The rise of big data has been a double-edged sword for some. While customers have embraced data as it allows for easier price comparisons, their persistent focus on short-term savings has created new challenges for sellers—mainly, by undercutting the power of storytelling.

A member we recently spoke with shared how increasingly data-driven customers in the electronics industry have become so focused on price that they often lose sight of their vision and initial objectives behind a purchase.

“It’s like trying to buy a painting based only on numbers and price comparisons–which is impossible–when in fact it’s the story behind the painting that sells,” he said, describing the whole situation.

His experience refers to a growing phenomenon we are seeing in sales today: customers’ increasing use of data and rational reasoning in the purchasing decision (This, in fact, was one of the trends we believe every Sales Exec must know in 2012).

In today’s tough economy, everyone wants to get the most for their money. It’s natural for customers to try to break down deal components and compare apples to apples. And if customers want to do it that way, isn’t it natural for sales reps to respond using data and numbers too?

But therein lies the problem. The customer’s persistent focus on price and short-term savings distracts them from the real issue at hand—the long-term strategic value of your solution. Read More »

This is the time of year where many organizations are finalizing changes to their 2012 compensation plan for the sales force.  While it can be a tricky time (as we must always be careful to avoid misunderstandings from the sales rep community around the new plans) – it really doesn’t have to be…

When it comes to structuring an effective compensation plan, the first thing to know is that communication can be even more important than the design of the plan itself.

The compensation plan will not be effective if reps do not believe that it is fair, and communication matters nearly twice as much as plan design in driving perceptions of fairness.  In fact, in our research we found that Sales employees who believe pay processes are fair exhibit 60% more effort than those who do not.

(SEC Members, read more about the two key components of comp plan fairness, which your communications efforts should strive to emphasize.)

It’s also worthwhile to keep in mind that communications from the frontline sales manager community are two times as likely to positively impact sales employees’ belief in the fairness of pay processes than communication from the compensation function.

That said, from time to time, we still need to drive communications from the organization around compensations plans.  So, here are five rules we see the best companies follow when looking to maximize sales force buy-in to the comp plan: Read More »

Wonder why you’ve seen increased Inside Sales turnover in your organization recently? Is it because reps are dissatisfied with their compensation package or working environment? Is it their relationships with immediate team members and managers? What about career opportunities?

As our members have recently shared on our Talent Management Discussions Forum, providing clear growth opportunities in the organization is key to keeping your Inside Sales reps satisfied and engaged.

What exactly does “flexible career opportunities” mean though?

Inside Sales is a position that often has undefined next steps for advancement. What about those Inside Sales employees who, over time, may want to work in the field or transition into a management type role? Read More »

In today’s consensus-driven sales environment, we all agree that engaging the right customer contact is a critical linchpin in deals progressing forward. While we know the best reps lead with insight to challenge customers’ assumptions, who your reps challenge can drastically change the course of a deal. So who are the right customer stakeholders to work and how can we help our reps find them?

Sales managers and trainers typically advise our reps to find a ‘coach’ or ‘advocate’ to help move a sale forward within a customer organization – preferably someone who is willing to talk, provides critical information, and who can network the rep with other stakeholders, among other qualities. And once reps find this individual it’s a clear path to the corner office and a closed deal, right?

Wrong.

It turns out that asking reps to go and find this kind of customer stakeholder is like telling them to find a unicorn. SEC analysis found that the combination of attributes that make an ideal advocate exist in less than 1% of individuals – while customer stakeholders may show some advocate qualities, they just don’t have it all. Read More »

Do you ever feel like your salespeople forget almost everything you coach them on? There are few things more frustrating than a seller repeating the same mistakes over and over, no matter how hard you try to show them the better way.

Why does this happen?

An easy conclusion to draw might be that our salespeople are simply hard-headed. As one sales trainer recently joked to us, “The term ‘adult learner’ is HR-speak for ‘excruciatingly-slow learner.”  And while there may be some merit to this suggestion, our research also tells us that there is another side to this story. While salespeople may at times be slow – or even outright resistant – to behavior change, many managers may also be coaching in all the wrong ways.

Here’s how:  A little known fact is that there are two very distinct types of sales coaching – Deal-Level and Skill-Level. Both are important, yet data from our Coaching Pulse Survey consistently shows that most of us over-prioritize Deal-Level coaching at the expense of Skill-Level. This may have worked in years past, but it becomes highly problematic in the age of Challenger Selling.

Here’s why: Read More »

(This is a guest post by Rick DeLisi of the Customer Contact Council, our sister program for heads of Customer Service and Contact Centers.)

New Year’s observation: If there’s anything longer than the line at the bar/buffet line/dessert table in December…it’s the line at the gym/health club/Weight Watchers’ meeting in January.

‘Tis the season to resolve.

If your quest for the new year is to drop a few holiday-induced L-B-S’s…the best advice I’ve ever heard is, “Write down everything you eat during the course of the day.”  Turns out that simply training your brain to become hyper-aware of how many unnecessary calories we each consume every day is the “trigger” to kick-start a whole new mental process, that ultimately makes you eat less, and lose weight.  (BTW, 45 minutes a day on the treadmill ain’t gonna kill ya either, pal!)

But if your resolution for 2012 is to create an even greater customer experience at your company, here’s a small piece of friendly advice that will similarly trigger a new mental process for you and your entire team. It’s a matter of eliminating one simple phrase from your everyday vocabulary.  It’s not a phrase that sounds harmful at any level (in fact, when you use it, you probably think you’re doing something positive). But if you stop using it (although it’ll be hard at first), many amazing things will happen.

Stop saying, “the customer.”   Read More »

Is your sales force experiencing increasingly stalled business, extended cycle times, and inaccurate forecasts? If so, it’s time to revisit your sales process and take a hard look at how your customers buy.

Traditionally, companies have taken an inward approach to developing their sales processes—they typically only consider internal senior management requirements that make management and forecasting easier (or so they thought…). Unfortunately, the glaring problem with this approach is that it does not take into account where customers actually stand in the sale.

For most reps, following the traditional sale process is all about providing certain tools and information to the customer to quickly move them to the next step in the sales funnel. However, reps miss a key step here–they take for granted that customers are ready to move on and often end up outpacing them in the deal. As a result, many companies find their reps’ books of business bogged down with deals stuck in limbo. Read More »

In the Sales world, the start of a new year often brings with it a fervent roll out of new compensation plans. It’s the one activity that garners the most interest from all quarters of the sales force. After all, a good compensation plan can drive the right behaviors, and retain and attract top talent.

The compensation plan design process itself is anything but simple though. Its scope overlaps with the domain of multiple functions—Sales Ops, HR, Finance, and Legal being the most vocal participants and stakeholders. Each, with often competing interests, claims ownership of sales compensation design. It’s no wonder we see compensation plans often stray away from the broader business goals of the organization.

Who then is best suited to own sales compensation? Read More »

When faced with a tough business challenge, have you ever wanted the advice of someone that’s been in your shoes?

Across the past year, SEC members have asked more than 400 questions and received nearly 2,000 answers from peers on the SEC Discussions Q&A forums.

Below is a collection of the most popular discussions that took place across 2011 – these questions shed light on the issues that were top of mind to sales executives throughout the year, and the in-depth answers provided by peers provide helpful perspective on how organizations are tackling these sales-related challenges.

Top 5 Questions from the Sales Ops Forum: Read More »