All firms are careful to have elaborate accounting, production and transport systems. And yet there is no system to handle the most important aspect of all – sales.

Nothing moves until a sale is made, remember?

Systems makes work easier. A selling system guarantees any business a steady flow of new and repeat customers. The introduction of a selling system has changed fortunes, literally overnight. Sample these brief case studies;

A struggling monthly magazine was on the verge of shutting down when they took on a consultant who introduced a simple system to sell advertising space (the main source of revenue for the business magazine.) Within 2 months, the magazine was turning a profit and within one year sales increased by over 500%.

In the mid eighties nobody believed it was possible to sell computers in cash-strapped Africa. People not only didn’t know how to use them but even if they did where would they find the cash? The result was that computer dealers sold very few computers, mostly to large companies, at obscenely high profit margins. A new company entered the market with a simple selling system that involved packaging a low cost entry-point computer. They sold so well that they revolutionized the entire market forcing margins to come down dramatically.

A well-established energy firm specializing in solar was doing very well but wanted to do even better. They reluctantly hired a consultant, more out of curiosity because they did not believe what he was saying about selling systems. The consultant quickly discovered that the real “hot button” for solar consumers was being able to run a Television. He thus created a selling system that linked solar to the most popular soap in the country at the time. Sales increased by over 50% in a single month.

This restaurant had good décor and excellent food. But it was located in a good but out-of-the-way street. Too much had already been invested to shift location so they tried out a selling system involving a discount voucher for lunch targeted at office workers. Two days later, the restaurant was so packed that several customers just gave up and went elsewhere.

A struggling newspaper could hardly sell its’ minimal 1,000 copies print run. A selling system was set up to distribute the publication using flyers. Sales shot up to 120,000 copies within a very short time.

The examples are endless. As the world marketplace is continually shrunk by technology and as competition increases, businesses will find it more and more difficult to survive without an effective selling system that clearly lays out a strategy and procedure to attract leads and prospects and to then to turn some of those leads into paying customers.

About The Author

Christopher Kyalo is an international marketing and selling systems consultant with over 20 years experience. He has recently relocated to Dar-es-salamm, Tanzania. He can be reached at ckyalo@yahoo.com