Team Based Sales ApproachAchieving Sales Success as a Team

This white paper serves as a resource to discuss the purpose, methodology, division of labor, team member profiles, use of CRM, customer interactions, compensation, and change management inclusion of the Team Based Sales

Concept for Business Development.

By Brent Pritchard, Business Development Manager, Swagelok Alabama | West Tennessee

Team Based Sales Approach

Team Based Sales ApproachAchieving Sales Success as a Team

PurposeTeam Based Sales is a vital component to achieving sales growth in today’s ever evolving marketplace. Success in today’s rapidly changing customer environment requires the agility and efficiency of a highly functioning sales team comprised of both internal and external sales associates.

Uncovering organic sales opportunities, product expansion among current customers, and converting competitive accounts can equally be shared among all elements of a sales force. To achieve unequaled sales growth, each element must be reliant upon the other and form a symbiotic relationship for success. No longer can one element own the success of the organization.

Methodology

The basic methodology of team based sales is:

1. Sales opportunities are created by both internal and external sales associates. Internal associates primarily garner leads through a Lead Generation Process, qualify them, and then assign to External Sales Associates through an Opportunity Management process.

2. A highly organized and practiced Division of Labor can complement each element of a sales team and orient them to reach new levels of growth.

3. A sales team designed around specific roles and profiles is crucial.

4. Along with the sales cycle, all elements of the sales team must be fully invested and operate within a CRM environment to create seamless customer interactions meeting both expected and unrealized needs.

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Team Based Sales

Transforms Farming to

Hunting

Internal sales associates actively develop and qualify leads and create opportunities, while external associates close significant sales opportunities. The combination of these actions is a game changer for sales organizations.

Once qualified leads and developed opportunities exist, focus shifts from account maintenance to aggressive attempts to secure new business. External sales focus and levels of comfort with established accounts are realigned to pursue qualified potential opportunities with new accounts.

This paradigm shift transforms sales activities from reactive to proactive and results in sales growth and success.

Team Based Sales Approach

5. Desired behaviors and activities can be positively driven and championed through compensation.

6. Implementation of change management processes should always remain a core facet of the continual development of a Sales Team.

Lead Generation and Opportunity Management ProcessLead generation and opportunity management, coupled with well-organized and disciplined sales teams, are key facets of the future development of sales revenue and new opportunities. Lead Generation will serve as the chief source of new customer development and improved service to current customers. Without an influx of and action on new leads, sales will stagnate and provide fewer new channels to grow a customer base, expand product lines and services, and better align resources in efficient, targeted efforts. Opportunity Management will serve as the mechanism to efficiently manage the qualification of leads to significant business opportunities between all elements of a sales force.

Division of Labor amongst a Sales Team

Sales organizations must determine specific associate roles, criteria, and processes to execute lead and opportunity creation, development, and handoff between internal and external sales associates. Once that criterion is assigned and adopted by the organization, the basic division of labor discussed below can be executed and developed into a highly functioning division of labor complementing each segment of the sales force and achieving sales success.

Customer Service Representatives shall remain a needed component of the sales force. While not officially recognized as a member of the sales team, they need to continue to retain responsibility for reactive order taking and providing product knowledge for customers. Additionally, they need to recognize the opportunity to convert crucial conversations and engage inside sales for potential opportunity development. Their role is an important parallel function to those of a Sales Team.

Marketing also serves as a vital component within the division of labor of a sales team. Without outbound marketing to both current and prospective customers, lead generation and customer development efforts are extremely hampered. The metrics provided from marketing campaigns help to quantify efforts and communicate Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) across the organization. Marketing is the lifeline for a successful sales team.

The role of an internal sales force is to help create, qualify, and refine sales opportunities. Internal associates spend a bulk of their time transforming leads into qualified prospects. Internal relies upon External to assume sales activity responsibility of qualified leads and opportunities that require onsite visits, consultation, and the

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Team Based Sales Approach

relationship development necessary to convert qualified leads and potential opportunities into wins.

The role of an external sales force must transform from a mere service provider and order taker to becoming a skilled closer who anticipates, understands, and exceeds customer and prospect needs. External sales associates rely upon internal associates to provide qualified sales leads and opportunities to augment sales beyond current customers and achieve sales success. Finally, external associates should seek to engage high level decision makers to exert an appropriate level of influence in each account. Holding high level, crucial conversations enable the delivery of solutions to problems rather than just providing products.

Additionally, as an element of the external sales force, account service associates are needed to perform the day to day tasks that most external salesmen have historically performed. To truly transform an external sales force from service roles to a specified focus of closing qualified sales opportunities, account service associates must assume all inventory management and onsite customer service roles. External sales associates need to abandon daily service roles if they are to truly become full-time opportunity closers. The full purpose of a team based sales concept cannot be realized if external sales associates are spending their time fulfilling inventory, customer requests, and service requirements. Included is a simple flow chart representing the basic steps within a Division of Labor for Team Based Sales.

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Team Based Sales Approach

Team Member ProfilesThe ideal profile of an internal sales associate would be one of a tenacious, aggressive, but congenial relationship builder who is unafraid of failure, opposition, or rejection. This individual shall be perceptive, seeks basic understanding of prospect needs, quickly establish customer rapport, and not be deterred from rejection. This individual shall possess premier communication skills, product knowledge, and adeptness with incorporating technology into daily work functions.

