So .....you want to increase sales.....?

Steve Jessop

Strategy ‘A good strategy is a coherent plan to tackle a

defined problem....... It’s all about how you will get to where you want to be.....’

-- Richard Rumelt. ‘Good strategy / Bad strategy’

Sales is a sleeping strategic weapon.

• Measured inadequately• Managed inadequately

Opportunity....

Make a superior sales operation a fundamental part of your strategy...

What’s trending? -- E-consultancy. Peter Abraham.

“Which of the following business objectives does your organisation value the most?”

We all sell.......

• ‘Chicken killed in any manner of your choices.’ Hyderabad restaurant

We all sell.....• ‘I watched an operation to remove cataracts....

When the bandages were removed he saw his blue toy truck and was spellbound. His mother spoke and he looked up and saw her for the first time. I absolutely cried my eyes out. The operation cost £27.’

⁻ Joanna Lumley

Fools’ paradise...?

• 1992 – 2007– Great sales behaviours or great customer behaviours?– Were we great or were we lucky...?

• 2008 onwards....– Services with intangible benefits dropped– Growing competitive pressures– Decision-making centralised– Longer buying process– Budget restrictions

• “We can’t sell how we used to because our clients aren’t buying like they used to...”

It’s not well managed....- Bersin survey Winter 2009

• % who agreed that they had uneven gaps in current capability:– Customer service: 42%– Sales: 45%– Line management: 59%

It’s not consistent either....-- Accenture survey 2009

• Top 20% bring in 62% of revenue• 80% bring in 38%

At the heart of the challenge....-- Accenture senior executives survey 2004

• Top line: lack of sales capability, not trading conditions, is the biggest challenge:– Sales = most important part of the work: 61%– Sales org’n no better than competition: 50%– Sales organisation worse than competition: 20%

Did I say it’s not well managed...?- Sales best practices study 2009 (3500 s’people)

• Adequate coaching from sales mgr in ave week: 22%

• Sales mgr spends less than 10% of time coaching: 52%

• Sales mgr spends no time coaching: 33%

Is standard sales training the answer...?-- Holton & Baldwin study 2000

• 10% of formal learning gets transferred to the workplace. 90% is wasted

• Reason:– The sheep dip approach to training doesn’t work

Why the sheep dip doesn’t work.• Environmental fit• Perception of relevance

– Connection with business strategy and results• Connection with sales activity plan

• Linkage with individual motivation– E.g. Recognition and reward

• Application, application, application...– Reinforcement in the field– Measure change over time

• In a word, the common denominator is............?

Lots of incorrect assumptions about motivation.

• Strong evidence that ‘carrot & stick’ approach is ineffective, especially for ‘right brain’ tasks

• LSE ‘pay for performance’ plan studies found financial incentives can result in a negative impact on overall performance

Herzberg’s motivators.(% propensity to satisfy / dissatisfy)

• Achievement: 42 / 7• Recognition: 33 / 17• Work itself: 26 / 14• Responsibility: 25 / 6• Salary: 15 / 17• Relations with superior: 4 / 15• Co policy & administration: 3 / 20• Working conditions: 2 / 11

Conclusion.

• Spending millions ££££ on the wrong fuel...!!

Recruitment and retention issues‘As many as one in two high potential

employees is likely to leave during the up-turn.’ - HR Daily 2009

• The rise of ‘presentee-ism’ (‘ghost turnover’)• Most obvious gaps:

– Insufficient attention to motivation / wrong assumptions

– Person spec doesn’t accompany job spec– Too much ‘fishing in same pond’ when recruiting

A coherent plan to tackle the challenge.

Definition of a manager

Manage today’s resource to achieve today’s result.

Develop the resource to achieve tomorrow’s result.

LAST YEAR’S RESULT

RESULT

PRODUCTCUSTOMER

%

SALESPERSON

MANAGER

QUANTITY

QUALITY

DIRECTION

PAST

FUTURE

PRESENT

PERSONALSALESPLAN

RESULT

ACTIVITY

COMPETENCE

£

- - - - - - - - -

NEW

EXISTING

The Appliance of Science….

Activity

The 3 most common mistakes people make when selling.....

• They pitch too early• They make too many assumptions

– Instead of asking questions and listening carefully to the answers

• Nowhere near enough attention given to what we should be questioning for (i.e. identify needs for what?)

• They don’t quantify enough.

Sales propositions

Needs(Logic)

Wants(Emotion)

£, Time, Resource, Spec, Refs

PoliticsKudosEgoPridePrestigePersonal chemistryN.I.HSecurity / insecurityPioneer / hero

Mike Lynch. Founder. Autonomy.

‘Always take a gun to a knife fight’.

S I S T E M™

• Selection• Information• Strategy • Tactics• Evaluation• Management

Sales can be a difficult discipline to manage....

Sales productivity study(Proudfoot 2005)

Productivity factors

Poor s’people Successful s’people

Active selling 10% 35%

Prospecting 10% 25%

Problem-solving 14% 15%

Downtime 17% 10%

Travel time 18% 10%

Administration 31% 5%

A productivity example. Appointment-making.

Will Listen

Will not talkto you whatever

Another productivity example....First impressions.

Cognitive scientists say it can take up to 200 times the amount of information to undo a first impression as it takes to make one......

Sony Ericsson research 2007

• Transactional selling environment– Core performer effectiveness index of 100– High performer index of 159

• Solution selling environment– Core performer effectiveness index of 100– High performer index of 289

• “3-5 hours p.m. of the right kind of sales management coaching produces an average 17% improvement in productivity”

Reasons for resistance to change(From ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert T. Kiyosaki)

• Fear• Cynicism• Laziness• Bad habits• Arrogance

– Arrogance = ego + ignorance (“what I don’t know is not important..”)

The challenge on a human level

1. Senior management demand2. Able to see the gap to be closed

3. Motivated to close it

What motivates...?

Action

Motivation

More action

Serious enough for you...?

Serious impact…

Revenue: £5 000 000

Direct costs: £3 000 000

Gross profit: £2 000 000 (40%)

Overheads: £1 000 000

Net profit: £1 000 000

Focus = improve revenue performance

10% increase in revenue = 20% increase in profit

An opportunity...??

Make a superior sales operation a fundamental part of your strategy...