Yesterday I touched on how small manufacturers who make custom- made parts must be willing to stand their ground when faced with customer change requests, ones that essentially halt production. However, this isn't the possible if the company’s salespeople aren’t technically proficient and able to deal with these requests. In this case, they lack the technical proficiency to properly address these change requests without first consulting engineering or another internal resource. If your company is encountering issues with salespeople who lack the technical skill-set to deal with these issues, then it’s incumbent upon you to resolve this immediately.
Empowering Salespeople
This may seem rather anticlimactic, but all your company has to do in order to empower your salespeople is to train them. Yes, it’s that simple. However, it’s not just to train them as these instances arise, nor does it mean you should rely too heavily on “on-the-job-training” approaches. After all, there is a cost to learning as you go and it often involves an upset customer becoming the training ground for your salespeople. Instead, it’s best to be proactive and develop your company’s own sales training course.
My best small manufacturing customers develop intensive courses designed to empower their salespeople to assume a more proactive role in addressing customer requests. The intention is for them to become the customer’s first and primary resource on all things technical. Once salespeople are seen as knowledgeable in the eyes of customers, they are able to make decisions in the best interest of both the company and the customer. So what should small manufacturers include in their sales training courses?
- Importance of Negotiation
Your salespeople must become familiar with negotiation. However, your company’s negotiation strategies must take into consideration those scenarios and circumstances that are unique to your customers and your company’s market. For instance, if your company manufacturers product that has a longer life, or has better cost-per-use benefits, then your salespeople must be able to use those benefits to their advantage.
To read more about using cost-per-use sales strategies, please read Sales Negotiation Training: Cost-Per-Use Product Sales Strategies
- Understanding Manufacturing Principles
Sales professionals who fully understand the company’s manufacturing approaches are better able to handle customer change requests. Sometimes this means the company must have its salespeople work in manufacturing for a given period of time in order to gain the relevant experience and insight into certain key concepts. In other cases, it may involve an in-depth explanation of the importance of tracking cycle times and productivity rates.
If you’re looking for a simple and straightforward resource on explaining the relationship between cycle times and productivity rates to salespeople, then please read Simplifying Lean Manufacturing: Work Cell Output, Cycle Time Variances & Production Volumes
- Technical Proficiency is Key
Only your company can provide the essential tools your salespeople need to address customer change requests of a technical nature. After all, your company manufacturers the product and is therefore best able to provide all relevant training. In this portion of your company’s course, focus on those issues most common in your market and amongst your customers. Granted, most salespeople aren’t engineers. As such, there is only so much they can answer. However, mitigating the number of times your engineering is called upon as a resource will not only improve their time, but will empower your salespeople as well.
Small manufacturers must have sales professionals who are able to handle the most common customer requests. Unfortunately, finding engineers with the ability and mentality to close sales is often extremely difficult. In this case, there’s typically a trade-off between the strengths of a sales professional and the strengths and aptitude of an engineer.
In addition, most small manufacturers can’t afford someone who has the ability to do both and do them well. Regardless, if your company comes up with its own sales training courses, you can empower your salespeople to handle all forms of customer requests. Doing this will position them as a valuable resource and will ensure your engineering isn't called upon as often.
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