Executive sales leaders are chartered with delivering sustainable results. Getting results is, in turn, about effectively removing barriers to success. And removing barriers to success includes keeping a sales team "laser-focused" on solving problems that help clients achieve their business goals. While this all sounds reasonable - why is it so difficult to execute?
Many leaders are highly adept at, and invest a significant amount of time on, thought leadership regarding sales strategy and planning. However, "rolling up the sleeves" and making strategy work quickly and efficiently is often much more challenging than developing the strategy. Leading a sales organisation to high performance requires a well-connected strategy and a practical approach to execution.
Even when strategy and execution are in sync, there probably will be a few hurdles encountered which impact implementation. To overcome these and ensure successful execution, the implementation plan must include a "who, what, where, why and how" of aligning people, process, technology and communication. Getting things done, with the right people, in the right timeframe, and with the right tools, is vital to putting a plan into action.
Sales leaders who drive a superior execution strategy understand the importance of "not sweating" the stuff you can't control, and executing with precision the things you can. Successful leaders continually communicate a "roadmap," which is a dynamic guideline outlining not only the process, but relationships among key decisions, and/or actions. This "roadmap" carefully considers people, process, technology and communication as components of the best approach to achieve results.
The first step in developing an execution plan specific to your organization involves identifying a preliminary checklist of areas to focus on in the categories of people, process, technology and communication. Each focus area must consider the "who, what, why, where, and how" measurement in order to be successful.
Some guidelines for consideration include:
- People
- Roles/Responsibilities - what role is expected of the sales force to meet customer requirements and how will they accomplish results in their day-to-day responsibilities?
- Competency Profiles - what competencies are needed to succeed, where are the gaps, how does the company want to utilize assessment tools to identify key competencies?
- Recruiting/Retention - how will a pipeline of qualified sales candidates be maintained? What retention process is in place to minimize attrition?
- Training & Development - what is the initial on-boarding training program? How is ongoing training and development maintained and at what frequency?
- Performance Management - are well-defined written performance standards and metrics in place? How are performance management initiatives rolled out across the sales organization, who monitors, when, how, etc.? What incentive/compensation plans are required to align with overall business objectives?
- Process
- Sales Process - is there a clearly written and communicated plan on how to advance sales through a defined opportunity management process? Does this process outline the planning, prospecting, identifying, qualifying, developing, closing and follow-up phases of the sale? How is this process monitored for success?
- Quality of Output - how do we ensure integration of marketing and sales to maximize results? Once the sale is made, what process is in place to ensure high customer satisfaction which, in turn, yields repeat business?
- Return on Investment - what does a cost-effective and productive sales process need to produce in order to achieve return on investment and financial results for the organization?
- Technology
- Systems - what systems are in place to support sales and improve efficiency and productivity?
- Integration - how does the sales process get integrated across the system to ensure most effective use by the sales force? What are key data points/reports required to efficiently track the opportunity pipeline and forecast business results? How are sales and marketing initiatives tracked to identify results?
- Knowledge Management - what data is most important to the organization; where can it be found quickly? Why is it important to the sales process, and how is it updated/maintained for efficient use?
- Communication
Who, What, When, Where, Why & How? - While a focus on people, process and technology are all key to successful execution of any sales strategy, driving both a formal and informal communication plan is the most critical component to achieving sustainable results and building a high performance sales culture.
The sales leader who understands and communicates the importance of both the sales strategy and the execution plan will differentiate their sales organization and gain competitive advantage with their customers.