by Rick Baker
On Jul 17, 2012
During a conversation last week, I mentioned I had been studying sales performance at a number of companies.
During the last 15 years, many B2B enterprises have experienced difficulties with sales. For some, the tech meltdown about 12 years ago caused major changes which neutered their sales performance. For most, the worldwide economic meltdown which began about 4 years ago and still lingers on as [at least] the tail of a recession shook sales performance to its core.
It is time for better sales performance, better results in the near-term and growing results as the future unfolds.
All of us who run B2B enterprises should be working on this.
As part of my effort, for small to mid-sized B2B enterprises, I have been considering 4 main questions:
- Does a Sales System - that is - does a process containing specific steps and routes - when followed, lead to sales success?
- If the answer to #1 is 'Yes' then can a wide range of people be trained to follow those steps, or, are only certain types of people able to learn how to succeed?
- If the answer to #1 is 'Yes' then is that the only way to succeed?
- Have the steps/routes changed in response to technological developments commonly known as social media?
My conclusions:
- Yes - more than ever it is essential to have a sales system. Also, more than ever it is important for your sales system to reflect and be a sub-set of your overall business premises, philosophies, vision, values, mission, rules, goals, & measurements. This must be your CEO commitment and part of your company mandate.
- Yes...to a degree...most sales people can improve their performance if they adhere to their company's sales system. However, that Yes only applies if the company's sales system is 'integrated' as introduced in Conclusion #1. Also, it only applies if the sales system receives an ongoing stream or premises/insights to fuel the salespeople's efforts. And, of course, some salespeople will be far better performers than others. Providing food for sales-process thought must be a company mandate.
- Yes - sometimes the sales system is not formalized, housed in a single brain or a few brains...we see that in successful entrepreneurial start-ups. We see that when entrepreneurs lead with revenue. However, soon, as staff are added, the sales system must be formalized and it must be taught. Teaching sales process must be a company mandate.
- Yes - the most important change is the increased difficulty in capturing and keeping clients' attention...at the outset of the sales process and throughout the sales process.