Sales Strategy Implementation: Why

Culture Matters

Contributed by Charles Fiaccabrino on February 24, 2014 in Organization, Change, & HR , Strategy, Marketing, & Sales

Note from the Editor: Charles Fiaccabrino is a seasoned executive with 50+ years of sales

management experience. Charles began his career at Hoffmann La Roche on April 1st,

1969 as the first diagnostics sales representative in the newly formed Diagnostics Division

and helped grow the organization into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. During his career

at Roche, he became known within the company as “Mr. Roche,” having earned the

Presidents Achievement Award an unprecedented 20 times and received written accolades

from Roche’s former CEOs, Irwin Lerner and Patrick Zenner, amongst other executives

. We, at Flevy, asked Mr. Fiaccabrino to contribute a series of articles detailing how he

helped grow Roche into the Fortune 200 corporation it is today. We asked Charles to

focus on the implementation of sales strategy, as often there is a disconnect between

strategy theory and the actual execution of that theory into actionable activities.

In a recent posting on LinkedIn, there was a photo of Peter Drucker and a comment by Mr.

Drucker that stated “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” Or was it breakfast? It doesn’t really

matter, because either will apply. Although I didn’t read the post, the comment resonated

with me nonetheless, because, in reality, it is the foundation of what follows that is my

interpretation of the meaning and how it relates to successful outcomes.

Candidate Selection and Hiring, a Cultural Phenomenon.

It became apparent to me at the outset of my career as a sales manager that in order to work

with and through people, it would be essential to develop a culture that would be the “best

of the best.” In reviewing the Fiaccabrino Selection Process , it becomes apparent, to be

successful in sales, a culture of achievement is engendered at a very high level. In order to

accomplish this, each and every new hire had to meet these standards as individuals and, at

the same time, have the potential to become viable members of a team-oriented strategy.

We laid the foundation for future success. “Culture eats strategy for lunch.”

Sales and Sales Management.

As we move forward to the subject of sales and sales management, the individuals hired all

had the potential to be highly successful in sales and, of considerable and associated

significance, had the skillsets to develop into future managers sharing the same cultural and

developing norms.

This does not mean that all those hired would make excellent managers or move into other

related company opportunities as they might arise. There are those who desire to make sales

a full time career and are passionately committed to doing so and there are those who want

to move up to upper levels of corporate opportunities.

The key consideration is to provide each individual on your team the opportunity to excel

first and foremost as a salesperson and recognize who within your group has the requisite

skill sets to move up the corporate ladder as opportunities arise. The sales manager, in this

process, must have the ability to evaluate where a person is in this overall developmental

strategy and initiate a course of action conducive to the expressed goal.

Progress and Development versus Performance Review.

There are some learned individuals who press the issue that a performance review is

contraindicated, as it relates to how it impacts on a salesperson’s state of mind and how it

relates to job satisfaction and performance. From where I sit, the term itself might be the

agonizing issue and how it is presented magnifying the perceived negative consequences.

Clearly, some form of performance appraisal is required, but it can be accomplished in a

more positive manner and format.

In my view, the term Progress and Development is the key. In this approach, the

manager and salesperson discuss areas in which there is agreement that improvement and

GROWTH in significant areas will contribute to enhancing the goals mutually desired by

both parties.

Historically, it has been a product of my experience to note that, because of the nature and

quality of the person hired, that this strategy works in virtually every case. Obviously, as a

part of the stated objective, sales success is an overriding factor, in which case the sales

manager has a role in the success of this process. This does not obviate the need and

responsibility of the salesperson to produce results a necessary factor in the evaluation

strategy, but this will come as a natural consequence of the aforementioned strategy.

The author developed the Fiaccabrino Selection Process (FSP), a powerful methodology for interviewing and

screening the best people for your organization. The objective is to select those people who will be the highest

performers with the lowest turnover. You can download a free primer of the FSP here: http://flevy.com/fiaccabrino-

selection-process .

One of the points to be made is: all too often, a manager might have the good fortune to hire

a “winner” and due to the ineffectiveness of the hiring manager, the salesperson fails. The

irony is that the salesperson is fired or leaves the company fearing the worst; and the sales

manager gets to keep his role of inbred incompetence.

This, of course, can be realistically prevented by initiating a cultural norm conducive to

consistent growth and development of your “best of the best” personnel. It must be duly

noted that this strategy does not remove any degree of high performance expectations.

In the interviewing and selection process, expectations are clearly spelled out to the degree

that, unless the salesperson is on board with these high expectations and reflects an

undeniable passion to be part of this culture, the candidate should rethink whether or not he

or she wants to move forward in the acceptance process, bearing in mind that the hiring

manager representing the company is interviewing the candidate and it is the hiring

manager that makes the decision to make a job offer. At the same time and to be sure all

parties to this important transaction can exchange points of interest and information, the

candidate at the appropriate time is provided the opportunity to ask whatever questions is

deemed appropriate in order to help complete the “marriage” between company and

candidate.

When there is a full understanding of the opportunity between candidate and company

providing candidate scored at the “best of the best” level, a job offer can be made. (Refer

back to the humanistic attributes contained in the Fiaccabrino Selection Process and how it

relates to the above.)

Initiating and developing a culture of high level performers is an ongoing process. In the

foregoing, we reviewed some of the salient elements and how it applied to and related in the

overall success strategy, a strategy that is at a high ethical level and results oriented over

time.

In the foregoing, we discussed and stressed the importance of developing a culture of

success. In our next segment, we will delve into the implementation process as it relates to

the developmental process citing case histories. It’s one thing to hire the “best of the best,”

but it doesn’t end there.

More to Come.

We’ve all heard of the “Peter Principle.” But, has any one ever heard of the “Peter Principle

in reverse?” In my next segment, we will discuss a Fiaccabrino technique in which the

“Peter Principle in Reverse” was employed as a strategy in implementing the developmental

process as one of the cornerstone success factors.

About Charles Fiaccabrino

Known as "Mr. Roche," Charles Fiaccabrino helped grow Roche Diagnostics from a startup to a multi-

billion dollar company. Roche is now a Fortune 200 enterprise with $50B+ in sales. Charles is a

seasoned executive of 50+ years who has experience across all topics Sales- and Strategy-related. He

also published the Fiaccabrino Selection Process , a powerful methodology for interviewing and

screening the "best of the best" sales people.

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