The days of selling to a buyer alone are slowing dying. Companies sell products that have a wide effect on the client and require approval from many levels. Success in complex sales is the result of clear planning and effective execution. This requires careful coordination of many resources on both the selling and client side throughout the sales process. What is team-selling? Team-selling is using the resources of a company to sell an account using all relevant decision makers. The goal of team-selling is establishing long, lasting profitable relationships between people, product,and companies. Team-selling provides an ideal process for account managers and specialists to work together to serve a client. "The place and time to use team-selling is when customer solutions is more important than price" (Dalrymple et al 2001).
The Case Study
Imaginative Staffing Inc. is a temporary services firm, formed in 1990. With $17 million in revenue; the CEO Angie Roberts is unhappy concerning the length of time to close a sale once a prospect has been identified.
Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken", 1874 - 1963
English: Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Manag...
US Navy 080716-1786N-N-016 Rear Adm. Raymond Berub...Roberts has found the average length of time to close a sale to a major customer is six months. Roberts finds a six month time frame unacceptable. After meeting a marketing professor at a party where the conversation involved team-selling, Roberts is sure team-selling is just what Imaginative Staffing needs; she put it on the agenda of a meeting with the executive committee (Spiro et al 2003).
Imaginative Staffing is new to the temporary services market and relatively unknown. Roberts believe the salespeople need to get the potential customer comfortable with Imaginative Staffing sooner the customer would come to know and trust Imaginative Staffing. Susan Borland is the sales director and Roberts asked Susan to set up a plan for training and creating a sales team. Susan agrees with Roberts...