Ten Keys To A Successful Sales Transformation

Any company about to embark on a major re-organisation takes great risks, chiefly losing good people and the risk of supply chain interruptions, as well as a multitude of potential catastrophes related to the lack of planning that so often informs such initiatives.

Perhaps the riskiest re-organisation of all is one that encompasses sales, because the potential negative impact on customers is huge and always immediate, with little time for "recovery" if glitches occur and your client doesn't receive the product they need, delivered when they need it.

Unless your company gets a sales re-organisation process right the first time around, customer relationships can be irreparably damaged, leaving you to fix expensive mistakes in the aftermath.

Given the pace at which markets change, many organisations have few options other than to face a "do or die" (or perhaps more accurately, change or die) scenario.

For example, consider the changes that internet commerce has imposed on sales organisations around the globe. Many have been faced with the need to quickly and radically change how they sell. Even traditional, business-to-business organisations have had to modify how they pursue sales in order to remain competitive.

Here are the top ten principles to minimise risk when transforming the sales function:

1. Design the new organisation based on the critical strategies and capabilities you need to achieve. Decide what the new sales organisation and all the functions within it need to be really good at doing.
   
   
2. Set forth clearly defined objectives for the transformation. Clearly articulate a future state and a timeframe to achieve it.
   
   
3. Remember that you can't change people. But you can change the work and people will follow. Design roles and sales support processes based on the organisational design. Outline not simply what the roles entail, but the capabilities and competencies required by individuals for success in those new roles.
   
   
4. Effective organisational change is all about "activity alignment". Make a vision come to life with clear strategies, initiatives and well-defined work activities. From a practical standpoint, this means grouping work activities into refined or re-defined jobs and then putting the right people into those jobs and giving them direction.
   
   
5. Design for the future state, but consider phased transition. Because the risk of lost productivity or lost talent in a sales organisation is so significant, transitioning to an interim state initially may provide a pragmatic alternative while moving the organisation in the right direction.
   
   
6. Understand and analyse all the barriers to change. Consider both external and internal hurdles. Internally, differentiate between organisational and behavioural obstacles, recognising that changing behaviours is often next to impossible.
   
   
7. Assess and then select employees for the new roles. Use a structured and disciplined approach to assessing talent. Past performance data and tools that identify potential in the new organisation can help keep the process objective and be predictive of success in the future organisation.
   
   If the new strategy requires a different skill set, this may require either selecting new talent or creating clear expectations and development plans. Such a process will help you get the right people in place. In addition, it sends a signal that it's a "new day" with new expectations.
   
   
8. Design a new sales compensation structure and incentives plan aligned with the new strategic direction. Reward the people that form the sales team for the right things.
   
   
9. Develop and execute a comprehensive implementation strategy. Bring key stakeholders and those who will be impacted along throughout the process. Communicate early and often and be as transparent as possible in what you share.
   
   
10. Constantly evaluate your progress towards your future state. Examine the changes you are making from an "outside-in" perspective, as your clients might perceive them. Change course if you need to.

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