There are many moving parts to a well-run sales organization, however there is an appropriate positioning and cadence to get the machine running efficiently and at full power, producing results that you and your stakeholders will applaud.
We use a limited number of manageable buckets to group not only our thoughts, but also our work product.
Planning – includes sizing the addressable market, list acquisition, understanding the sales cycle, sales CRM configuration, field work, creation of a sales activity waterfall (used to forecast sales capacity), write sales policy, territory and quota assignment, build compensation plan
People – holds assessment of current sales staff, recruitment and hiring
Proficiency – contains building weekly and/or monthly sales reporting (versus assigned quota) and stacked rankings (versus peers), sales and product training, review and syndication of sales materials used in presenting programs or products to prospective customers, field work
The buckets appear in sequential order. Without good work in the planning bucket you have compromised your chances of success, regardless of how good the work is in the people bucket, for example. That is what keeps me from running out to hire better sales representatives or sales managers, only to subject them to a flawed plan. Likewise, you will experience limited success in making changes/additions to the proficiency bucket if you have the wrong people in the seats.
If you are unsure whether hunter-type selling is right for your organization, please take five minutes to complete our Qualifying Wizard.