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Guest post by: Peter French Become an Author

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Implementation of a formal sales process - then coaching compliance to the process - will drive substantial;
1. Control of individuals and their sales projects,
2. Timing and predictability of these sales projects,
3. Optimal use of labour and therefore lowering cost-of-sales,
4. Huge productivity gains through less wheel-spinning from scarce technical resources,
5. Discerning engagement decisions drives higher hit-rates,
A key success factor in implementation is the effort put in by the supervisor and front-line sales managers on the sales opportunity. A process by definition is well defined and therefore can be delivered in a repetitive nature. Tools and outcomes used within the process drive certainty with the individual salespeople who understand what is expected of them. Success using the process by closing deals, supports continued use and exploitation. Being defined, allows managers to evaluate the process dispassionately thereby ensuring that published pipelines close when they should. Feed-back to the salesperson creates and environment where continued learning and process improvement can take place. In short; limit dependence on the black art of selling and enhance your practitioners’ delivery through the application of a defined, manageable process.
Distribution of skills
All teams have some distribution of skills. Few teams make 100%+ of their target year on year. By definition people are different and you can see that in following salespeople to their calls. There is no one way to be successful. If there was, it would have been defined, patented and sold in little bottles! In the following Figure 1, we show how a sales team could be defined and distributed in the natural bell curve.
Figure 1 - Distribution of SKILLS
Studies have shown, that 70% of your team falls within the majority while 10% and 20% constitute the under and over performers. Within the majority, there is a similar distribution where 40% make up the centre ground and of the “rest”, 10% could slide into obscurity while 20% have a chance of making the leap into the consistently good performers.
Given that you accept that there is some kind of distribution in your team, making a training decision must take into account that the individuals are different and that a “blanket” intervention may not deliver the desired effects.
Acceptance by the team of a training intervention
In Figure 2 we define the team again, using the natural distribution of a bell curve. Given that you may select a “generic” sales training initiative, it is valid to assume that some of your people will benefit more than others. We have got to qualify here, that we are talking about sales teams that are populated by salespeople that have been hired with some skills. They “believe” they are salespeople and have some kind of track record. These arguments are not aimed at greenhorns who have never sold before. Given these criteria, the team members have different emotions in accepting the management decision (normally forced on the “underperforming” team) to undertake a training intervention.
Those with low skills will welcome the opportunity to learn their chosen profession. Those who have been around the block – have “been there and got the T shirt” normally have a low acceptance – they can even become disruptive of the process and may become a reason why training fails. The majority – ambivalent! Should training be effective in the team, the distribution shown in Figure 2 comes from a study to determine by what percentage we could expect to increase the sales effectiveness of the individuals falling within these sectors. Underperformers require a special decision making. If they have the potential, then a doubling of their performance is quite within probability (100%). Alternatively, as Jack Walsh was want to do – remove them and replace them with individuals that can deliver – even in 6 months - the yearly performance you’re expecting to get from this sector. “Conventional wisdom” dictates that managers concentrate on the top performers (10%) and apply their support and mentoring here. These people are also mostly the noisy “squeaky wheel” and demand support. This segment is normally where managers come from – having been rewarded with promotion through high consistent performance. He/she relates to this segment! However, the greatest return on investment for managers’ time is to concentrate on the majority and within that group those that can become over performers.
Given that these observations make sense and that they can be discerned in your team to a greater or lesser extent, how do we go about placing the emphasis on the correct segment while training everyone in the team to lift their performance?
Tradition Sales Training
Most lecture and plenary (tell, show and let try) training will cover all members of the team and have different results depending on where they are in their sales character evolution. We argue that it is the duty of the sales manager/supervisor, to be so close to each individual that their specific needs can be determined. Once identified, the enterprise should design a specific intervention for that individual which delivers a focused training on their SKILLS shortcomings. Thus, letter writing, or presentation skills or any of the “soft skills” should be trained at the individual level. We further argue, that for the team to perform two distinct things have to occur;
ONE. The sales manager must spend time with each individual coaching them to perform to their best ability. Coaching is not remedial. It is not aimed at fixing broken salespeople.
It is aimed at getting the individual to identify areas of their approach that are less than optimal. To get them to realise through their own effort that these areas will improve their performance, and finally, to get them to internalise change through a realisation that they want to succeed. Many studies have shown that teams that have received this time from their managers have shown phenomenal improvements in performance.
Coupled with a renewed will to work, the 9-5 syndrome is reduced and individuals have a heightened sense of purpose, personal worth and belonging. Unfortunately, as shown in Figure 3 - Blanket coverage? the sales manager comes from this segment of the over-performers. We have observed that they spend their time trying to “close” their teams’ opportunities through the application of their own presence and skill. They run themselves ragged and never have any time for strategic thinking or “quality” time. It is observed then, that if a training blanket is thrown over the team which consists of either trivial training of a basic level, or advanced training, the chances that the team will benefit is moot.
TWO. A training intervention which would benefit ALL members of the team equally must be sought. We argue that such an offering must produce a common language and method of operation. In short an Ideal Sales Process. Such a process defines the things we do “in this team” that is necessary for us to be successful with our products in our chosen customers and market. Such a process, once defined, can be observed dispassionately by anyone. Any level of salesperson can implement such a methodology. Salespeople should use the process to manage themselves and their resources in a sales opportunity. Sales Managers must measure the adherence to the process. Ideally, all members of the sales team should have KPI’s attached to their performance in implementing the process
The sales process
All activities have a beginning and an end. Most then can be defined like a “project” is defined. As can be seen in Figure 4 below, a Project Definition Workshop (PDW) through the 5 stages of running a sales opportunity (based on Winning Complex Sales – WCS) and lastly, a Project Close Workshop (PCW) where the customer signs off that we have concluded the project successfully. The sales professional has to Find, Qualify and Close opportunities. When we define this as a process, the individual knows what to do next - can see for them selves that the “work” is not completed and managers can micro-manage the activity.
Support management can make discerning decisions on implementing their scarce resources to sales projects that have been correctly and repeatedly “qualified” to a Project Qualification Profile” (PQP) standard. The common language of the project is used by the project leader (the salesperson mostly) to align virtual resources behind their vision for the project. This dives the most important feature of this training. The unlocking of a team based energy enabled through a common vision and alignment.
Conclusion
We have found that implementing an Ideal Sales Process which is relevant for your team and your market has huge benefits for the team. A pleasant outcome is that all salespeople accept the process as being beneficial to their own management of their “Company of One”. High flyers are not at their peek of performance without having sensitivity to what will work in their sales life. They become the most eager and fully committed to implementation! This alone is a significant benefit for choosing a sales process methodology. Acceptance by the opinion makers in the team means that they become the touchstone and example to all the team – helping management to drive compliance and ROI!

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