Sales Performance: Choosing the Right Tools
Sales Performance: Choosing the Right Tools
Our colleagues all represented major brands with large sales organizations, major or national account teams, and hundreds of years of combined field experience. They included senior executives, sales managers, and individual contributors. But overall, they agreed on four key points, with a bonus point thrown in for good measure:
1. If they build it, they will use it. In other words, if sales people who will use the sales tools have a say in building (or at least selecting) them, those sales people are much more likely to adopt and use the tools.
2. They will use it if they understand it. “Ease of use” seems to mean “rate of adoption” in the sales world. If the tools make sense to sales people, if they produce useful insights and don’t impose a tremendous clerical burden, then sales people will use the tools.
3. If they use it, they’ll be more likely to get desirable results. Once sales people have easy access to tools, methods, training programs, and/or technology that they had a hand in building, they use the tools. Then both sales and management can measure results. And once you measure the results you can manage them pretty well.
4. Once they get results, they want more and better results. So it was worth the effort to get the right technology, training and business processes in place, in the first place.
And the bonus: if you don’t let them build it, and they don’t adopt it, you probably won’t get the results you want.
Ease of Use vs. Rate of Adoption
The first thing we discovered was “ease of use” doesn’t really mean ease of use at all. It means “did you guys come up with something that makes sense to us sales people and makes it easier to do our jobs? Because if you did, we’ll use it. If you didn’t, forget it.”
Of the fourteen people we interviewed, one thing was absolutely consistent, regardless of the size of business, industry sector, experience level of the sales team, or anything else. The sales team simply won’t use any processes, methodologies, training programs or technology tools if they don’t make sense and provide meaningful feedback. Doesn’t matter how elegant, powerful or fashionable they may be.
In our limited sample, those who reported the greatest success and the happiest outcomes said that their technology or processes had been chosen or designed because the sales force had direct input into the choice or design, understood what they were designed to accomplish, or both. Further, several interviewees reported a correlation between the narrowness or specificity of the problem to be addressed, and the success of the tools chosen to address it. In other words, solving a small and easily identifiable problem had more success than sweeping change (throwing out the proverbial infant with the proverbial washing solution.)
Examples:
A high-tech manufacturing firm sought and obtained sales input to design a new CRM solution to replace their outdated investment. Result: a streamlined system with significant increases in adoption followed by improved employee engagement and measurable growth in sales dollars.
At a transportation company, the account managers had a hard time managing their pipeline, so they chose a software package to simplify pipeline management, and do nothing else. Result: high adoption, greater sales control, increases in business and virtually no added cost because there’s no requirement for in-house support of the new tool.
A provider of commodity products wanted to change from a product/channel focus to a market-segment focus. To make it easy for the sales force to adopt the new approach they invested in a formal change-management process that engages the people involved in the change. Result: a sales organization that has renewed motivation and is showing positive early results.
A large communications company maintains its competitive advantage with a consistent focus on customer retention and executive sponsorship based on carefully documented processes and policies. Sales people find it easy to engage a senior executive, even a C-level person, in account campaigns and visits. Result: commanding market share. Sales people in this company really know that “Sales is king.”
On the other hand, those reporting lower rates of success believed that management seemed not to understand or appreciate the realities of the sales mission, function and organization. As a result, sales people were less likely to be included in designing the desired tools and methods, or in identifying the need for change in the first place.
Examples:
An otherwise successful company provided all kinds of useful tools to its sales force, with high levels of adoption and success, but management decided not to address the need for mid-tier sales support. So those senior sales people must do their own “administrivia” at the cost of hours of productive face-time with customers.
One large industrial firm has spent years changing the business model from product focus to industry focus to account focus and back again, producing the response of “duck, here comes another initiative!” from sales people. Sales reps distrust management and are reluctant to adopt the next iteration. It’s tough for this company to improve results in a systematic fashion.
A company whose senior management team are technical experts decided to set up a national account team, but failed to provide effective sales-force automation or rational sales processes. The national account team now has to spend a considerable amount of its time making the internal sale, again cutting into productive face-time with customers and prospects.
Sales Performance and the Right Tools
So what’s the relationship between sales performance and the right tools? The answer lies not in the tools themselves, but in the strategies by which those tools are selected, designed and deployed.
When sales people are equipped with the right tools, they have two advantages. First, the right tools capture pertinent information and data that helps sales people to make consistently good decisions, contributing to predictable and consistent sales results. Second, and even more important, good tools, methods, and processes make the sales job less time-consuming. And that means that sales people can devote MORE time to cultivating relationships, selecting the right accounts, offering the right solutions, and winning the right deals. And that’s the time that translates directly into increased sales revenue and profit, and decreased cost of sales.
Sales Performance Choosing the Right Tools - To learn more about this author, visit Ellen Bristol's Website.
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Recently we interviewed fourteen sales executives to learn what they think really contributes to improved sales performance. We asked them the following question: what is the correlation between the tools they provide to their sales teams, and the results those sales teams achieve? Our colleagues told us that it’s the way management goes about selecting, designing, and implementing sales practices, processes and software applications that makes the difference in sales performance, not the tools themselves.
