Sales operations are complex systems with many moving parts. So, when we are not getting the sales results that we expect, it’s easy to misdiagnose the cause (or causes) of the problem.
Traditionally, sales leaders, and sometimes Learning and Development professionals, equate poor sales performance to lack of skill and/or will within the sales team and so the obvious solution is sales training. However, more often than not, lack of sales skill and/or will is only part of the problem.
Here are the most common issues we find in sales operations that negatively affect sales results:
- No sales strategy, competitive value proposition or calibrated go-to-market plans. There is no clear plumb line and objectives that sales teams can use to prepare their plans, leaving each team or individual to their own devices ending up in random acts of sales.
- No articulated defined sales process. Salespeople don’t have a clear process to follow that outlines the minimum standards of sales excellence i.e. actions, behaviours and tasks that lead to being more efficient and consistent in their sales efforts. This leads to personality driven sales which is centred around individuals not the standards of excellence people can learn and apply.
- A sales culture that is non-existent (“we’re not in sales”), too lax (no one is accountable for anything), too micromanaged (no one has any personal agency), too competitive internally (dog-eat-dog mentality), or just plain toxic and unethical (whatever it takes to win).
- No continuous learning or coaching to help embed best practice and make good selling second nature. Salespeople don’t get the continued support and feedback they need to stay up-to-date and improve their sales planning, prospecting, value-based selling and business and relationship management skills.
There are a couple of ways to check in on what issues are affecting sales performance, for example, talking to your teams and gathering data, internal surveys, audits, and assessments.
At Barrett we have created a free mini sales operations assessment tool to help you pinpoint any sales operational and sales team challenges. We call it “20 Questions to assess your Sales Operations”. While it won’t go into minute detail on every aspect, it will give you indications of where you may need to start. It takes 5 minutes to complete, and you get your results immediately.
Of course, if you want to go deeper, get much more forensic and turn your sales operations around faster, you can undertake Barrett’s world class Sales System, Strategy & Operations Audit: an online questionnaire and report that benchmarks your whole sales system providing insights into challenges, gaps, opportunities and (mis)alignment with detailed findings across 25+ core dimensions including:
- Knowledge: Markets, Competitors, Organisation and Customers
- Core elements of the sales strategy: Value Proposition, Go-to-market action plan, Sales Force Structure, Purpose, Standards of Behaviour, Values, Market/Customer segments, Value Chain and Marketing Strategy Alignment
- Core elements of the sales operations: Sales Technology (CRM), Tender/Bid Mgt., Sales Messaging, Sales Metrics, Sales Force Structure, Training & Development, Sales Processes, Pipeline Management, Sales Management Protocols, Qualifying Buyers, Social Selling, Sales Culture, Customer Centricity
When this type of audit is undertaken, c-suite and sales leadership decision making becomes much easier and faster, helping leaders and teams turn around their sales operations to get them selling better faster for all the right reasons.
Here’s a testimonial from a GM of Australian $4B publicly listed company who did just that:
“The change has been outstanding. Two years ago, I couldn’t have imagined that Sales would be in such great shape already by now. In 2 years, we’ve gone from minus 10% to plus 15% growth. I thought it would take years but here we are now with a fantastic sales team, sales infrastructure and processes, strategy and culture that is growing and making a huge difference to our business and our clients. As an accountant, I knew very little about sales but Barrett’s Sales System, Strategy & Operations Framework and the Barrett team have steered us in the right direction”.
If you’d like to talk further about checking the state of sales system and operations contact us on +61 3 9533 0000 or use our contact form.
Remember, everybody lives by selling something.
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