Lack of skill to connect with customers hurting businesses in pandemic
By Kalilah Reynolds Media
Executive Chairman of the Think Grow Lead (TGL) Group, Duane Lue-Fong, has asserted that several businesses are now finding it difficult to get sales during the pandemic because staff lack the skill to connect, convince and persuade people the right way.
Speaking on #MoneyMovesJa with Kalilah Reynolds Lue-Fong noted that some businesses do well in sales because of the conditions. However, when those conditions get harsh, he said sales people will find it more difficult to grow a business if they do not possess the right skills to be able to quickly adapt and execute their mandate in a particular way.
He said with the pandemic changing how potential customers are reached, sales teams must now find alternative leads to reel in potential customers or continue to suffer losses.
“There are a couple sales methodologies, one of the newer ones is called social/ virtual selling
which means there’s a new space where your customers are and you have to become adaptable, flexible and knowledgeable how to transition yourself in that space,” he said
“You have to create a new profile, a new script to engage people so it doesn’t feel like you’re scamming them,” he added.
Lue-Fong described sales as the oxygen for businesses, noting that it was a hard task even before the pandemic.
According to him, the best sales persons are introverts as they make better listeners. He said to get the best results, persons engaged in sales must be aware, aggressive in hunting and excellent in closing. He also reasoned that closing cannot be a one time activity as it covers several phases in the sales process.
“Telling is not selling and we have a lot of people that just tell and just talk….now you need the skill to understand when to start to read people; sensory acuity and know when they’re looking left, right, what closing technique to use specifically to have them because your number one goal is the exchange. If you’re not closing you’re wasting time,” he said.
The Executive Chairman said sales can be categorized as an art as much as it can be a science. He said to be successful at it, people must know their numbers.
“If I know I want to buy something and I know what my commission structure is like, I can plan it, I know my number. I know that I need to put 40 people in the pipeline and from that 40 I know I can qualify 30 and if I qualify 30, 10 is going to be closable. Out of the 10 that are closable I’m going to close 5 so I know my closing ratio which means if I need to close 10, 80 needs to be in my pipeline,” he explained.
He said businesses should also strive to make their sales team dynamic as some may be good at hunting while others are good at closing.
Meanwhile Lue-Fong said the TGL school of Sales and Sales Management will begin offering their flagship certified sales course to the first cohort of students on October 12.
The programme was established in partnership with the University Council of the Caribbean (UCC) back in 2019.
He’s encouraging people looking to challenge themselves in the profession to register for the course at tglsalesschool.com or at tglgroup.com. You can also call 876-978-1364 for details.
