My recent discussions with business leaders have uncovered a common assessment as they look to grow revenue – they perceive their sales teams are underperforming. Their investments in new product innovations, business acquisition, and marketing are not being converted into the expected revenue growth. In some cases, they now realize that last year’s celebrations of growth recognized overall marketplace growth versus their share growth – they achieved less than what was possible.
In some cases, their solution was to replace the sales team – some had wholesale turnover from sales leadership to the individual “boots on the ground” salespeople. Others watched their revolving door of salespeople – they lost both desired talent and underperformers. From my outside looking in vantage point, I saw some of these “underperformers” being hired by other companies with celebration and great anticipation.
According to the Harvard Business Review, many of these business leaders may have achieved their revenue objectives if they had also invested in a credible, formalized sales process. In fact, HBR research suggests there is an 18% difference in revenue growth between companies that defined a formal sales process and companies that didn’t. This revenue growth is driven by a shorter and more predictable sales cycle, more accurate forecasting, increased close rates, and proactive contingency planning.
So, what is a formalized sales process and how do you set one up in your company?
In my experience, the sales process is unique for your business – it should align with how your customers buy, it should amplify your benefits as experienced by your customer, and it leverages the unique strengths of your organization. Many sales teams use generic sales processes, and consequently get generic sales performance.
How does this relate to Ascend’s Intuitive Selling Process®?
As I developed the mission for Ascend Commercial Solutions, I recognized that Ascend needs to tailor its approach to the unique objectives and intents of each client – in both leadership competencies and commercial acumen. To do this, the three foundational pillars of the Intuitive Selling Process®were designed to be very intuitive:
Under each of these competencies are suggested skills and tools that may be used, modified, or replaced with similar skills and tools that are used by your sales team and considered effective. The Intuitive Selling Process® is a simple and flexible, yet pragmatic approach to selling.
As I consider the elements of a high performing Sales Team, I reflect on the sport of rowing. In rowing, everyone on the boat needs to be synchronized to perform as a winning team. There cannot be one superstar that “carries” the boat. Of course, you need strong performers for a champion team, but they all need to be synchronized – a strong stroke can actually topple the boat. And you cannot force the synchronization – it needs to be tailored to the team of rowers in the boat.
Similarly, a high performing sales team needs to be synchronized. The Intuitive Selling Process® provides clearly defined stages and gates that result in these commercial and organizational benefits:
As a dear friend and colleague once told me, sometimes things are simple but not easy.
Connect with Ascend Commercial Solutions to learn how you may harness the power of the Intuitive Selling Process® to transform your sales team:
Want to learn more? Feel free to sign up for a no-obligation 30-minute review of your challenges and possible actions we may take to overcome them by pressing the “Get Started” button on LinkedIn or “Let’s Talk!” button on the AscendCommercialSolutions.com website.
Happy Selling!
George
Ascend Commercial Solutions brings our expertise in Customer Engagement, Sales Management, and Market Development to overcome your barriers to growth. Our structured approach is tailored to your specific company objectives and the challenges you face. The improvements to your business and organization will stand the test of time.