pressure

Email is becoming less and less of a ‘sure thing’ when it comes to getting the message across. It is still a powerful tool, but you can no longer rely on every single message you send getting to your reader’s in-box.

Here are a few things you can do to help raise your delivery rate:

Good subject lines that indicate the business topic of your message.
Follow up with an SMS, IM or phone call.
Use separate email accounts for private correspondence and general marketing.
Don’t be afraid to follow up after a few days with a call or note.
Don’t over-use or “spam” your own clients or prospects.

If you send a lot of email or it makes up a vital part of your business, consider using a commerical mailing service ( Icontact.com is one) or working with an in-house CRM platform, like Salesforce.com . The tracking function alone is worth the price — it can tell you which email addresses are receiving, opening — or getting bounced! Lots of other useful features too.

China sales professionals or those considering getting into sales in China, you should know about the career path, or potential promotions, that exist in the field of sales.

People usually start sales careers for the money. Why not? Everyone wants to get paid, and sales is the fastest route to wealth and success. Unless you own your own business, there are few careers that offer the kind of financial rewards as high-level sales. Furthermore, your sales skills are portable. Sales pros can join new companies or even start their own businesses and put their knowledge and experience to work right away. In the US, it is often said that if you can’t sell, you can’t do business. Most American CEO’s have sales experience.

For Chinese sales professionals who want to move up, the natural option is a career in sales management. Sales management can include a variety of positions:

Senior sales
Sales specialist
Sales supervisors
Sales manager
VP of Sales
VP of Marketing

We are going to use the phrase “sales manager” to discuss the general skills that all of these positions require.

Why sales management?

The first advantage of sales management is that you get more control over what you sell and who you sell to. Sales is very competitive, and not everyone gets access to the best products, the best territory and the best clients. Sales management is about control and power. (Let’s take moment here to be honest with one another. Do you like power? Do you like money? Then admit it, step up to the challenge, and get on with your career.) Sales managers are the super-salesmen. They do the biggest deals, make the most money, and get called into handle the biggest challenges. Sales managers call the shots in the sales department, and play a big role in driving the company towards meeting its goal. It’s a high pressure, high profile position. Everyone is always watching you – and you are the one responsible for the company meeting its sales targets or missing them. It’s not for everyone, but if you have the drive and a strong stomach, you can put your career into over-drive with a move into sales management.

What does a sales manager do?

Sales managers have the same responsibilities as other managers, with one or two differences. Sales managers still have the responsibility of making sales calls, and they have to develop commission plans. Sales managers also tend to do more training than other types of managers. In general, a sales manager’s responsibilities can be classified into these four categories:

Managing. For sales managers, managing may include responsibility for a team of sales representatives, customer service specialists and support personnel.

One of the key issues for a sales manager is how he will STRUCTURE the department. Sales departments tend to be very FLAT – there is one boss and many subordinates at the same position. For many organizations, this is not the optimal structure, and tends to lead to problems as the company grows. Modern sales managers like to delegate more responsibility by appointing sales representatives to different positions and specialties. A good sales manager will organize his department into specialties or territories, and may appoint supervisors, assistant managers, or team leaders.

It is more and more common for sales managers to take responsibility for a dedicated customer service team, though sometimes this is a separate department.

Managing also includes goal-setting and budgeting. A sales manager will work with senior managers to develop sales targets for different products and territories. In many cases, these targets are broken down into specific QUOTAS or requirements for each sales representative and territory. Closely related to goal-setting is the responsibility for budgeting. Sales managers are line managers who must monitor and control their expenses carefully. Many new sales managers are surprised by how much time they have to devote to the “paperwork” of goal-setting and budgeting. They are vital components of the job, however, and cannot be ignored.

Leadership is the next big requirement for a sales manager. This is often very challenging, since good salesmen tend to be very independent and aggressive. Sales managers, however, are responsible for taking a group of independent and aggressive sales people and building them into a cooperative, cohesive team that work together towards a unified goal. Part of leading a team is selecting and hiring new salesmen, and then training them. While sales managers will get help from the HR department and outside training organizations, the responsibility is still his.

One function that many sales managers find particularly unattractive is supervising and disciplining team members. Sales is not about attitude, cooperation or hard work. It is about success. Sales managers have to find a way to make their team members successful. Sometimes they have to fire the unsuccessful ones. There is a rule about sales management that you should learn early. The nicest, most likeable salesman is the one you’ll have to fire. (Why? Because the successful, hot-shot salesmen know that they can be jerks.)

