Revenue Journal®

I just finished interviewing dozens of salespeople for a client as the first step in redesigning the selling section of their reseller portal. The salespeople were very clear about what they wanted: Information they could use to answer the questions customers were asking about the manufacturer's products. They wanted to be able to find this information in a couple of clicks. They wanted to spend their time selling, not searching for the information they needed to sell.

Here's what you need to do to make sure your sales force has the information they need at their fingertips.

1. You should offer an obvious link to "products" right on the home page of your website or portal for sellers. The product page should list all of your products, by category.

2. Each product should have its own page, and each page should use the same format, so salespeople can quickly learn where to find everything.

3. At the top of your product page should be a short (1-paragraph) description of the product that is filled with facts (not "selling" copy). That way, the salesperson can sound smart even as he's viewing your product's selling copy for the first time - when he's on the phone with a new customer. "Ah, yes, the FrigFram6000," he'll say, with confidence. "...600 megabits of servo memory, three parallel processors...[now he's clicking on a hot link to a case study, and sees that another company in the same industry has purchased a FrigFram6000]...and one of your competitors has built their whole assembly line around them."

4. Under the short product description should be hot links to the fundamental information about your products, in a question/answer format. Questions that might be asked during the selling process include:

- Who is most likely to buy this product?
- What problems does this solve?
- What concerns do customers have about this product - and how does this product address them?
- What does the product include?
- What does it do?
- How does it do it?
- What else does it work with?
- How is it installed?
- How is it used?
- How much does it cost?
- Who else bought it, and what did they think of it?
- How does it compare to competitive products?
- How available is it, and when can it be delivered?

In addition to these generic questions, you must also answer specific questions that are asked about your type of product.

5. Included in each answer should be a link to complete details on that subject, provided in the most appropriate form. For example, you might link to a web page with the nitty-gritty technical details, or to the selling tools the salesperson would expect you to provide:

- Technical specifications
- Presentations
- Case studies
- Short testimonials
- White papers
- Brochures
- Datasheets
- Price sheets
- Templates for proposals, direct mail, email, online and print ads, and press releases
- Short and long product descriptions salespeople can use in emails and letters
- Installation and maintenance manuals

Most manufacturers spend too much time focusing on "incentives" for the sales force, while failing to provide the basic tools that salespeople need. Salespeople get frustrated when they can't find these tools. They convey their frustration to the customer ("Their technology is awesome, but they're really hard to do business with.").

If you do the best job of providing the sales tools that resellers need, your selling partners will personally believe that you are the best company in the field, because you have already met their needs. Your sellers will convey that personal conviction and confidence to the customer, especially in those offhand comments that customers use to detect what the salesperson really thinks. Your sellers will assume you will be able to take care of each customer, because you have already taken good care of them.