Good Morning!
EXCEPTIONAL SALES - WITHOUT MORE REPS,
COST OR RISK
What CEO doesn't want to increase sales? The
challenge isn't usually whether to grow sales
or not, but how to do it without adding
significant cost and/or risk. All too often
growing sales results in making sweeping
changes to staffing, commission plans,
territory alignment and/or processes. CEOs
far too often buy into the need for overhauls
rather than tune-ups - either on their own
initiative or by acceding to the
recommendations of their sales executives.
Long before radical steps are required, some
simple, basic tweaks can make significant
improvement in sales results that can drop
profit to the bottom line.
Most sales improvement programs are like
high-risk heart surgery - when what is really
needed is physical therapy. Continuous small
steps, implemented in the right order, enable
companies to minimize disruption and grow
better - both today and tomorrow.
SALES MYTHS
How often have CEOs heard from their sales
executive and/or sales force that the
following are either current issues, or
required to increase sales:
- We need more sales reps
- We need higher compensation
- 20% of our reps will always generate 80%
of our sales
- We need a new commission plan
- We need more leads
- Great sales reps are unique and cannot be
managed
The four areas that have both the greatest
impact on sales and the ability to be tweaked
without radical or risky steps are:
- Balance - not accepting the 80/20
rule
- Performance to Expectations -
expecting all reps to meet their quota every
month
- Consistency - sales are generated
throughout a period, not bunched at the end
of a month or quarter
- Forecasting - accurate forecasts
are produced for planning by the rest of the
organization
There are three focus areas that when
addressed together can have significant
impact on sales results. Ask yourself the
following questions to assess each area:
Sales Process
- Do you have a defined sales process?
- Does the organization maintain sales
tools for each step of the sales process?
- Do you monitor each step in the sales
process?
- Is the sales process understood by the
organization?
Alignment
- Do your sales reps have a compelling
value proposition and target market?
- Do the executive staff and sales
organization use the same compelling value
proposition and target market?
- Do you monitor selling of your compelling
value proposition to your target market?
- Is your compelling value proposition and
target market understood by the entire
organization?
Accountability
- Are individual sales reps' expectations
defined and communicated?
- Are individual sales reps held
accountable for forecast accuracy?
- Do you monitor individual performance
against defined expectations?
- Is the entire company held accountable
for supporting sales process execution?
WHERE DO YOU START?
If the answers to the above three sets of
questions were not a clear and
resounding "yes", then there are some key
initiatives that you can begin in your
organization:
- Develop and enforce a sales process
- Create clear alignment between company
business objectives and sales department
objectives
- Define clear expectations for each sales
rep, and begin holding them accountable for
performance against those expectations
- Initiate monthly insights from sales
reps
To instill and start to reinforce the kind of
behavior
that leads to increased sales on an ongoing
basis, have your sales reps answer the
following four questions at the beginning of
every month - without fail:
- What was my biggest accomplishment for
the last month?
- How did I do against last month's quota?
- How do I look for meeting this month's
quota?
- What is the most significant hurdle I
have in meeting this month's quota?
Download and read the entire whitepaper on
Exceptional Sales
Exceptional Sales
Best regards,
Jim Alampi
Alampi & Associates LLC
phone:
248.349.6045