#3 Things About Successful Sales Environments
I love sales, almost as much as I love a good chat about sales. Over the last month or so, I’ve caught up with a few people who wear a ‘sales’ hat for their organisation. The themes anecdotally coming through are around sales struggles within organisations that misinterpret the sales function and are not aligned to their customer base. So, with a not-so-scientific approach to researching this blog — #3 Things About Successful (Sales) Environments.
#1 Success is Cultural. Although my current role includes a few different hats, before DATAMetrics, I was apart of sales teams which were often pitted against other divisions in the organisation, as other the divisions of the organisation were pitted against sales and also each other. One business I worked for delayed decisions for months on a customer deal due to bitter internal arguments. What was the issue? I wanted to give my biggest customers a small discount across their ‘stack’ as was outlined in company pricing models. But when push came to shove each component of that tech deal had an independent line manager who didn’t want their line of business financially impacted. They wouldn’t sign the discount off. I spent months negotiating with individual managers and trying to get a consensus on something we told our market we did, all the while desperately trying not to lose the deal with a very frustrated customer. And what a massive waste of time. This should have been a no-brainer. The empty platitudes of being ‘one team’ and ‘working together’ which happened to be hanging on the office walls were freaking pointless if no one works to that ideal. And where is the customer in all of that? They didn’t even figure. The business had forgotten their ‘why’.
#2 Success should be rewarded — but it depends on what you define as ‘Success’. If your business defines success as how many widgets you sell door to door, then volume might be a simple metric of defining success. However, most businesses have many employees, solutions (product / professional services), stakeholders, customers and competitors. Defining success will help to incentivise the right behaviors, but its not easy. If however you by some stroke of luck are out to ‘define success’for your business, here is a challenge — don’t talk about being ‘client / customer-centric’ and then make every metric or KPI about profit and revenue. Sales get it in the neck all the time for doing everything they can do hit target (I’m assuming by ethical behaviour), but if how they do it is at odds to fostering a team ethos, being customer-centric and owning issues after the ink has dried — change the metrics and change the resulting behaviour.
When you change the definition of success and the related metrics — you change the behavior from ‘Me’ to ‘We’
#3 One Team, One Goal. There are always arbitrary divides in businesses, but if you want to change that — have One Goal. If all business units have one goal such as being ‘customer-centric’ then every decision should be in service to that goal. From discussions to deliverables — every conversation should be in view of the client. Don’t get me wrong — money matters and good business is profitable business. Same can be true to unavoidable challenges which crop up from time to time. What I am saying is that alignment to that goal means there is a common rallying point. All team members emphasise that the customer is a stakeholder and work to delight them while meeting / negotiating their internal obligations. People are more likely to move into ‘team’ mode if they are working towards a common goal and the business backs it by constantly referring to it. It also unites your ‘why’.
Lastly, you could put these considerations in any order and they would ring true. its not rocket science and its also not definitive. The point is that these three things should be a basic hygiene factor for any business serious about selling their service or product… or for that matter — any serious business.
Tania is the Client Relationship Manager and a Director of DATAMetrics Business Intelligence and Data Solutions. She has worked extensively with corporate and large businesses in Australia, UK and New Zealand in business development and sales roles. A self-professed data evangelist, Tania specialises in building relationships while she builds businesses.
#3 Things About Successful Sales Environments
