If you’re like most sales teams, 2016 was probably a blend of high spots and low spots. A subset of your sales people (often the same ones as last year) achieved their sales targets well before the end of the year. Another group got there or thereabouts, and a further group struggled.
In the past year, I’ve seen more and more organizations get on board with developing quality systems that genuinely support sales performance. We’ve helped organizations develop the processes and systematize behaviors that have yielded 50-80% improvements in quota attainment, increased the size of deals, and decreased waste.
There’s a very good reason people say that sales is an art, not a science. Considering the ever-changing complexity of the B2B sales environment, it’s reasonable to feel that a formal “scientific” sales process would only inhibit good salespeople from doing their job flexibly and well?
As veteran consultants, we have worked with practically every type of sales force, so we are rarely surprised by the clients we encounter. However, we have to admit we suspected someone was joking when we heard that a Las Vegas casino wanted us to help them with a sales force that services high-stakes gamblers.
It’s a topic we don’t often talk about: Salesperson happiness. It doesn’t seem very business-like to focus on a fuzzy thing like that, but we know it substantially impacts our organizations. From productivity to turnover, happiness makes our employees more resourceful. Plus, it’s just plain great to know we’re making a difference in our team’s lives.
“We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There’s no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either.” Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer Microsoft.
From north to south, east to west, Membrain has thousands of happy clients all over the world.