Compensation is a big responsibility and a big challenge. In recent times, management consultants have been studying compensation plans and making them very complex. Why? Because it turns out that traditional compensation or payment plans were not very effective. The name of the game here is to find a way to encourage desired behaviors, while discouraging bad ones. Sales departments use a combination of commission, bonus and base salary to try to get their sales teams to perform optimally. Every situation is different, and it is up to the sales manager to find a way to balance the needs of his sales team with the budget pressures of the company. It tends to be very complicated – and if one side is satisfied then you can count on the other side being outraged. Good luck with this.

Selling. There is some controversy about how much selling a sales manager should do. Let me step in and help out. No one respects a sales manager who doesn’t sell, so you should do it. Now, that doesn’t necessarily involved making cold-calls or working at the cash register. The sales manager should be involved in all key accounts (sometimes referred to as “house accounts”) and be available to handle any problems or difficult situations. In general, a sales manager will open an account or get the relationship with the client started, and then pass it off to a suitable account representative or sales team member. Unless the sales department is very large and bureaucratic, sales managers should be seen working the phones and talking to clients – at least once in a while.

How do you get there?
The first requirement for becoming a sales manager is to be a competent sales representative with a solid track record of closing deals. But that is only the beginning. Remember – sales managers are managers with all the responsibilities and requirements of other senior executives. Potential sales managers are reliable, team-players, and somewhat political. Sales managers must interact with other managers, including marketing, customer service, finance and operations. Arrogant sales reps can be tolerated – arrogant sales managers don’t last long.
If you are interested in a sales management career but don’t have the experience or the opportunity to move into the big chair right away, then try to make an interim move. Ask your boss to be put in charge of house accounts or be made a sales specialist. Remember – salesmen are supposed to be proactive self-starters. In other words – if you want it, ask for it. Don’t wait for someone to notice you. They may not!

Remember – not all salesmen are suitable for management. If it’s your goal, you have to do more than be able to sell. You have to be able to lead and organize a team of salesmen. If you have the skills, then you will be sought-after and well rewarded.

You are asked to make a projection about next quarters’ sales. What do you do? Add 10% to last quarter? Guess?

When your boss wants you to make a prediction about future sales, he is really talking about two concepts that all professional salespeople need to understand: The sales pipeline and conversion rates.

A pipeline is the process by which leads turn into prospects, and prospects into sales. You start out the month with 100 leads. These are people you’ve met, contacts, people you meet at a trade show, callers who have an inquiry – just about anyone who you meet in a business setting. They may be buyers someday – but you haven’t ‘qualified’ them yet. Qualifying is figuring out if they have a need or desire for your offering, the ability to pay and the authority to buy.

Once you have qualified your leads, some will become ‘prospects’. This is the second category in your pipepline. Let’s say that 1 out of 5 leads becomes a prospect. In this case, that will be 20 people. Now you can start to present your offering and try to make sales.

Out of 20 leads, maybe you will make 5 sales. That gives you a closing rate of 25%. Not bad.

That is what is known as the sales pipeline. Your conversion rates are the percentage of people that you can change from being leads into prospects (in this example, 20%) and how many prospects you can convert into sales (25% here).

An experienced salesman is expected to know 2 things about his sales pipeline: 1) His conversion rates, and 2) the timing of conversions. So if you know that it takes 3 weeks to set up a meeting with a lead and determine if he is a serious lead, and another 13 weeks to go through the presentation and negotiation process, than you know a sale takes you about 4 months (16 weeks). So if you have 100 unqualified leads right now, you can expect them to result in 5 sales in 4 months.

100 leads x .20 prospect conversion rate = 20 prospects. Time: 3 weeks.
20 prospects x .25 sales conversion rate = 5 sales. Time 13 weeks.
Total sales = 5 Total time = 16 weeks.

This isn’t really scientific, but it does help you to make more intelligent guesses and predictions. You have to figure out your own conversion rates and timing – and work out your own way of getting leads. But you have to be aware that your sales manager is probably doing the same math!

The next best thing after a raise or a promotion is training. Outside training. If you can do this in another city, that’s the absolute best. But any outside training is great. It looks great on a CV, it makes you visible and who knows — you may even learn something.

But your boss’ boss talks about training in terms of budget. You don’t want to go to a cheaper event — you have to prove that there is some kind of positive return on investment — or ROI. And if the big guys are talking about ROI, then you have to also.

