Beveridge: How Salespeople Add Value

John Wolz

Salespeople need to know the value they bring to a company, Dirk Beveridge said at a Specialty Tools & Fasteners Distributors convention workshop on motivating salespeople.
The job of the sales representative is to find the needs of the customer beyond taking orders at the lowest price, Beveridge remarked.
�If we were the lowest-price seller, guess who I wouldn�t need?� the president of Barrington, IL-based Beveridge Inc. asked.
To add value the sales staff must be �customer focused. They must identify the needs from the customer point of view. It is proactive rather than reactive.�
Beveridge identified four types of sales managers. His first sales management profile is the �nonmanager� who �will ruin good salespeople� by allowing standards to decline.
The nonmanager �hides behind the desk� and provides no discipline for nonperforming salespeople.
New salespeople are likely to follow policies for the first three weeks and then start testing the nonmanager, Beveridge observed. �You always have declining standards� with the nonmanager.
The second profile is the policeman, who comes in only when there is a problem to �whack the salesperson with a club.�
�The day management is perceived to be police is the day all communication stops,� Beveridge warned.
The third profile is the Clark Kent. �Whenever there is trouble you rely on Superman to come in,� Beveridge explained.
The Clark Kent manager is generally promoted because of a good sales record.
�If you continue to sell for your people, you stop their growth,� Beveridge warned. �Psychologically they come to the conclusion that they do not need to develop their skills. There is only one way people learn. They learn by doing.�
Beveridge emphasized that the sales representative�s �job is to uncover the needs of the customer, and the sales manager�s job is to uncover the needs of the sales representative.�
The fourth profile is the coach, who spends 60% to 80% of the time in the field coaching and training to develop the sales staff.
�The coach is not doing the job of sales and is not selling,� Beveridge explained. �The coach is making monthly visits for one-on-one training with rookies and veterans.�
Beveridge quoted former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, who said that the �job of a coach is to make people do what they don�t want to do, so they can be what they want to be.