Over the past many years I’ve spent as a consultant, let alone the previous decades spent in the world of business to business sales, I have come to one incontrovertible conclusion; that the sheer number of sales organizations that spend an inordinate amount of time “re-organizing” or “changing up” their go to market sales strategies and sales forces is out of control.
At time of writing, I can tell you that at least 80% of the companies I work with, or have worked with – and that’s a lot of companies – are re-examining their sales strategies, structures or platforms. This percentage is not based on one single type of organization or category, but rather a broad spectrum from Fortune 500 companies, to smaller organizations covering a wide genre of verticals from technology to office supply businesses, and everything in-between.
What does this mean? It means that rarely a day goes by that I don’t have a discussion or communication with a client that is re-organizing their sales force structure. It can be re-allocating territories, changing individual’s sales roles, modifying the comp plan, or completely killing the existing platform and starting from scratch, all in the quest for the promise of better results.
The amount of time, energy, and resources allocated to these initiatives is mind numbing. Evaluations are made and studies conducted. Vast resources are spent whether it be on internal ‘meditation’ or with outside experts, all with the promise of a better solution vs. the incumbent structure. In the last fifteen years or so, the offering of alternative solutions has multiplied exponentially. Be it CRM products, mass data integration, or the over stated value of the “digital” solution, the complexity of options and even more importantly the investment in time necessary to evaluate these various options is staggering.
Of course, one must participate in this circus if one is to find “the best” solution.
We would all agree that there are twenty four hours in a day, and seven days in a week. We would also agree that how we allocate those hours becomes one of the most important decisions we’ll ever make. Every time a new “innovation” or “best practice” is introduced, the pie of time requires yet another slice to be carved out of the same pie.
The irony is that most sales organizations aren’t necessarily broken, they could just use a lot more elbow grease applied to execution.
Execution isn’t just a concept or idea. Successful execution requires determination, rigor, and stick-to-itiveness.
Productive execution will never be a self sustained or a plug and play option. It requires ongoing oversight and hands on implementation over a sustained period, probably in perpetuity.
The “Best” sales structure is not always dependant on finding the latest and greatest methodology, but instead embracing a methodology your organization can reasonably get their mitts wrapped around, and then executing strongly. Driving results in sales doesn’t always have to be about rocket science. There are a few but well respected pillars of sales strategy that properly executed, will improve the results of most any sales group.
While the purpose of this missive isn’t to outline each of those fundamental building blocks, almost any seasoned sales expert will know what I’m talking about.
Adding layers and layers of complexities and responsibilities to a sales persons job requirement doesn’t enable productivity. It kills productivity.
Habitual re-orgs that require sales people to “boot up” again and again suck the life out of pace and moving forward because the sales person is in a constant state of digesting the new “mantra” which quite simply means, they’re not selling.
he purpose of this blog is to suggest you look “inside” rather than outside. Look and examine your current platform. Tweak if necessary, but try spending some time on ways to improve execution around your current platform, and then start executing. You’ll be surprised by the results.
The best idea is often just a good idea, and that may be the idea you already have.