The sales process is viewed as three interconnected components that must successfully work together to maximize the effectiveness of your sales force:  first, the inherent capabilities and learned skills of your producers; second, the systematic sales methodology defined by your organization; third, the coordination across the business supporting the core sales process. 

These must all be designed to increase the value delivered to clients.  Ensuring these three components interact efficiently increases the time your producers spend with clients, allowing them to drive optimal revenue growth.  Our analysis profiles the performance of each component and lays out a prioritized improvement plan.  Our sales process engineers and your internal experts use this plan to drive enormous improvements in the effectiveness of your producers. 

Improvements in the sales process result from a concerted set of changes across the business.  For the sales organization to lead the business to successful results requires the organization be aligned to provide the right support to the sales team. 

In our sales process improvement engagements we’ve found five leverage points that drive most of the revenue improvement for direct sales organizations:

Referral Analysis

Most sales organizations are not systematically collecting and analyzing their referral data or calculating ROI’s by marketing channel.

Significant improvements in the cost per contact and cost per sale can be realized by optimizing marketing investments to improve the referral flow and leverage “alumni” networks.

In one organization, 85% of the “sales leads” would not pass a simple qualification screen.  In another, 30% of the ad budget was spent on negative NPV channels.  

Networking Technique

The top salespeople in any organization have networking figured out and they have their own, very profitable, network in place.

In our analyses, these networks are seldom used to maximize revenue for the entire organization. 

New salespeople are not introduced to these networks in a manner that maximizes retention and the company’s full range of products are seldom introduced.  The right compensation structure and networking technique can drive results for everyone. 

Consultative Account Planning

The research on this point is very clear.  Prospects buy the person first, the company second, and the product last.

Salespeople who push product are not successful with strategic accounts.  Building the relationship, based on a comprehensive understanding of the clients needs, has to be the first step. 

Account planning, combined with a disciplined sales process, has to be in place for the sales organization to invest appropriately in landing the larger, and more profitable, accounts.

Sales Process Discipline

A disciplined, effective sales process turns new hires into emerging stars years sooner than on-the-job training.  3 to 5 times improvements can result for sales people who are trained in the right approach, versus finding their own way through word-of-mouth.

Sales organizations invest in motivational seminars that lack the methodology and one-on-one coaching required to provide the single greatest motivation—extraordinary results.  

Client Experience

The client experience must be measured both within the sales organization and across the support teams.  We have often found a wide discrepancy between the relationship scores for the sales lead, which may be extraordinarily high, and the loyalty scores for the support processes—which can impose a significant penalty on overall client loyalty. 

CRC has implemented client loyalty measures which dramatically improve sales results by ensuring that word-of-mouth across the client base supports your growth aspirations.