Ever wonder how it is that some organizations consistently out-perform their peers, in some cases with true domination, for years and years? It occurs across very diverse areas of specialization, from sports to business to entertainment to wine making – certain teams simply do better than the rest and in some cases for a very long time.
What’s the secret sauce? Carefully examine perennially successful groups, be they the New York Yankees, IBM, or the Rolling Stones, and it’s likely you find a single common success factor: they are process fanatics!
A load of talent and some razzle-dazzle plays might win you a big game, it might help you close a mega-deal or put a hit song on the charts. But repeatable success is not possible without a process that recreates, sustains and continuously improves on the winning formula.
The same is true in business functions. Look inside sales organizations that consistently over-achieve and you will find sales process is the key ingredient. It isn’t the archetypal charismatic sales leader, the elephant killer sales rep or even the unbeatable product line. It’s a sales process that consistently produces superior results.
For old school sales bosses this is crazy talk, they say ‘Sales is art, not science‘. Do not believe them!
Jim Dickie of CSO Insights, in their recent publication Sales Management 2.0, makes the following observation. “If we look over the product development side of our business, the mandate to the person running that function is very clear: debug the product! We expect them to do whatever it takes to deliver a high quality offering to the market that has the right features to truly meet our customer’s needs.
Well, the watch-words to the head of sales needs to be equally clear: debug the process! We need to turn how we sell into the same kind of advantage as what we sell. If sales management can step up to that challenge, they can take a leadership role in their market. If they fail to do so, they will be constantly trying to play catch-up to a competitor who has accomplished this.”
If you are Chief Sales Officer for your company make it your 2011 priority to implement a standardized selling process across your organization. If you are the CEO hold your sales leader accountable for it!
Contact us today to learn how we can help you get outstanding results from developing a sales strategy for your company.