What may have worked for you in the past should not be confused with a structured, repeatable sales process. While intentions are often aligned with improving how we engage with customers, the underlying fact is that most sales teams' good intentions fail due to lack of process, discipline and execution. Compare that to a sports team.
So, why adopt a Sales Process?
The "players" on a sales team include several layers of managers and sales reps. All with different levels of experience, habits, skills, discipline and learning capabilities, resulting in inconsistent ways to approach and truly engage a new customer. This means there is a natural disparity across the team resulting in variance and unpredictable outcomes. The fact is that when we can minimize variation in any process, quality will inherently increase.
Providing a structured, repeatable sales process can be effectively and efficiently learned. The sales process is also the vehicle that drives consistency regardless of personalities, experience, coaching, etc.
Here are three key stats:
Almost half of sales teams don’t have a playbook. When we talk about sales processes, the concept isn’t a particularly clear one. It basically refers to the entire back end of sales, and the act of managing sales processes spans everything from designing a pipeline to fine-tuning a call script. A sales playbook, on the other hand, is concrete.
Companies with a formal sales process see up to a 28% improvement in revenue versus those which do not. A sales process makes the difference between stabbing in the dark and making concerted, strategic decisions. A 28% revenue boost is the stuff of dreams for sales executives. But the idea that creating a sales process means re-allocating chunks of a stretched budget or rolling out new methods to a resistant team might be one that holds decision-makers back from making the right choice.
44% of executives think their organization is ineffective at managing a formal sales process. Despite a vast array of hard research (e.g. most know that a formal sales playbook is critical) almost half of executives think their company fails to manage the process. Clearly defined processes include: methods for managing the sales pipeline, time dedicated to upkeep it, and a budget set aside for process training.
In the chart above, you can see that 50% of high-performing sales organizations have sales processes that are “closely monitored, strictly enforced or automated” compared to just 28% from under-performing organizations.
Similarly, 48% of under-performing organizations have non-existent or informal processes.
Have you adapted your skills and developed an up-to-date “playbook” to improve your winning percentage? Do you have a step-by step process to properly plan for an executive sales call? What tools do you have to help you qualify, understand and truly position yourself to outsell the competition?
Butler Street’s Sales Effectiveness training is focused to provide our clients with the structured, repeatable sales process, across the customer engagement. Our “playbook” will provide you with the tools for the pre-game prep, the game and post-game celebration follow-up.