Sales managers realized that if they didn’t manage the interferences from the rest of the infrastructure, they would be training salespeople to do one thing while paying them to do another—with obvious dismal results.
Inconsistent attention was still being paid to adoption and change management issues, resulting in spotty execution.
2000: The Future: Fourth Generation — Perpetual Advantage
Improved metrics and visibility into the pipeline—along with integration with sales infrastructure, better deal and performance coaching by front-line managers, and a feedback system that refreshes competitive messaging every 48 hours or less — can result in a closed-loop sales and marketing system.
Only with such a closed-loop system—one that integrates sales, service, marketing, design, and perpetual innovation — can you achieve perpetual competitive advantage.
Only then can we lengthen the average 24-month employment span of sales executives.
Some of these are new ideas; some are not. Some of these pains have been around for a long time. So then why are they still pains? You already may be aware of these best practices, but the real challenge is, “How well is your organization actually doing them?”
CHAPTER 2: Pathway to Perpetual Advantage
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
Dwight D. Eisenhower,
U.S. General and President (1890–1969)
A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.
George S. Patton, U.S. General (1885–1945)
If there are gaps in your sales performance in comparison with your potential, how much change do you need? Do you need better execution, continuous improvement, or a major transformation? The answer, to some degree, depends on whether you are new to the organization, how it has performed in the past, your own expectations, and those of your management.
In talking to several executives who have successfully achieved quantum leaps in sales effectiveness, we have found that they have used similar approaches to define, prioritize, and execute the changes needed in their sales organizations.
After the sale of American Management Systems (AMS), a Fairfax, Virginia-based consulting firm, to CGI, Donna Morea was named president of the newly formed U.S. subsidiary, one of our principal Peter Bourke’s accounts.
Prior to the merger, AMS and CGI had very different sales organizations. AMS was highly centralized and organized by industry—CGI was highly decentralized and organized by geography.
Donna’s approach to changing the new organization to a more sales-driven culture concentrated on three legs of a stool.“We focused on (1) how we sell, (2) who we sell to, and (3) what we sell,” she said.
The first focus area centered on the need to adopt consistent and proven sales disciplines across CGI-AMS (the how). Second, Donna pushed the organization to adopt a new approach to segmenting the market (the who), with the goal of focusing the majority of CGI-AMS’s account management and business development resources on a smaller number of strategic accounts. Finally, she worked with her leadership team to “overlay” the geographically oriented organization structure with an industry focus-enabling CGI-AMS to articulate a clear go-to-market strategy for each of its core industries (the what).
The result was less focus on pure one-off customer consulting and more focus on their core competencies and industry solutions where they already had deep expertise and a solid track record of performance. This was more profitable and lower risk. In the “how” leg of the stool, they adopted new processes for account and opportunity management. They also redefined roles and responsibilities for the sales teams to reduce the “swarming” approach used in the past.
To make this new sales culture “stick,” Morea said she had to get leadership to embrace the new vision initially on faith and ultimately through experience.
“Those were the ‘noble’ means,” she said.“The ‘less noble’ means included money. We had a fund that we set aside that included discretionary money for our most important opportunities.To get the money, they had to learn and use the process and the tools.”
“We wanted to inspire people,” Morea said.“To sell the vision, it was really important for us to find some quick wins using these principles. It’s amazing what a little bit of success can do to convince the skeptics.”
“I figured 10 to 15 percent would be early believers and sign up.Then, another 60 to 70 percent would follow a win. But there will be 10 to 20 percent who never sign on, no matter what,” she said. “The 60 percent majority is made up of good people. Once good people see that you have good tools, they will behave rationally. Good people understand that good tools will help them execute.You’re never going to get everyone.”
Performance reviews—ensuring that sales managers were reinforcing the new culture and coaching—were introduced, and an internal coach, available at large, was added. The internal coach’s job was also to monitor the forecast for sales phase changes and to make sure strategy sessions were being conducted at the right time.
The new sales culture is a success. And the company recently closed a $350 million government contract.
The first step is identifying the gaps in your performance potential and execution. On a scale of 1 to 3, rate the following pains as they apply to your organization:
| Sales Effectiveness Gap Analysis (1 = Not a pain; 2 = Somewhat a pain; 3 = Major pain) |
| Sales Pain | | | |
| Unclear sales process, no common language | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Missed forecasts—Happy ears, surprises | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Qualification, chasing bad deals | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Selling too low—We can't sell high enough to execs | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Lack of effective messages, no differentiation | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Competition—Lost sales opportunities | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Commoditized pricing—We need to move up value chain | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Selling to the wrong people—Politics and relationships | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Silo selling, poor team selling | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Account selection/segmentation investment | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Poor deal coaching | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Poor discipline, no consistency | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Other pains: | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
“Without Vision, the People Perish”
A vision is important, but the last thing that we suggest you do is organize a committee and spend several months thrashing out a vision statement. It shouldn't be that hard.
Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford, in his excellent book, The Knowing-Doing Gap, describes mission statements as one of several substitutes for action, and they can be if you dwell on them too long. Lou Gerstner, when he took over IBM, shocked everyone when he stated, "The last thing we need right now is a vision statement." He knew that the company had to stop the bleeding first.
