Creating High-Performing Sales Teams

Welcome – the session will begin shortly!

Companies achieve only 33% of expected results from their strategic plans.The Gap between expectation and performance is a failure of companies to execute strategy.

Markon Associates and the Economist Intelligence Unit

Case Study 1Mission: New product launch in EMEA• Weak Sales in Q1 and Q2 of 2015• Root Cause: Misalignment across functional

groups, 14 countries, and 2 continents• Lesson Learned: Create an aligned plan with

buy-in from all countries and functional groupsResult: 3.14x Sales Pipeline & Revenue in Q4 2015

Case Study 2Mission: Increase YOY monthly Sales by 10%• Result: only 8% YOY monthly sales increase• Root Cause: Weak merchandise demos and few

client references• Lesson Learned: Create merchandise demo

video and share three key client references with entire sales team

Next month: 15% YOY monthly sales increase

Atlanta, GA

• President of Afterburner

• USAF F-15 Mission Commander

• U.S. Presidential Escort Missions

• Air Force Academy Graduate

• M.S. Aerospace Science / MBA from UT

• Instructor Pilot of the Year at USAF Training HQ

• Embedded with Silicon Valley Tech Company in 2015

Thor

FLAWLESS EXECUTION CYCLE

PLAN BRIEF

EXECUTEDEBRIEF

WIN!

FLAWLESS EXECUTION CYCLE

BRIEF

EXECUTEDEBRIEF

WIN!PLAN

Success in Sales Planning• Clarify roles and responsibilities around a

shared, aligned sales vision.

Common Challenges to Alignment• “We don’t have backend support. We sell the product, and the delivery team can’t

ever get it to the group on time.”– VP of Sales

• “Marketing doesn’t have the right pitch for me yet. I don’t know this new product, they haven’t equipped me with the ability to position it to the market, so I’m just going to sell the stuff I’m used to.”– Sales Team Leader, EMEA Sales Group

• “We’re not going to release the product for launch until it’s perfect. We’re still working on cost-cutting measures in production.”– VP of R&D, Med Device Company

TACTICALLY FOCUSEDORGANIZATION

STRATEGICALLY ALIGNEDORGANIZATION

Prometheus Process by John Warden. Copyright 2002-2012, Venturist ®, Inc.

Keys to the Sales Planning Phase• Bring all stakeholders to the Sales

Planning Session• Identify Leading indicators for sales

success• Create clear objectives for the group

FLAWLESS EXECUTION CYCLE

PLAN BRIEF

EXECUTE

Success in Sales Execution• Create a culture of disciplined execution

that emphasizes clear advancements for every client interaction.

Common Challenges to Execution• “We’re too busy selling to talk about our Pipeline metrics.”

– VP of Sales

• “We’ve got too much data. I’m drowning in SalesForce dashboards.”– Sales Team Leader, Top Tech Company

• “We don’t have a sustainable cadence because we’re so EOQ focused that we end up in a blind sprint at the end of each quarter. We have horrible forecasting and revenue projection metrics.”– VP of Sales, Top Tech Company

Keys to the Execution Phase• Make data clear and simple• Identify Leading indicators for success• Create a sustainable Execution Rhythm

and stick to it.

FLAWLESS EXECUTION CYCLE

PLAN BRIEF

EXECUTEDEBRIEF

Success in Sales Debriefs• Effectively capture and transfer “Lessons

Learned” to create a continuous learning, improvement, and perpetual Pipeline.

Common Sales Debrief Challenges• “We’re in competition with one another. Why would I share my

best practices?”– SVP Business Ops, Tech company

• “We’ve got to move on to the next deal.”– VP of Sales, Retail

• “Debrief? We don’t debrief.”– Everyone, Every sales org

20-YEAR CLIENT AVERAGE

6.85PLANNING

3.73DEBRIEFING

5.01BRIEFING

7.93EXECUTING

10%20%

30+%

DEBRIEFING

Tannenbaum & Cerasoli. “Do Team and Individual Debriefs Enhance Performance? A Meta-Analysis.” Group for Organizational Effectiveness, Human Factors Vol. 55, No. 1, February 2013

Unstructured Debriefing 22%

Structured Debriefing 38%

Facilitated Debrief +27%

Keys to the Sales Debrief• Start with a win• Share your Lessons Learned• Make the application of new techniques

simple

FLAWLESS EXECUTION CYCLE

PLAN BRIEF

EXECUTEDEBRIEF

WIN!

Applying Flawless Execution to your Sales Teams

• Create Alignment• Create an Execution Rhythm• Simplicity beats complexity

• Accelerate your existing sales model

Joel “Thor” Neebthor@afterburner.com Afterburner.com@AfterburnerInc#FlawlessExecution