I have a client – let’s call him Jack. Jack’s company barely made it through the economic crisis and lost about 35% of their revenue. In recent years they regained almost 20% of what was lost, but now they have stalled out. His sales people are frustrated and start lowering prices in an attempt to grow sales, but of course, now margins are shrinking. For Jack to pull out of this quickly, he needs precise & accurate insights to discover the root issues. Then, he needs a strategic surgical plan to get back on track.
Jack had to ask himself: “What are our current sales capabilities?”
Here are some examples of questions he needs answers for:
- Do the salespeople have a plan for getting new business? Or, are they strictly relying on existing relationships to generate new sales?
- How effective are they at qualifying? Or are they wasting time on proposals that will never close? (FYI: 80% of the sales people we assess don’t know how to fully qualify an account. 80%!)
- Are they selling consultatively? Or, are they doing what over 75% of salespeople do too much of—talk about how great their product or service is?!
These questions helped Jack to accurately assess the current capabilities of his sales team. We decided to ask a few more questions so he can decide where to focus his sales planning.
- Are my core systems and processes up to date?
- Does my team lack motivation?
- Can my team execute my current sales strategy?
- If not, are they trainable? Or, do I need to hire fresh talent?
Here’s my recommendation to all the “Jacks” out there – stop guessing. Ask the question: “Who can become more effective in their roles?” Then, get accurate and timely insights into your sales systems, processes, staff and skills to determine what’s really going on.
Targeted Sales Focus will help you develop customized sales process tools. Download the free eBook here.
© 2014 by Danita Bye (Sales Growth Specialists, www.salesgrowthspecialists.com). All rights reserved.
