Result: Something that happens as a consequence; outcome.
We need more sales, more profitable sales, more of “this type” of sales etc. The common theme is that organizations know the consequence and outcome that they want to achieve. As with any outcome, it is equally important to understand the activities that will cause the desired outcome to occur.
If all that is being measured are the results, it is easy to lose track of the most effective activities that create the results.
- “We just need to make more calls!”
- “We need more meetings!”
- “We need to be on more vendor lists!”
- “We need more/better partners!”
These are common examples of the frustration that is voiced by business leaders when they are questioned about what is necessary to improve results. Often the reality is that they have lost track of the activities that created their best business relationships in the first place.
As markets change and buyers have less time for analysis, they attempt to commoditize everything. Complex decisions show up as “fill in the blanks” charts in efforts to save time and money. The excel spreadsheet with the ratings legend is more and more common. Sellers get caught in this trap and find themselves spending more and more time filling in these matrices. When was the last time you won a new client by filling in a form?
The trap gets stickier because every minute spent filling in the blanks is one less minute spent on other sales activities. The research is clear that an extremely small percentage of RFP’s are won when the responder hasn’t had a hand in shaping the preparation of the RFP; yet most sales teams continue to spend valuable time and effort responding to them.
It’s a valuable exercise to take some time and brainstorm about how your business and your clients’ businesses have changed in the past 5 years. Buying behaviour has changed and (very likely) your selling behaviour has as well. Once you have taken stock of the current environment, start thinking of the activities required to achieve the results that you are looking to accomplish.
Sales teams need direction, training and coaching on the activities that will make them successful. When you are reviewing positive and negative results, take some time to reflect on the causes of the results and how you can modify them for greater success.
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