Secrets of Superior Sales Performance
Written by Lissa C. Versteegh Tuesday, March 15 2011
Part 1: Strategy and Structure 
What’s Your Company’s Strategy?
For your company’s sales force to sell successfully you must have a compelling message that resonates with a specific, targeted group of people or companies. It is shocking to me how often I speak with CEOs or business owners who can’t tell me what their ideal client looks like.
If you don’t know, then how do you expect your sales people to know? Taking the time to have a crystal-clear vision of who derives the most benefit from what your company sells, or, better yet, what problems they have that your company can solve is critical. Once your company understands who your audience is it becomes a bit easier to develop that compelling message.
Too often I work with clients who tell me they are in a very mature market with lots of competition and that their company is really no different than the others. It is true that there are multiple insurance agencies and technology firms, and, yes, even dry cleaners. But what was it that caused you to choose your dry cleaners?
Every company has some differentiator. But you must take the time to identify what that differentiator is. Again, it should be a leadership message. As leader of your company, you should be able to passionately share with everyone else supporting the company what makes your company special and unique. And your sales people are actually one of your best resources to go figure that out. They have the ability to speak with all of your best clients and ask them that important question, “Why did you choose us?”
It’s a great way to gain valuable insight into the competitive advantage your company holds, and your clients will feel important because you ask them.
In today’s economic environment, it is no surprise that companies and sales professionals face more competition and greater price pressures than ever. But dropping price to close business is a risky proposition on a good day. What kind of message does that send about the quality of your offering? Worse yet, what does it do to the financial health of your company?
Companies that continue to survive, even thrive, in today’s economy are those that have taken the time to understand their unique value to their customers and then have shared that message with everyone on the team. You must create a sales team that truly believes in the value of their offering. Otherwise you run the risk of having your company being positioned as an also-ran.
Once an unshakable foundation has been established, your company then has bedrock (strategy) on which to build. Building must be given careful thought and planning, and that building project must be checked from time to time against the plans, not unlike a contractor checks progress against the plans of the architect. That accountability is called “structure.”
How about Company Structure?
Good sales structure has two basic components, the plan and accountability. If you have hired well and have the right kind of sales people on your team, they will be goal oriented. But, if they don’t have a target at which to shoot, how will they ever know if they scored or not? The other key piece of a good sales plan is leadership’s ability to bring it down to an individual contributor level and make it relevant and meaningful to each sales person.
Frequently that can be done with a well-crafted compensation plan. Comp plans sometimes get a bad rap in the world of sales. Truth is, if the plan is well structured, it should provide incentive for the behavior most critical to driving sales. Notice I said “behavior,” not revenue. No one can ultimately control whether a customer buys or doesn’t buy. But leaders can control the behavior of sales professionals. If individuals consistently focus and execute on the right behavior with the right frequency, the results will ultimately come.
Of course, with that comes management’s responsibility for accountability. Most sales people will cringe with the mention of accountability. And frequently they are right to do so. Effective accountability does not mean endless reporting of how each and every moment of the day was spent. That serves no useful purpose. Effective accountability means a core set of behavior expectations, co-set with sales professionals, that will help them achieve their goals.
The behaviors should be easily measurable with a “stretch” element to them. Once the right behavior expectations are in place, sales people understand what is expected of them and have the ability to work toward achieving those goals on a daily basis, giving them some sense of control. At the same time, the sales manager has clearly communicated expectations and will now have objective information on which to base that ever-important performance evaluation, be it good or bad.
One additional benefit of setting good behavior goals and then holding sales professionals to account is enhanced coaching ability for the manager. If the right behavior goals have been set and measured to, it is easy to quickly see if sales people are struggling and at what point in the process. As a manager, you can then focus very specifically on the trouble area and coach your sales team back up to speed.
Lissa C. Versteegh is president of Georgia Sales Development, a Sandler Training affiliate that helps companies increase their sales effectiveness by focusing on the people and the processes. The approach centers around using a systematic sales process throughout a company.
Prior to acquiring her Sandler Training franchise, Versteegh had 19 years of sales and management experience in corporate America. Her experience ranges from direct sales at a local then national level to sales management of a $40-million region for a national managed-care company. Today, she works with presidents, CEOs, and business owners, helping them acquire and retain sales teams with consistently superior performance.
Versteegh is president-elect of the Georgia Executive Women’s Network. She and husband, Ron, have a 9-year-old son, Garrett.
