INNERGISE!

“You’re just a bunch of busy fools!” This was a conclusion that was derived at a board meeting I facilitated last week for a very successful organisation who were currently experiencing a slowdown in their growth and were questioning why.

What was different from three months ago? Why had sales conversions dipped so much? Had the market changed that dramatically without them realising it?

Strangely enough, they weren’t alone.

We’ve seen a number of organisations start to suffer a similar trend after having experienced an excellent period of success and, after some considered analysis, it would appear that the reasons for these downward trends are also strangely similar.

On the face of it, in the eyes of the senior management teams, everyone is working as hard and putting in as much effort, if not more, in some cases. Lots of noise, lots of momentum, lots of activity… but not the return.

So what is going on?

Well, let’s break it down into two parts.  Firstly, let’s look at their internal Value Index or “Vi”. This rates an individual, team and organisation based on the volume of activity they are doing at different levels against the measurable Value that those activities bring directly to the business.

Whether it be a manager, sales person or otherwise, the analysis of an individual’s day to day activity against the question “does that add immediate value to the organisation?”  is incredibly enlightening and often highlights a significant number of non-core, low-value and often pointless activities that we immerse ourselves in, all in the name of “keeping busy”.

We completed this exercise with an organisation last week and I would estimate that we have not only found an average of 20% new time for each of their sales force to use for new business development activity (which is really great in itself), but have left a very clear message to everyone in the business that if what they are doing is not adding value, and doesn’t have a high Vi, then stop doing it!

This re-focus on value, value, value will allow everyone to prioritise on what matters and avoid spending time on non-core activities in core business hours.

The second part of the conundrum relates to the “other” aspects of selling, that box of questions that if we don’t have answers to, or at least don’t have the right answers to, then the typical / standard sales measurements we tend to use (new business, GP, revenue etc.) will never be as effective, nor as accurate, as they should be.

To assess this, simply do a bit of internal navel gazing and ask yourselves some questions on all things relating to the end to end sales process, such as:

Key Selling Skills

• Does each salesperson have a clear understanding of the sales process? Has it been mapped out?
• On a sales call, how does a salesperson conduct a needs analysis?
• Do they have a specific list of questions for a needs analysis?
• Are your sales people selling their company / product / service or solving the client’s issues?
• Does each sales person know the lift spiel and have a comprehensive capability statement at hand?
• What objective does a salesperson have in mind before making a sales specific call?
• Does the salesperson know what the “typical” objections would be, and how to handle them?
• Are there weekly sales meetings and what are the purpose / agenda (does it add value) for these?
• Is the sales force focused on increasing quality, reducing costs and increasing margins?
• How innovative are they being with their sales strategies?

Competitive intelligence

• Do salespeople know who all their competitors are?
• Where and why are their competitors winning and what are their key selling points?
• Who are some of the key accounts of their competitors?
• What strategies do your salespeople have in place to target these clients?

Marketing Management

• How innovative are salespeople being with their “marketing”, and are aligning their marketing with the needs of their target markets?
• Are they gathering testimonials and case studies at every opportunity?
• Is there a referral process in place?  Does it get used?

These questions are just a small snapshot of the full sales process audit we complete for organisations, and yet for many organisations, when you just look at some of these, there are immediately a number of obvious gaps that become apparent.

So, in the midst of your very busy days, full of momentum, activity and noise, just pause for 10 minutes (about the time it takes to make a cup of tea) and question whether what you are doing right now is adding immediate value to your business.

If you’re a manager, do this for your team and get them to ask the questions of themselves.

If you can create a habit around value activities in your business, those negative trends will soon turn positive.

If you would like more information on Innergy’s Sales Audit process, contact James Osborne at james@innergy.co.uk