Written by: Kevin James Duggan Consulting Group kevinj@dugganconsulting.com

Are you the VP of Sales or do you feel a more appropriate title in this economic climate would be VP of Pressure? Is your reward for making your number just a much higher number next time around only to be achieved with less budget, less resources, and in less time? Can it be done? Yes. Focus must be put into ensuring the measurable effectiveness of your team’s day to day efforts thus allowing sales management to concentrate on higher yield activities. Every year as we devise the new strategic and tactical sales plan, we make a list of observations:

Some positive examples:

 

Same account sales have increased by over 15%.

23% of the sales force have met net new account minimums.

6 out of 10 lost deals have consistent documentation.

Some negative examples:

Approximately 75% of our sales force delivers 25% of our before tax dollars.

With wide variance the average prospect to close ratio is more than 6 to 1.

Overall customer retention ratios are down 8%.

A large number of B2B organizations have similar elements as the above examples. The bottom line is that the sales people are:

•	Hunting sporadically for new business
•	Complacent with some top customers
•	Following an inconsistent prospecting and activity management process
•	Failing to escalate customer issues
•	Following an inconsistent sales process

Over the years I have found seven simple TRUISMS that will build the foundation of a strong sales team.

1.Use dead simple account and activity reporting tools. Don’t expect each activity to require multiple manual entry points, as you may well know the road is littered with unsuccessful CRM implementations. KISS.

2. Use the same consistent process to track sales and account retention activities. Ask yourself the following questions at every stage of the sale as it traverses the pipeline:

3. The most critical responsibilities of your team members are to drive revenue, build relationships and report. These activities should be managed through solid coaching with self-driven expectations. The individual sales plan can include all of the required metrics that allow each rep to take an instant snapshot of where they are, where they want to be and how far they still need to go.

4. Prospecting skills must be kept sharp and in play. No one should only be leveraging existing accounts. Examine how you caught your most profitable customers and replicate the process. Your best segue into new market segments is from the customers you already deal with.

5. Make sure your positive success stories, bonus plans and recognition vehicles actually incentivise wanted behaviour. Get excited about new deals, new customers and exceeded milestones. Recognize exceptional behaviour through widely communicated programs. You want the shipping department to know that Joe made the most profit for the company last month.

6. Any, Each and Every lost customer requires a strict review. The cost of a lost account or sale goes way beyond lost revenue. Ask several open ended questions and drill down to the real issues and demand change. You will find that many customers leave because they felt they were treated with indifference.

7. Make sure that your traditional sales tools (brochures, introductory letters, website, etc.) are all messaging a REAL value proposition – not a value supposition. Inspiration comes from documented stories of how real customers made or saved time and money with your help.

In the final analysis understand what value you and your company can responsibly bring to the table. When we fully understand the customer’s pain – and what challenges they expect down the road, you can provide a solution. If your company cannot help them then find one who can and make the introduction. Actions speak much more loudly than words when proving that you care about a customer.

<< Back to the Newsletter