ComputAbility - Sales Goals Essay -- essays research papers

ComputAbility, a mail-order company, began in 1982. An authorized reseller of computer software and hardware, ComputAbility offers their clients over 50,000 products. The company has built their reputation on a foundation of competitive prices and quality service. In August of 1997, Creative Computers, also a mail-order company, acquired ComputAbility. The acquisition provided a number of benefits to the company, primarily a larger product selection to offer to customers. Currently, ComputAbility employs 60 + people with plans of adding on 20 to 30 more sales representatives and support staff during the next year. Prior to February of 1998, all of the sales representatives were in the inbound division. This division handles all incoming sales calls. Majorities of these calls are from individual consumers. Creative Computers had started their company the same way, but found the growth potential was in the business sector. In February of 1998, ComputAbility started their corporate sales division, an area already underway at Creative. This division of the company was created to develop relationships with business clients, and become the primary way of increasing company profit. Computability added a dedicated trainer to the staff at the same time the corporate division was started. This individual’s primary responsibilities were to train new hires in the areas of sales, product knowledge, company policies and procedures and computer systems. Although there was a solid training program in place, including ongoing new product training from manufacturers, the company was not profiting at an acceptable rate. ComputAbility experienced a decrease in sales and profits during the first year after the acquisition. The expectation was that the acquisition should have provided the tools necessary to increase sales. So what could be the problem? Although ComputAbility sales representatives now had more tools available to them, something was still missing. Creative Computers decided to test a sales training program for the corporate sales division. There are a number of sales training tools available. Tools range from books and seminars to dedicated sales training company programs. Management decided to work with a company who had developed a sales training program. The initial step was for top management to go through the training to see if it was worth the time and... ...o sales improvement. This relationship will take some time. A longer phone conversation can help to qualify better and build the trust needed to assist in repeated sales volume. The longer you are on the phone, the greater the chance you will have to sell something to the client. The last graph looks at the monthly attendance vs adjusted gross profit and one can see little relationship on a direct basis. It should be noted that if you do not come to work you would not make any calls. However just being at work will not guarantee you success. The success of the program is dependent on the attitude of quality not quantity. In summary, the amount of expertise developed over time and the amount of quality conversations developed over time are the important factors. Sales will not improve when activity is based on factors of quantity only. Harlan, R., Woolfson, Jr., W., (1991). Telesales That Works. Chicago, Il: Probus Publishing Company. Stone, B., (1995). Successful Direct Marketing Methods. Lincolnwood, Il: NTC Business Books. Zajas, J., Church, O., (1997). Applying Telecommunications and Technology from a Global Business Perspective. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, Inc.