FM x CC x M = Great Selling. This equation is at the heart of our philosophy. It's actually quite simple - we believe that to achieve consistently high growth then three things need to be in place
FM = Functional Mastery
In other words our frontline staff, in particular our sales people, need to know their stuff. They need knowledge - of our company, our products, our USP, the market, the competition and above all knowledge of the customer. Without such knowledge, they lack credibility - and if a customer thinks you don't know what you are talking about and don't understand their situation, then you have no chance of getting that customer to buy.
CC = Customer Connectivity
This is the process of finding, winning and keeping customers. Every high growth and successful business has a well-structured process for creating alignment with what they are selling with what the buyer wants. Viewing things from the customer’s world and their needs underpin the process. Its not about you, its about them – the customer!
Effective customer connectivity lies at the heart of great selling. Remember if you are not connecting with customers and sales are not growing, it’s down to one of four reasons:
• They don’t want your products and services – no alignment
• Markets and customers needs are changing
• You are not maximising lifetime value from existing customers (6 out of 7 companies don’t!)
• You are doing wrong! Reflect on your customer road map!
M = Momentum
If your success is to be sustained then knowledge and connectivity are not enough. You need to build and maintain a head of steam - to keep going, keep looking for new customers, keep exploring new markets and above all keep "recharging your batteries". It's easy for a company, and in particular for its sales team to become stale. To lose that hunger that they had in the early days. The ability to motivate yourself and others is therefore vital - setting personal goals is often as important as setting company goals. Creating a motivating environment within your business will enable you to stay hungry to ensure that your sales people continue to display the same urgency and passion as they did when you were in those early and scary days.
So FM x CC x M = what exactly? In our experience it equals success. Note if any of the three components is zero then the whole equation adds up to zero. In other words your growth will quickly dry up, success won't be sustained, younger and hungrier rivals will overtake you. Work continuously on all three elements of the equation if you want to sustain your growth and stay a dynamic business.