The ideal profile of an external sales associate would possess the following abilities: premier product knowledge, quickly and efficiently conveying key requirements to converting qualified opportunities into sales success, establishing immediate customer rapport, keen insight to remove objections from sales discussions, and an intense desire to expeditiously address numerous qualified opportunities within a single day. This individual, while building key relationships, shall serve as the chief resource for converting qualified and significant opportunities to wins.

The account service associate would be one that represents the most frequent, front facing relationship to customers. They would provide routine account maintenance, inventory management, and addressing onsite customer questions and needs. Their role would also be part observer and part discoverer. They continually study the onsite situation for emerging opportunities, product expansion, and increased service potential. Through crucial customer communications and CRM, information would be shared among other sales team elements to efficiently serve customer needs and create sales opportunities. The importance of this element of the sales force shall not be neglected or understated by the organization. If this role is not aggressively exercised, the aforementioned division of labor is unbalanced and specific roles cannot be fully achieved.

CRM as a Unifying FactorA well-developed and disciplined CRM processes is one of the critical success factors for Team Based Sales. By sharing all data and ownership from lead generation to close of sale, the sales team can spend more time focusing on selling and less on information and process.

Internal and external associates work should “live” in CRM. Data analysis and recording will be key for metrics and crucial decision making to help align resources and sales activities. A well-defined CRM process should be developed and fulfilled to compliment a Team Based Sales concept.

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Team Based Sales Approach

Team Based Sales Creates Seamless Customer InteractionsCustomer interactions should be a seamless and unified response from a Sales Team practicing a defined division of labor and using CRM for lead and opportunity management. With defined sales objectives and a shared desire for success, the individual actions within the sales process should complement each other and customers should not recognize true role division among team members. Each sales action should add value for the customer and, if CRM processes are executed correctly, each handoff should be received by the customer as a single customer conversation or interaction.

This is a relatively new concept that requires unification under shared sales objectives, team communication service methods, and compensation plans. To fully implement this strategy within any organization, buy-in must first occur at the highest level of management. While this idea is easy to conceptualize, disciplined effort and practice must be given to this theory to truly achieve a unified and seamless customer experience.

Sales Team CompensationCompensation can serve as an additional mechanism to strengthen unity and focus sales efforts. Sales objectives will dictate compensation models, but there are a few best practices shared among the marketplace that provide a basis for further development within sales organizations. To create the needed cohesion, the activities of each element must be examined to fairly compensate and share sales success responsibility. With shared understanding and collective buy-in centered on sales objectives, compensation can drive desired behaviors and results.

External sales associates, whose compensation has primarily been commissioned based in the past, must generate sales revenue from closing qualified opportunities and no longer solely rely on reoccurring orders from established customers. To compensate and positively motivate, a balance of a standard, larger salary, coupled with an aggressive commission rate, can provide the compensation level needed to satisfy and motivate sales personnel transitioning from a commission/draw format. Providing qualified leads and opportunities, along with offering this type of compensation, will assist in attracting quality candidates for the sales force. Time spent by these associates will be better aligned with growth opportunities and shift away from traditional service roles.

Internal sales associates should also be compensated with a salary + commission model. Commission should be used as a motivator to hit predetermined goals focused on lead generation, product and market basket expansion, and uncovering significant, qualified sales opportunities for external associates to close.

Account service associates, whose role focuses on more frequent, routine service activities, should be compensated by a set salary based on marketplace standards. Additional commission rates, however, can be added to their compensation model and drive targeted behaviors and results to expand product market basket consumption rates.

Many sales objectives can dictate the activities of each element. Expansion of territory sales growth, company sales growth, increases in product market basket consumption and focused products, and successful completion of an annual business plan can be

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Team Based Sales Approach

incorporated in commission rates to focus specific activities to generate desired results. Additionally, meaningful sales interactions, or MSI’s, can be added to this list of criterion. These include: number of face to face meetings, number of emails, calls, and personal visits per account tracked in CRM, tracking of opportunities in CRM, etc. Including these elements in a compensation model are crucial concepts that pair personal enticement for significant monetary gain with the organizations desire to achieve new results within the sales environment.

Change ManagementImplementation of a Team Based Sales Approach needs to occur within a Change Management Process, such as Kotter’s Eight Steps of Change. It is crucial to create the climate for continual improvement, engage all involved in continuous improvement and buy-in, and then enact and perpetuate the change as it occurs. Change management has to be included as an element of a Team Based Sales Approach for positive change to occur and to continually improve the performance of the team.

The theories and processes discussed above will require continual refinement as time progresses, both as the processes, team, and sales objectives mature. An organization with values aligned with communication, continual improvement, and a dedication for success lend itself well to executing ongoing improvements through a Change Management Process.

ConclusionTo best meet customer needs and expectations, a Team Based approach is needed to transform sales activities from reactive to proactive efforts to gain new customers and expand market share. With the implementation of Lead and Opportunity Management processes and through CRM, the sales organization will be ready to exhibit the change needed to drive new behaviors and sales growth.

While Team Based is a simple concept, implementation must be tempered within a change management environment and discipline, coupled with understanding, should be applied as associates serve new roles and divisions of labor. Additionally, any rollout must be scalable and each implementation level should support itself within the organization. With well-defined sales objectives, a Team Based sales concept can propel the organization to new levels of sales growth and success.

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