Our colleagues all represented major brands with large sales organizations, major or national account teams, and hundreds of years of combined field experience. They included senior executives, sales managers, and individual contributors. But overall, they agreed on four key points, with a bonus point thrown in for good measure:
1. If they build it, they will use it. In other words, if sales people who will use the sales tools have a say in building (or at least selecting) them, those sales people are much more likely to adopt and use the tools.
2. They will use it if they understand it. “Ease of use” seems to mean “rate of adoption” in the sales world. If the tools make sense to sales people, if they produce useful insights and don’t impose a tremendous clerical burden, then sales people will use the tools.
3. If they use it, they’ll be more likely to get desirable results. Once sales people have easy access to tools, methods, training programs, and/or technology that they had a hand in building, they use the tools. Then both sales and management can measure results. And once you measure the results you can manage them pretty well.
4. Once they get results, they want more and better results. So it was worth the effort to get the right technology, training and business processes in place, in the first place.
And the bonus: if you don’t let them build it, and they don’t adopt it, you probably won’t get the results you want.
Ease of Use vs. Rate of Adoption
The first thing we discovered was “ease of use” doesn’t really mean ease of use at all. It means “did you guys come up with something that makes sense to us sales people and makes it easier to do our jobs? Because if you did, we’ll use it. If you didn’t, forget it.”
Of the fourteen people we interviewed, one thing was absolutely consistent, regardless of the size of business, industry sector, experience level of the sales team, or anything else. The sales team simply won’t use any processes, methodologies, training programs or technology tools if they don’t make sense and provide meaningful feedback. Doesn’t matter how elegant, powerful or fashionable they may be.
In our limited sample, those who reported the greatest success and the happiest outcomes said that their technology or processes had been chosen or designed because the sales force had direct input into the choice or design, understood what they were designed to accomplish, or both. Further, several interviewees reported a correlation between the narrowness or specificity of the problem to be addressed, and the success of the tools chosen to address it. In other words, solving a small and easily identifiable problem had more success than sweeping change (throwing out the proverbial infant with the proverbial washing solution.)
Examples:
A high-tech manufacturing firm sought and obtained sales input to design a new CRM solution to replace their outdated investment. Result: a streamlined system with significant increases in adoption followed by improved employee engagement and measurable growth in sales dollars.
At a transportation company, the account managers had a hard time managing their pipeline, so they chose a software package to simplify pipeline management, and do nothing else. Result: high adoption, greater sales control, increases in business and virtually no added cost because there’s no requirement for in-house support of the new tool.
A provider of commodity products wanted to change from a product/channel focus to a market-segment focus. To make it easy for the sales force to adopt the new approach they invested in a formal change-management process that engages the people involved in the change. Result: a sales organization that has renewed motivation and is showing positive early results.
A large communications company maintains its competitive advantage with a consistent focus on customer retention and executive sponsorship based on carefully documented processes and policies. Sales people find it easy to engage a senior executive, even a C-level person, in account campaigns and visits. Result: commanding market share. Sales people in this company really know that “Sales is king.”
On the other hand, those reporting lower rates of success believed that management seemed not to understand or appreciate the realities of the sales mission, function and organization. As a result, sales people were less likely to be included in designing the desired tools and methods, or in identifying the need for change in the first place.
Examples:
An otherwise successful company provided all kinds of useful tools to its sales force, with high levels of adoption and success, but management decided not to address the need for mid-tier sales support. So those senior sales people must do their own “administrivia” at the cost of hours of productive face-time with customers.
One large industrial firm has spent years changing the business model from product focus to industry focus to account focus and back again, producing the response of “duck, here comes another initiative!” from sales people. Sales reps distrust management and are reluctant to adopt the next iteration. It’s tough for this company to improve results in a systematic fashion.
A company whose senior management team are technical experts decided to set up a national account team, but failed to provide effective sales-force automation or rational sales processes. The national account team now has to spend a considerable amount of its time making the internal sale, again cutting into productive face-time with customers and prospects.
Sales Performance and the Right Tools
So what’s the relationship between sales performance and the right tools? The answer lies not in the tools themselves, but in the strategies by which those tools are selected, designed and deployed.
When sales people are equipped with the right tools, they have two advantages. First, the right tools capture pertinent information and data that helps sales people to make consistently good decisions, contributing to predictable and consistent sales results. Second, and even more important, good tools, methods, and processes make the sales job less time-consuming. And that means that sales people can devote MORE time to cultivating relationships, selecting the right accounts, offering the right solutions, and winning the right deals. And that’s the time that translates directly into increased sales revenue and profit, and decreased cost of sales.
Sales Performance Choosing the Right Tools - To learn more about this author, visit Ellen Bristol's Website.
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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I've created this section on my site to share some of the incredible tools that I've used to build my business. I hope you too can benefit from them and look forward to hearing your feedback on the reviews! - Visit Evan Carmichael's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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