Need to Fix Low Sales Productivity?

Here are Three Root Causes Every Senior Executive Needs to Know

by Michael J. Webb

Improvement in sales productivity doesn’t grow on trees. Once you understand what is really involved, the causes of statements like these jumps out at you:

• Company President: “I really like the new sales process you helped us design. Now, I expect my Sales VP to implement it. After all, I pay him enough.”
• Director of Marketing: “I understand how the Voice of the Read more

Five Things Sales and Marketing Can Learn From Lean Production

Some companies already know a lot about the transition from traditional to lean production operations. As it turns out, there are remarkable parallels between the lean journey in manufacturing and the lean journey in sales and marketing (sales kaizen). When implemented effectively, both the benefits and the Read more

Oh, Now I Get It!

Ahhh! Vacations are great. I had only half of one in the last two weeks and now that I’m back things still seem brighter and happier than before. The highlight was spending time with my wife and kids. (My daughter is in high school, Read more

Four Steps to Improving B2B Sales Performance

If you are like me, you’ve been studying how to improve the performance of B2B sales organizations for a long time. Here is a treat for you: a new video describing a simple, step-by-step apprpoach that aligns everyone involved by making them an offer they can’t refuse. Read more

How to Escape the Conversion Paradox

Four Dangerous Assumptions That Disintegrate Sales and Marketing – and How to Avoid Them

The head of sales and marketing for a systems integration firm was stumped.

His good marketing created impressive traffic to his company’s trade show booth. He and his team members had great conversations with more than a hundred people there, and arranged many follow-up conversations. On the flight back home he wondered how his team could handle all the opportunities they had found.

Yet a week after the event, it was as if the conference had never happened. These same prospects did not respond to emails or return follow-up phone calls. Those he managed to connect with were not interested. ++++++++ Read more

What Sales Process Behavior Charts Can Tell You

Dear Readers, Thank you for the excellent remarks about what process behavior charts can tell you from last week’s blog post. For convenience, I have reproduced the image here (with interpretation below).

Figure 1 - Sales Process Behavior Charts

Looks like while they are closing, they are not also prospecting…and unfortunately I see B2Bs do this frequently. This is by far one of the single biggest headaches that drives CEOs crazy as it adds a degree of variability that hits home where it hurts…in cash flow.

Bingo!

Sales Production Bottleneck

In many companies, salespeople are required to be involved in everything, so they are the bottleneck. Read more

What Can You Tell From These Sales Process Behavior Charts?

Pictures are worth a thousand words, especially when it comes to measuring sales and marketing production.

Measuring Sales Production Correctly

Figure 1 below contains two process behavior charts showing production measurements from a B2B company’s sales process. The first shows the quantity of qualified opportunities generated per month. The second shows Read more

What is The Problem Behind Your Sales Problem?

There is an interesting saying among psychotherapists that goes:

“Don’t try to solve anyone’s problems until you find out why they like having them.”

Think about that. Therapists know they can’t solve any patient’s problem until they understand the story hidden behind the problem. Now, please don’t think I’m saying sales organizations need therapy, or that sales executives like Read more

The Hidden Obstacle to Improving Sales Performance: Systems Thinking

Last week’s blog post, “Why Is It So Hard to Create Improvements in the Sales Department?” listed six examples of companies who tried and failed to improve sales results. All shared the same root cause. Read more

Building A Negotiation Strategy Into Your Sales Process (members-only)

By Michael Webb and Brian Deitmeyer Whether you are in a recession, or in a healthy economy, it pays to have a sales process designed specifically to enhance your negotiating position. In a recession, purchasing departments can more easily initiate bidding wars and reopen negotiations with suppliers, Read more