Sales Force Effectiveness Research Insights

Sales Force Effectiveness!Research insights and panel debate!

Webinar – June 29th! #salesenablement!

WHAT IS KEEPING SALES MANAGERS UP AT NIGHT

PROF. DR. DEVA RANGARAJAN VLERICK BUSINESS SCHOOL, BELGIUM

© Vlerick Business School

AGENDA

§ The changing world of sales § What keeps the sales managers up § Sales Effectiveness Framework § Findings from the Sales Barometer

• 29/06/15 • 8 |


THE WORLD OF THE SALESPERSON TODAY

§ ……% of B2B buyers said they did not talk with a salesperson until after they had performed independent research.

§ Before being ready to speak to a sales rep, B2B buyers: §  Consume on average …… pieces of content §  Complete ......% of the buying decision

• 9

77%

57% 5

2. WHAT KEEPS SALES MANAGERS UP AT NIGHT


CURRENTS TRENDS IN SALES AND PROCUREMENT

PROCUREMENT

§ Professional §  Focus on transaction costs § Open book pricing § Risk averse §  Internal compliance

SALES

§ Skill Availability § Sales force Enablement § Commoditization §  Longer sales cycle times § Resource Allocation


FRAMEWORK FOR SALES FORCE EFFECTIVENESS

• Prof Dr Deva Rangarajan • 12

Shapers

•  Recruiting •  Training •  Coaching •  Culture formation •  Compensation

Enlighteners

•  Customer Research •  Targeting •  Data and tools •  Customer relationship

management systems

Exciters

•  Leadership •  Compensation •  Motivation programs •  Meaningful work

Controllers

•  Performance Management

•  Coordination systems •  Vertical and horizontal

communication •  Compensation

•  Sales strategy •  Customer

segmentation •  Customer offering •  Sales process

•  Go-to-market strategy •  Sales force design

•  Structure and roles •  Size •  Territory alignment

Definers

•  Skills •  Capabilities •  Values

•  Customer insight

•  Inspiration •  Motivation

•  Expectations •  Success

measures

•  Roles •  Territories •  Selling Process

Impact

Impact The Sales job The Salesperson

Salesperson / activity

Source: « The Sales Force as an engine of organic growth » by Bernard Quancard and Andris Zoltners, Velocity 2009


VLERICK SALES BAROMETER

§ List of 40 questions § Focus on procurement trends, structuring the sales effort, role of marketing, sales force enablement, sales force performance management


DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS

• 14

35

32

18

SME Multi-National Other

85

70 15

since 12y on average


TRENDS IN PROCUREMENT:

• 15

3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9

Traditional cold calling approaches do not work

Sales Cycle times are becoming longer

Social Selling

Online Searchers

TCO focus

Value adding sales visit

3.3

3.6

3.6

3.8

3.8

3.9

On a scale from 1 to 5


PROCESS AND ORGANIZATION

• 16

2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8

Clear guidelines about when to work with indirect sales

Clear idea about the pains of every member of the decision making unit in the customer’s

organization.

We clearly differentiate our sales approach based on the complexity of the sales process.

An exact understanding of the needs of every customer segment

We clearly link every feature of our solution (product + value added services) to the specific

need of the customer?

An understanding of the specific sales process per customer segment.

Clear and easy to understand criteria for segmenting customers

3.15

3.20

3.31

3.40

3.43

3.54

3.76



MARKETING NEEDS TO PLAY A MORE STRATEGIC ROLE IN:

• 17

3.70 3.80 3.90 4.00 4.10 4.20

Developing customer specific content

Track and monitor customer activity on digital channels

Customer segmentation

Mapping customer journeys and pain points

Lead generation and qualification

4.14

4.08

4.01

3.95

3.87

Averages on a scale from 1 to 5


SALES FORCE ENABLEMENT

• 18

2.75 2.8 2.85 2.9 2.95 3 3.05 3.1 3.15 3.2

Internal support team to create customer value propositions

Easy to implement account planning processes

Qualified leads are put in the CRM system

We have an education system in place ot train us on hi-tech tools

We have an easy to use CRM tool

Lead generation by marketing department

We have tools to deliver latest content at customer’s premises

Easy to access call management tools

2.9

2.9

3

3.1

3.1

3.2

3.2

3.2



KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

§ Over resource the best opportunities § Take opportunity selection out of the hands of the salespeople

§ Involve marketing and marketing tools in opportunity selection

§ Push transactional opportunities to cheaper channels to reduce cost of sale

§ Upgrade the consultative selling effort § Equip your sales managers to deal with managing the sales force during this transition


WE NEED YOUR HELP: UPCOMING RESEARCH

§ Understanding the Digital behaviour of B2B customers and how this impacts the sales process?

§ The role of KAMs in co-creation of innovations with customer?

§ How can you help?: Please send us an email to [email protected] and we will get in touch.

§ All responses will be held confidential and the results will be shared in a webinar (but the names of the companies will be hidden or not mentioned)

• Prof Dr Deva Rangarajan • 20

THANK YOU! EMAIL: [email protected] LINKED IN: BE.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/DEVARANGARAJAN WEB: HTTP://WWW.VLERICK.COM/SEC

Questions!

[email protected]!

Sales Force Effectiveness Research Insights

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Transcript of Sales Force Effectiveness Research Insights