Here is the reality: Even companies that enjoy the luxury of clearly superior products realize that those products will not sell themselves. At a minimum, companies need a sales force comprised of skilled professionals who understand the application of the product range, have an in-depth knowledge of their customer base, market sector and, of course, the competition. But even all these elements together are not sufficient to ensure optimum performance levels and profitable sales.
So what exactly is a sales process? Put quite simply, it is a set of procedures which determine how a company wishes its sales team to operate – “The way we do things around here.”
The most successful organizations have implemented a process and an all-encompassing framework for defining performance standards. This involves assessing, appraising, developing, reviewing, providing continual feedback on performance, as well as implementing efficient and relevant process tools.
Over the past few years, we have witnessed huge investment in new sales technology solutions and sales process tools. However, that investment does not guarantee an appropriate return in terms of increased and improved sales performance.
In fact, the results from Sandler Research Center’s inaugural survey confirmed the following …
Whilst 73% of respondents said that they have a formal sales process in place, only 50% said that it has been fully implemented and only 37% reported that the sales team follows that process.
53% told us that they have not received an appropriate return on the investment they have made in sales technology and most alarmingly, only 38% said that their organization was “More Effective” or “A Lot More Effective” as a result of sales technology implementation.
If you would like to read an abbreviated version of the Sandler Research Center report, “THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS FOR SUSTAINING OVERACHIEVING SALES PERFORMANCE” please download your copy here