Go to http://www.smartchinaorg.com for more details — and a look at how HR people view ROI and training.

In today’s China, the sales situation is getting more and more competitive. Many companies are trying to expand their business to smaller cities in China, and that may be a great opportunity for you. If you come from a different part of China, then you already have a natural advantage. It also helps you have family or friends in an overlooked province or city. What if you don’t have any connections and are looking to develop a customer base in a new region?

Look at the overlooked
If you are based in a major business center, then start your search for rich markets in cities that other salesmen don’t usually think about. Shanghai salesmen should look beyond Suzhou and Hangzhou – they are already developed markets. But relatively smaller towns in Jiangsu are growing quickly and working hard to attract new businesses. Many cities are building new industrial zones and developments – and all of those new businesses are going to need products and services. I recently attended a conference in Quzhou, and was impressed to see how quickly the infrastructure and facilities were developing. Smart salesmen can “piggy-back” on the hard work of local government’s development departments and build good relationships BEFORE the market gets overcrowded.

Follow the leader
Where are your existing clients or prospects expanding? If you have a relationship with a business in a big city, you are in a great position to leverage that connection. Build on your existing business by aggressively networking within those organizations.

Work the supply chain
Your famous client in Shanghai or Beijing probably has a network of suppliers out in the less developed provinces. You have worked hard to develop good relations with clients in the big city – and it’s easy to ask them about their contacts in the smaller towns. Many businessmen will appreciate the attention and expertise of big-city salesmen as long as you maintain a good attitude and don’t act arrogant or proud.

Bet on the winners
Policy makers and provincial governments are working hard to get business to “go west”, and you shouldn’t bet against them. They are pouring money into infrastructure and industrial development projects all over China. That means new business for them – and can mean more business for you!

Everyone likes to stay close to home – especially when your home is one of China’s exciting big cities. But the renmenbi from Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu spends just as well as the renmenbi from Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. Selling to the provinces doesn’t mean you can’t keep doing deals near the HQ. Just manage your time and effort more efficiently. Managers like to see young salesmen go out and hunt for new business, and will remember the effort when it comes to bonuses and promotions.

I was talking with some Chinese salesmen recently – some of whom have recently been sent to an outside sales training seminar . One of them said that he had a problem with a workshop example. The sales trainer described a situation where a salesman was working with a potential client for 3 months but the client was still unclear about the details of the product in question.

“Impossible” the salesman said. “This is not realistic. If I am talking to a client for 3 months, he must certainly know what I am selling.”

It seems that this should be the case. But it simply isn’t so. The problem isn’t about language or vocabulary — it is about point of view. Many salesmen talk about products from their own point of view – not the point of view of the buyer. The result is that the buyer hears all the wrong facts and never gets a clear idea about why the product will matter to him.

I recently asked a marketing executive at an international sporting goods store what she would tell a retailer who was considering stocking her product.

“We are a large international company.” “So what?” I asked her.
“So we are a famous brand.” So what?
“So we are very well known by everyone.” So what?
“So we have very high standards.” So what?
“So we have very good quality.” So what?
“So our products are well made and well designed.” So what?
“So customers will know our brand and know that our quality is good.” So what?
“So they will buy our product and not the competition.” Thank you.

That’s the answer the retailer cares about. That’s the value for him. More customers will buy this product than another product, so that he can make more profits. In fact, that’s where the conversation should begin.

“You can earn more profits from our product because customers buy more when they recognize our brand name and quality.”

Chinese salespeople will tell me that such a direct approach will not work in China, and maybe they are right. The point, however, is that if the salesman knows that this is the main idea (and not that the company is international or the designer is from Italy or that US basketball players prefer this brand), then he can drive the conversation to this point when the time is right. But if the salesman doesn’t take the time to consider what the client REALLY cares about (profit – not cool sneakers), then he will never make the client understand the real value.

It doesn’t matter how long it takes to reach your destination if you know where you want to go. But no matter how much time you take, you will never get to the right place if you don’t know your destination!

But too often, salesmen talk AROUND the real reason for the client to buy. They feel that the salesmen will make the connection himself. Or that it should be obvious to the client because “everyone knows”. Take my word for it – NOT everyone knows!! So stop and think. Which one of these sounds more persuasive to YOU:

A) “I got my MBA from a famous school in the US and then I worked in Taipei and Hong Kong as an Institutional Stockbroker for 10 years. I have lived in Shanghai for almost 5 years. I have been planning my website since I started working in Mainland China because I felt that Chinese salespeople could benefit from an online training resource that focused on the principles of Value Added Sales…”

Or this:

B) “If you read BestPracticesChina.com , you will be more successful at sales.”

