"You Can't Sell What You Don't Know"

This is a response to an article in Phone+ written by Khali Henderson who always great thought provoking articles for channel partners/dealers/agents.

What the greatest sales person I have ever known, Daniel Broussard said long ago and remains true today, "Marketing tells sales people who to call on." If that is not enough, editor-publisher Doug Green of Telecom Reseller said about selling, "You can't sell what you don't know." Khali, as you also know, I have trained more channel partners in selling technical products than anyone, and yet I am always astounded that the carrier/manufacturer often fails to realize that marketing "pulls" the customer toward the company's products and services. This makes the selling process more effective, efficient and with a shorter sales cycle thereby yielding increases revenues and a higher net profit. One last point is many of you will remember Pepsodent - a product that has not been sold for more than thirty years. This illustrates that marketing has life-long corporate benefits long after the sales person is gone. This does not mean you don't need highly trained sales professionals but can hope that before a carrier, master or agent hires a sales person they also have invested in a long-term marketing plan.