The Dirty Little Secrets of Sales Transformation
With over a decade of large project experience, and having helped over 2,000 companies transform their sales process, XANT has acquired vital experience in improving sales operating results. Revenue Growth Assistant Dan Cone reviews six steps you need to take to be able to successfully implement associated with success and/or failure in large sales transformation initiatives.
Executive leadership and a willingness to bring real operating change are the main factors that determine the success, impact and payback improvement of sales transformation, shows Dan Cone, in his LinkedIn post.
Executive Level Sponsorship
Executive level sponsorship is vital to sales transformation, says Dan. The C-suite musts drive the process and insist on consistent utilization of new systems and tactics, with ongoing measurement. If they don’t, sales teams will simply avoid the change and revert right back to their legacy methods of selling.
Internal Selling Model
Changing the internal selling model is also a difficult task, if you cannot actively engage key actors in the process. The digital world has changed the way we do sales, and sales reps need to evolve along with it. You should establish a ‘sales specialist’ model of internal selling.
With the “specialist” model, inside teams handle leads and early stage activities, booking appointments, even closing smaller transactions. Experienced field resources are better utilized with large dollar opportunities. This model helps peed to lead and cost effectiveness.
Structured Selling Process
Structured selling helps sales professionals optimize their selling time and maximize revenue results. Professional sales should not be a mysterious “ninja practice” only understood only by the few “Jedi” that have mastered this art. It is a good idea to use analytics system to measure results and find out what works and what doesn’t. This is how you can ultimately impose a structured selling process.
Data Visibility
Analytics is also helpful when trying to establish data visibility. However, it hinges on having the right data in your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Some reps are good at recording data in the CRM, and others not so. Technology makes this easier, automatically logging phone call information and any other information about sales interactions.
Standardized Sales Tech Stack
Sales technology is the chassis that your sales operation runs on across time. It needs to support the entire organization and it also needs to evolve with the times. You should attempt to centralize sales technology at the corporate level, to avoid issues related to integrations, vendor management and high costs.
Measure and Iterate
Sales transformation processes are a journey, and they do not have a start and end date, shows Dan. The project should always evolve to keep pace with market factors that will never stop changing. As you make objective measurement and analysis of metrics progress, you should be able to quantify if you have improved your metrics, and be able to improve over the years.
Read the entire post from Dan Cone on Dirty Little Secrets of Sales Transformation on LinkedIn.