| SALES PROCESS TOOLS |
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THE POWER OF PROCESS
The power of Process to create consistency, predictability and control has long been recognized
on the operations side of business. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the same is true for Sales
and Marketing. It's our experience that every "Sales Star" we've ever encountered has discovered a
very specific "Process" that works for them, and, whether consciously or unconsciously, religiously
follows that process every day.
LEVERAGE THE POWER
Every Sales organization has a "distribution of success", with a few "Stars" at the top, a large
number in the middle "Average" category and a few sorry soles at the bottom. The conventional
wisdom in Sales Management used to be to spend most of your time with your "Stars:" The reality,
however, is that your "Stars" are already...your "Stars". They're pretty much at the top of their game
and looking for dimensional improvement isn't very realistic. The REAL leverage is in working with
the "Average" performers, where a relatively small improvement by a few can have a inordinate
effect on total increased revenue. Use your own numbers and calculate how much your sales
revenue would increase with a 10% increase in closed business by 1/3 or 1/2 of your "Average"
sales people.
HOW PROCESS HELPS
It may not be realistic to expect to make "Stars" out of every "Average" performer. However, both our
research and our experience shows that by identifying the "What Works" in the "Star's Sales
Process and consciously sharing and transferring those Best Practices can create both significant
and (more meaningfully) sustainable increases in sales success.
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT TOOLS
The following outlines our approach For Sales Process Development and Refinement
- Identify Best Present Practice ("Star" Process)
- Match Against Best Practice Models
- Develop Consensus, Standardize
- Build Business Rules
- Train & Implement
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF SALES MANAGEMENT:
Bottom line, No Reinforcement and Coaching...No Gain
"Stars" tend to need less Sales Management attention, largely due to one of the reasons that they
ARE "Stars"...they already have an inherent disciplined approach to 'practicing' their trade. This is,
of course, not to say that they don't need attention...just a different kind of attention. Even Tiger
Woods knows he needs a coach. However to achieve sustainable gains from the "Average"
requires its own disciplined approach. Without the coaching and reinforcement of a well designed
Sales Management Process, there's little chance that your effort in finding out "What Works" will
pay off.
Here, our approach is similar, but includes the identification and development of the Key Process
Indicators and Metrics required to monitor progress and point to where help is needed. In addition
- Identify Best Present Practice
- Match Against Best Practice Models
- Develop Consensus, Standardize
- Build Business Rules
- Train & Implement
SALES MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYTICS
In addition there are a series of analytics that can be developed as part of the Sales Management
Review Process to ensure the quantification of sales resources and the alignment of the staff
strengths and propensities, to job roles, workloads and territory definition.
The kinds of question that these analytics address include:
SALES MANAGEMENT KEY PROCESS INDICATORS & METRICS
Key process Indicators and Business Metrics are the "Dials" required to monitor, inspect and
make adjustments as business conditions and performance changes. These "KPI's" are
developed or refined where appropriate to ensure transparency and the ability to measure against
benchmarks and monitor progress against goals. Pipeline analytics and Activity volume and mix
are a key part of measuring the conversion of Activity to Results, perhaps the most meaningful
gauge of the true Productivity of Sales Time.
The power of Process to create consistency, predictability and control has long been recognized
on the operations side of business. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the same is true for Sales
and Marketing. It's our experience that every "Sales Star" we've ever encountered has discovered a
very specific "Process" that works for them, and, whether consciously or unconsciously, religiously
follows that process every day.
LEVERAGE THE POWER
Every Sales organization has a "distribution of success", with a few "Stars" at the top, a large
number in the middle "Average" category and a few sorry soles at the bottom. The conventional
wisdom in Sales Management used to be to spend most of your time with your "Stars:" The reality,
however, is that your "Stars" are already...your "Stars". They're pretty much at the top of their game
and looking for dimensional improvement isn't very realistic. The REAL leverage is in working with
the "Average" performers, where a relatively small improvement by a few can have a inordinate
effect on total increased revenue. Use your own numbers and calculate how much your sales
revenue would increase with a 10% increase in closed business by 1/3 or 1/2 of your "Average"
sales people.
HOW PROCESS HELPS
It may not be realistic to expect to make "Stars" out of every "Average" performer. However, both our
research and our experience shows that by identifying the "What Works" in the "Star's Sales
Process and consciously sharing and transferring those Best Practices can create both significant
and (more meaningfully) sustainable increases in sales success.
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT TOOLS
The following outlines our approach For Sales Process Development and Refinement
- SALES PROCESS REFINEMENT & DEVELOPMENT
- The Process Steps: The Sales Process Review
- Identify Best Present Practice ("Star" Process)
- Match Against Best Practice Models
- Develop Consensus, Standardize
- Build Business Rules
- Train & Implement
- The Benefits:
- - Gets Everybody on the Same Page
- Improves Individual Effectiveness
- Improves Consistency & Predictability
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF SALES MANAGEMENT:
Bottom line, No Reinforcement and Coaching...No Gain
"Stars" tend to need less Sales Management attention, largely due to one of the reasons that they
ARE "Stars"...they already have an inherent disciplined approach to 'practicing' their trade. This is,
of course, not to say that they don't need attention...just a different kind of attention. Even Tiger
Woods knows he needs a coach. However to achieve sustainable gains from the "Average"
requires its own disciplined approach. Without the coaching and reinforcement of a well designed
Sales Management Process, there's little chance that your effort in finding out "What Works" will
pay off.
Here, our approach is similar, but includes the identification and development of the Key Process
Indicators and Metrics required to monitor progress and point to where help is needed. In addition
- SALES MANAGEMENT PROCESS REFINEMENT
- The Process Steps: The Sales Management Review
- Identify Best Present Practice
- Match Against Best Practice Models
- Develop Consensus, Standardize
- Build Business Rules
- Train & Implement
SALES MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYTICS
In addition there are a series of analytics that can be developed as part of the Sales Management
Review Process to ensure the quantification of sales resources and the alignment of the staff
strengths and propensities, to job roles, workloads and territory definition.
- Resource Measurement & Allocation - Quantifying & Evaluating
- Sales Capacity Analysis
- Staff Competency & Propensity Analysis
- Customer Base Analysis
- Market Fertility Analysis
- Territory and Workload Analysis
- Balancing Roles & Workloads with Strengths & Propensities
The kinds of question that these analytics address include:
- What's the real potential in my Market?
- What's my Sales Capacity? How much of the market can I cover today?
- How many people do I need to cover the whole market effectively?
- What's the likely return on adding one new sales person?
- How many can I add until I have a diminishing return?
- Are my territories balanced?
- Have I got the right people in the right roles?
- (Relationship Management vs. New Prospect Development)
- Who needs what kind of training?
- Who needs what kind of coaching?
SALES MANAGEMENT KEY PROCESS INDICATORS & METRICS
Key process Indicators and Business Metrics are the "Dials" required to monitor, inspect and
make adjustments as business conditions and performance changes. These "KPI's" are
developed or refined where appropriate to ensure transparency and the ability to measure against
benchmarks and monitor progress against goals. Pipeline analytics and Activity volume and mix
are a key part of measuring the conversion of Activity to Results, perhaps the most meaningful
gauge of the true Productivity of Sales Time.
- The Benefits:
- - Improved Efficiency - Better Resource Allocation
- Improved Metrics - Better Key Indicators
- Improved Consistency across the company
- Improved Measurement & Coaching
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| DEVELOPING PROCESS EXCELLENCE |
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