Strategies for Building World Class Sales Organizations

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5 Strategies for Building World Class Sales Organizations

presented by:

John Holland, Co-founder & Co-author of CustomerCentric Selling®

January 21, 2009

© Landslide 2009. All Rights Reserved / © CustomerCentric Selling® 2009. All Rights Reserved

Introductions

• John Holland, Co-founder & Co-author of CustomerCentric Selling®

• Chris Kiminas, VP of Business Development, Landslide Technologies

Building World Class Sales Organizations



• Background• Companies Surveyed• Results compiled and interpreted• Report generated

WCSO = World Class Sales Organization

SBI / CCS Collaboration


Research versus Benchmarking


Legacy Research

• Quantifies things you already know• Shows trends that do not vary greatly year over year• Facilitates comparisons to averages• Looks back on what has happened

Benchmarking

• Seeks factors that create major benefits• Focuses on leading versus lagging indicators• Allows comparison to best practices• Allows forward-looking actions


Why compare?


Inward-looking comparisons• Can be influenced by preconceived notions• May lack perspective• Facilitate evolutionary versus revolutionary change

Outward-looking comparisons• Offer different perspectives• Can challenge your current ideas and methods• Uncover new ideas to implement

WCSOs display a willingness to experiment with new approaches.© Landslide 2009. All Rights Reserved / © CustomerCentric Selling® 2009. All Rights

Reserved

What is at stake?


• Companies covet sustainable competitive differentiators

• Wal-Mart and Dell lost their long-term price advantages

• Pricing in B2B sales varies transaction to transaction

• Companies are an announcement away from losing their advantage for products/offerings

WCSOs are striving to provide a better buying experience so they establish a sustainable competitive advantage in how their people sell.© Landslide 2009. All Rights Reserved / © CustomerCentric Selling® 2009. All Rights

Reserved

Five Areas of Focus for WCSOs


• Buyer enablement rather than sales process improvement

• Outbound lead ratios

• Pipeline ratios

• CRM/SFA utilization

• Salesperson training


Buyer Enablement



People prefer to buy versus be sold• Traditional CRM conflicts with this preference

Pre-internet vendors were the “keepers of

information”

Google searches changed the rules• Buyers are leery of information provided by

vendors• Buyers crave “transparent” information

Social Networking has changed selling

Aligning with Buyers



• Redefine selling

• Understand initial touches are electronic

• Have salespeople do interest processing at initial contact

• Tailor CRM milestones to fit how customers buy

• Determine the buying experience you want to provide

• Set realistic expectations

• Measure quantifiable results

Example: Aligning with Buyers


Tailor CRM milestones to fit how customers buy.

Have salespeople perform interest processing at initial contact.

Enable buyer-seller activities and tools.

Determine the buying experience you want to provide.








Outbound Lead Ratio


(Outbound leads) / (Outbound leads + inbound leads)Finding: WCSO have a 47% lower outbound lead ratio

• Evidence based lead generation with cost vs.

benefit provides better results• Lead generation is a sustainable differentiator• Reps without lead generation support are less

effective• Lead generation support allows better focus on

opportunities• This ratio is a strong indicator of rep performance© Landslide 2009. All Rights Reserved / © CustomerCentric Selling® 2009. All Rights

Reserved

Pipeline Ratio


(Pipeline) / (Sales Quota)Finding: WCSOs have a 1.75 times higher Pipeline Ratio

• One of the best indicators of future performance• 2.0 or higher should be the goal• This ratio can be done at the rep, manager, region

and company-wide levels


Example: Indicators of Future Performance



CRM/SFA Utilization


(Technology system – daily users) / ((Reps + (sales managers) + sales support staff))Finding: WCSO have a 70% higher utilization

• Dictating or forcing usage is ineffective• If sellers feel CRM is not a fit, their use will be

minimal• Sellers can circumvent “Big Brother” watching


CRM/SFA Utilization


WCSOs:• Leverage software to capture and share

best practices• Make sure CRM provides benefits to

their salespeople• Align milestones with how customers

buy• Understand acceptance is critical


CRM/SFA Utilization


Disruption

Benefit

CEO/COOCFOVP Mktg/VP Sales

Salespeople

IT

Benefit equalto disruption


CRM/SFA Acceptance & Usage


• Should be designed for different types of

transactions• Should reflect the way buyers buy• Should have auditable steps (managers trust

but verify)• Should positively affect win rates• Should make sellers more productive


Example: Make Sellers More Productive



Training Hours per Sales Rep


Average number of hours of training per rep per

year

Finding: WCSOs spend 160% more training

time

• Includes web-based as well as classroom

training• Management views it as an investment that

will pay dividends• WCSOs try to allocate training budget

proportionally to their vertical markets© Landslide 2009. All Rights Reserved / © CustomerCentric Selling® 2009. All Rights Reserved