For most people, Choice B is much more persuasive. Choice A gives lots more information…about ME. But Choice B talks about YOU.

Do some counting: Choice A has the words “I” or “MY” 8 times. It has the words “You and “YOUR” 0 times. Choice B says “You” twice, and “I” 0 times.

This, unfortunately, is how many Chinese sales people talk about their product.: “ABC Incorporated is a famous international company. We have a global network… We have international designers….We are the largest in China… We have 15 offices in China….” It all sounds great, but it has nothing to do with ME the client.

Salesmen say that these kinds of statements are useful because they convince the client why their product is high quality, and thus will sell well and can make them more profits. I don’t disagree, but by the time the Chinese salesman gets to that final part about PROFITS the client is thinking about something else. Why not reverse the whole process – start out by talking about profits, and then use all that other stuff about famous brands and international networks to explain HOW the product will make the client more money.

That’s what he cares about, and that’s what he will understand. If you start out talking about how the client will benefit, he will understand what you are selling and will stick around long enough to listen to the details of how, why, and how much. And then, you won’t waste your time – or your client’s.

International companies in Shanghai and the rest of China are growing so fast that sometimes you can’t wait for management to notice you and make plans for your future. In fact, you are best off taking charge of your own career.

One way for young people on China sales and marketing teams to take charge of their jobs is to develop a specialty or valuable expertise.

Specialization #1: Client Orientation. Boost your career by building a client specialty. You will make yourself an expert in handling a specific type of deal, transaction or market – anything that brings you in contact with a specific, identifiable segment of your company’s overall market base. If you sell IT equipment, you could specialize in the “education and training market”, or the travel industry. Insurance and finance people could specialize in products for small and growing companies, or health insurance for families from other parts of China. The best choices are the ones other people don’t necessarily want – at least not now. It’s best if you are already doing business with these people.

Specialization #2: Product or Industry Solutions. Sometimes you’ll want to take a different approach, and become an expert at something that a broad range of your clients can make use of. Stockbrokers who can potentially sell to any investor will differentiate themselves by doing more research on a specific type of company or industry. They guy who can say “I am an expert in the semiconductor design industry in Eastern China” is going to get his call returned from people who are interested in hi-tech investment around Shanghai and Suzhou. Salesmen from almost any industry can also build up an unusual knowledge in some facet of their business.

When I worked for an investment bank in Taipei, I made myself an expert in the regulations for transferring funds between the US and the Taiex stock exchange. Every client of mine knew every single thing there was to know about technology and political risk – but no one knew about the boring details of a complicated regulation. So they would call me.

Create your own promotion:
Once you have a viable specialty in place and a few clients recognize you as a guy who knows something about anything, you’ll want to stake your claim. Young salespeople can suggest to their bosses that they be known as a “sales specialist” or “key accounts manager” – preferably on a new set of business cards. Your manager might object to you engineering your own mini-promotion, or he may be impressed that you are thinking about your future. He won’t be too excited about paying you more – but he might not object so much to a different COMMISSION RATE or PERFORMANCE-LINKED BONUS.

In other words, if you frame the discussion in terms of what HE gets out of it, you can easily negotiate more money for more performance. Remember – managers ALWAYS want performance first – which is ok, as long as you are clear on a % or amount and a TIME period. Keep it light and friendly at first – but end up with a clear agreement that if you can raise sales among a certain type of customer or product by XX%, you will be paid Y% or Z rmb by the end of the quarter. Or something close to that.

The point is, you have to take the initiative and have a plan to get that promotion. If you wait for someone to notice you and plot out your career for you while your company is doubling in size every year, you may be in for a very long wait.

Never tell people that you are a good salesman.

Never tell people that you are a good negotiator.

Never tell people that you are a good judge of character.

Never tell people that you are a good liar.

Never tell people that you are very busy.

What can you do to get a more powerful message across?

Instead of saying you are a good salesman, say that you like helping people or you like to see clients get what they want.

You’re not a good negotiator - you believe that win-win solutions are always possible.

Instead of saying you are a good judge of people, say you can always spot someone’s strengths and positive characteristics.

Always insist that you are a bad liar – even if it isn’t true.

And the only time when you should EVER tell anyone how busy you are is after you have already made time for them in your schedule.