Sales Autopsy

T h e C h i e f S a l e s O f f i c e r

Your sales organization may need a
Sales Autopsy

Sales Professionals!

If you have ever watched a police drama series on television then you probably remember a scene where the Medical Examiner told the detectives something unexpected about the victim, something that came up during an autopsy.

Every organization needs an occasional sales autopsy - a time to fully examine what is killing sales and to arrest the culprit. Read on -

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The Sales Autopsy

An unpleasant, often smelly process that can rejuvenate your sales like nothing else can

There has been an increase in the number of organizations in need of a sales autopsy. This little-used tool is becoming increasingly popular and useful for three main reasons:

Changes in technology
Changes in processes
Changes in the economy - especially certain sectors

What is a Sales Autopsy?

Like the autopsies depicted on television, a sales autopsy is used to determine what really killed the sales in an organization. The difference is, of course, that following a sales autopsy a new, regenerated sales organization can emerge.

On television, the Medical Examiner tells the detectives that what they thoughts was an accidental death was actually a murder. "The victim didn't drown," they will say, "there was no water in their lungs. They were dead before entering the water."

In a sales autopsy, we determine what really killed the selling and it is rarely what we suspected. After all, while the sales were still alive - or at least on life support - we addressed whatever we thought was wrong. It was not until the sales finally died that we accepted the fact that we did not know what the real problem was.

If your sales are declining and everything you have tried so far has not helped, consider a sales autopsy.

This is best done with the help of a professional. However, if you want to do this yourself, here are the steps.

Consider your sales process to be dead and no longer viable. This is more difficult than you may think. It's the first major obstacle I face when conducting sales autopsies for my clients. There is an underlying assumptions that the sales process must be okay - after all, it brought us this far. The truth is that your sales process actually died earlier and went unrecognized. Momentum can carry dead sales for a while.
Deeply examine all aspects of your sales. When you find what you think the problem may have been, examine some more. Make sure you have carefully analyzed every aspect of sales: target market, selling propositions, feature-benefit analyses, differentiation, presentation strategies, compensation, incentives, hiring, leaderships, etc.
Reassemble the viable parts; replace the others. Like Dr. Frankenstein, keep those parts of your sales organization that are functioning and then go and find replacements for the other parts. Make sure all parts are viable for the future, not just the present.

Most Common Causes

The most common causes of sales death in my experience are:

Lack of sales development - salespeople were not given ongoing product, industry and soft skills training. Medical equivalent: people not being trained and encouraged to exercise their bodies more to stay in shape.
Ladder against the wrong wall - sales were being targeted to the wrong accounts or even the wrong markets. Medical equivalent: eating the wrong foods.
Sabotage (usually inadvertent) - due to lack of diligent sales management; salespeople "doing their own thing", ignoring new corporate directives. Medical equivalent: accidental self-inflicted wound. (Rednecks usually precede this with, "Hey, watch this!")
Rewarding erroneous behavior - not tying compensation and incentive plans to the right activities. Medical equivalent: drug abuse.

There are other rare causes for sales death that are harder to diagnose. For instance, I saw an organization last year that had no respect for sales. Sales had not earned respect (just the opposite, in fact) and leadership had never had a reason to think of sales as something other than a necessary evil. It took me several months to realize what the real problem was in that organization. Then, earlier this year, I saw another similar situation. Even though I was able to see it, I could not help them because, as it turns out, the CEO does not respect any aspect of the corporation other than technology and manufacturing. See the previous issues about products selling themselves and you'll understand the flaw in this man's thinking.

In a nutshell, Kaizen for Sales takes a sales organization from good to great; a Sales Autopsy brings a sales team from dead or life-support to good.

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What's the Difference?

What is the difference in a sales autopsy and a call critique or Kaizen for Sales?

Call Critique

A call critique, call review or "post mortem" should be conducted after every sales call. Every sales call can be improved - there are no perfect sales calls. Even when the sale is made, a critique will help uncover ways to replicate the success and even ways it could have been done better.

By contrast, a sales autopsy looks at the entire sales process. Each individual sales call may be a part of the autopsy but the autopsy process involves examining every aspect of sales in your organization, not just those that impacted one opportunity.

Kaizen for Sales

Kaizen for Sales is a sophisticated process used to take a sales organization from good to great. A sales autopsy is used to take a sales team from failing to good or from life-support to active. Kaizen is usually designed to "fine tune the familiar" where a sales autopsy is used to "redefine the process".

Some requests for Sales Kaizen events we have received were situations where an autopsy was actually needed. There was no need in improving the current sales strategies, processes and techniques since they would not be as effective under any circumstances as a new approach.

For more clarity, ask your sales consultant.

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