Milestone Group Quarterly: April 2005

Articles

• Face to Face: Kim Polese, CEO of Spikesource
• Investment Viewpoint: Stephen J. Harrick, Managing Director & General Partner, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP)
• By Invitation: John Seely Brown & John Hagel, III - IT Platforms for Business Innovation
• Milestone POV: Kathleen Gilligan on Aligning Sales Vision and Process

Milestone PoV:

Kathleen Gilligan on Aligning Sales Vision and Process

The very word "process" can instill dread. That’s because we have been led to believe that process is a tiring, analytical, checkbox of tasks that must be followed in the same way every time. I disagree. I think of process as a strong yet limber framework on which tools and activities are hung, to be selected and used as they are needed.

It’s easy to assume that talented salespeople are the reason that great sales organizations succeed. But you can be sure that any great sales organization, like Xerox and IBM, got that way by investing lot of time developing their culture and philosophy, and the processes and methodologies to support their vision.

To follow their lead, design your own sales process proactively. Don’t let it be designed by happenstance.

Distinguish your sales process (the overall strategic sales system) from your sales cycle (the stages of the sale) by focusing first on your philosophy. Do they seem similar? Read on. In what ways will your company acquire, care for, and sustain customer relationships? Communicate this philosophy from the top down. This means that the organization must have a consistent, strategic message that all employees hear and articulate. Make sure the executives are giving the same "elevator pitch" as the sales and support staffs.

Have your tools support the process, not define it. For example, when a company adopts a customer relationship management solution, suddenly the organization is adapting their way of doing business with customers to accommodate the way that the software package treats information. I have found this to be particularly true with forecasting, which becomes meaningless because the data it generates does not accurately reflect the relationship with the customer.

Think of a jazz band playing a familiar song. The musicians vary the melody and rhythm, but the song remains the same and is recognizable. The performers interpret the song. They use their own creative talents and instruments to produce an integrated whole that works. I believe the same can be done with any business process. Create a framework. Make it known. Then leave room for your best people to use their creativity and skills to interpret your song.

Sales process is a continuum. It begins with the ideal future interaction with the customer, and then works backwards to delineate the tasks, skills, tools and metrics that are necessary to make it all work together. A sales process is successful when it creates a definable, repeatable model for sales.

To define the process continuum, follow these steps:

Profile the ideal customer. Even if you have done this, try it again, this time by objectively interviewing your five most satisfied customers. Find out what went right in the sales interaction they had with your company. If you don’t have customers yet, think about the characteristics of your ideal customer. What questions would you want to be sure you could answer? What makes the sale a winning proposition for all? Make it your mission to know not only how they buy, but why.

Define your value proposition. There should be only one. What problem do you solve for the customer? What unique value do you offer? What does your company want to be known for? The answers to these questions will characterize your value. Let these top-tier considerations drive the way in which you bring your value proposition to your customers.

Determine your Sales Model. Anticipate the needs of your customer by asking yourself these questions: What type of support does the customer need before, during and after the sale? What type of sale will this be? Do you need a pre-sales engineer? Is it a highly technical sale? Is post-sale deployment required and how much skill is required? How long is the sales cycle likely to be? How complex or simple will the steps of the sales cycle be, and how costly? How many people will need to be involved in the sales cycle and what roles will they play?

Develop a model that supports these assumptions. This is the time to determine these four things:

• Will you sell through channels or directly to the user?
• What percentage of inside/outside salespeople will you need?
• How will you profile your ideal salesperson?
• Will your prospects have compelling needs and timelines, or will you create them?
• What sort of lead generation and other support will you require from other departments, such as marketing? Is lead generation your responsibility, or that of marketing? Be sure you have agreement on what a lead is.

Create the Process. You know now what the sales model looks like and the kind of customer relationships you want. Now develop the tools to support that premise. This is where so many organizations stumble, even when the preceding parts are done well.

Don’t let your tools define the process; instead, choose tools that reinforce your process. Most good salespeople have processes that work for them. Create a flexible process, one that will accommodate and encourage the tried-and-true techniques of your salespeople. What sales methodology should you employ? What reporting and tracking needs to be done; and how simply can it be effectively done? What compensation philosophy and plan will you use to elicit the behavior you desire?

Find methodologies and tools that help salespeople sell, rather than simply track data. While SFA applications are useful for tracking data, they often do not help salespeople do their real job, which is to understand customer needs, apply your product solution to those needs, and close business. When salespeople resent and resist process improvements like SFA, it is because the " improvements" add an administrative burden, without improving results. Additionally, salespeople do not like to provide data that they feel will be used against them. Make the sales force part of this process, not simply party to it.

Sales Tools. The tools themselves are what make the practices and processes tangible. Some sales tools are designed to make salespeople more effective, while others serve the same purpose for management. Differentiate between tools for creating sales results and those to assist management in assessing the results.

If you’ve chosen a sales methodology, don’t just train the salespeople. Develop tools that will imbue in them the desired skills and thinking. For example, create qualifying questions that reinforce the sales training methodology. Make product information easily accessible and express the product features and benefits in customer-friendly terms. Make sure that the sales team has the means to convey the message you want the customer to hear and the ability to ask questions that lead to that message. Decide on the type and frequency of training to provide, based on the skills you know you want to build.

Management Tools. Management must reinforce the sales process by creating consistency and accountability. Forecasting, territory reviews, account strategies, compensation and incentives, all must be consistent with the process and support the philosophy you’ve developed. Practice accountability by making sure all members of the sale team are on board.

Metrics. Having worked this hard to develop the pieces of the continuum, it is critical that metrics are in place to determine the success of the model. Measure these things in addition to the more standard forecasting results and revenue performance.

• Are more customers referenceable?
• Are new leads being generated and turned to sales?
• Is your win/loss ratio improving?
• Is repeat or renewal business increased?

The design of a good sales process does not require artistic vision or an advanced degree in science. It starts with something much simpler than that - planning. If you take the time to stand back and look at the big picture of what you want to achieve, then walk through these steps. You will be rewarded with a repeatable model that will consistently produce results you can be proud of.

Play some jazz! Now that your song is written, you have plenty of opportunities to improvise and interpret it creatively.

For over 25 years, Kathleen's leadership approach has built successful organizations in enterprise and channel sales, marketing, communications, training, and executive management. During her career, Kathleen has consistently demonstrated the ability to drive revenue and gain market share in very competitive environments, with companies ranging from early stage, venture backed start-ups to Public companies.

Kathleen spent ten years at Symantec Corporation and was Vice-President of Sales for On Demand, a startup in the partner relationship management space that was later sold to Chordiant. Most recently, Kathleen served as Vice President of Sales for AMR Research, a research firm advising Fortune 500 clients on supply chain and manufacturing strategies.

Kathleen was educated at the University of Lowell, and completed the Stanford University's AEA Executive MBA program.