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The Commercial Dilemma
Sales organizations of all sizes have problems driving profitable sales growth consistently and at rates that meet stakeholder expectations. Good months, quarters, and years are often followed by a bad month, quarter, or year. When sales are good the credit goes to how great the sales and sales leadership teams are, how great the strategy is, and how amazing the team is executing. However, what often happens is that sales results turn. Growth slows or stops, and this puts the team and its leaders on their heels. The sales team is now in a tough spot. If it was the team that was responsible for the growth, then logic tells you they are also responsible for the decline. Of course, no one wants to admit this, and excuses fly.
You often hear: “We didn’t forget how to sell overnight…”. What can be hard to key in on is why the sales trend changed. In most cases it’s not caused by the team doing anything radically different. Sales leaders must look in the mirror and hold themselves accountable for any revenue decline, regardless of the reason. I’m not suggesting it doesn’t matter why sales are declining. We need to know to change the trend. However, until your house is in order, you can’t blame external or unlucky situations for your misfortune. If your sales organization is organized properly and executing at a world-class level, you can identify, attack and overcome any obstacle to sales growth. This is an opportunity for you to take an inventory of your operation and move to a focused, selling excellence machine that performs regardless of circumstances.
Success Drivers
I think of a sales organization as an eco-system. This eco-system can be divided into two distinct pillars: DESIGN and DISCIPLINE. The goal is to DESIGN a structurally sound foundation and to consistently execute a clear set of DISCIPLINED selling processes and priorities that give your team the highest probability of success.
For over 20 years, I’ve sold for and led sales organizations for Fortune 500 public companies as well as mid-market PE backed businesses. Through my experience I have seen what’s required for consistent, world-class success. If you want to give your organization the best chance to win, and win consistently regardless of circumstance, then you need an understanding of what drives consistent, repeatable, and controllable sales growth.
As mentioned above, the starting point for any sales organization must include two critical drivers: DESIGN and DISCIPLINE. These drivers are the foundation for a consistently successful sales team. You may have different terminology, but the fact remains that certain business functions need to be operating at a high level and with consistent and disciplined execution for you to have a chance to succeed.
Design
Let’s start with DESIGN. How your organization is designed to support the selling process is the backbone and foundation in which the sales team sits and is required for success. DESIGN represents your layout, form, or makeup of the business – think business functions and org structure. You must build or shape your organization to work as a cohesive system. The system’s sole purpose is to ensure your leaders and sellers can execute with excellence and it must support the actions they are accountable for, giving them the best chance for success every time they engage a client. There are seven DESIGN drivers (see below) that must be reviewed and determined what role they play in your organization. It’s the role of sales leadership to ensure these are in place, working in concert, and driving results.
DESIGN DRIVERS:
- Go-to-Market Strategy
- Organization Design
- Performance Based Compensation
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- The Customer: Personas, Coverage & Segmentation
- Selling Expectaions
- Revenue Operations
Discipline
Second, and just as important, is instilling DISCIPLINE into the team and system. Discipline is the practice of educating and training your team in the most successful way to execute their role, then ensuring execution is happening as intended and delivering the desired results. Educating your team on how you want them to sell and installing a consistent selling process across the team is paramount. This will ensure consistent execution, clear selling expectations, and a common language for leaders to coach too. It’s also critical to make sure you leave flexibility in your plan for individual strengths and personalities across the team. You don’t want robots. There are seven disciplines (see below) that must be reviewed and determined what role they play in your organization. Again, it’s the role of sales leadership to ensure these are in place, working in concert, and driving results.
DISCIPLINE DRIVERS:
- Selling Process
- Sales Management Process
- Customer & Call Planning
- Performance Management
- Leader as Coach
- Talent Management & Development
- Analytics, Metrics & KPI's
DESIGN and DISCIPLINE are paramount for commercial success. If you want to dominate your market, take share consistently, and exceed revenue and profit expectations, you must do the hard work. Installing Design and Discipline into your commercial organization is the work required and is the key to long-term, sustained growth.
