“Consensus isn’t particularly new here in Scandinavia – it’s a way of life! And by the way, what’s a playbook?”

This line from a member of the Sales Executive Council’s growing Nordic cohort during a recent conversation sums up the last few months quite nicely. Over that time, I’ve had the pleasure of joining three multi-member sessions in London, Stockholm, and Amsterdam and countless one-on-one discussions all over the continent to review our newest research findings on Rewriting the Playbook: How High-Performers Win the Consensus-Based Sale.

Initial reactions across the EU region have been remarkably consistent: yes, building consensus is a necessary “evil” in achieving favourable customer outcomes – especially in a region as culturally and geographically diverse as Europe – but is the need for consensus really increasing? Isn’t it all relative to the customers and markets we’re already selling into?

As we dug into that question at the Council and began to share our findings with members, the answer emerged as an unqualified “Yes” – the requirement for consensus really is on the rise. Consider the following:   Read More »

Don’t get me wrong: I love working with heads of Sales.  But every now and then, something crosses my desk that reminds me of how much we can still learn from other functional executives.

And what could be more cross-functional than 2011 budgeting and planning?  If you’re one of the many sales leaders reviewing recent budget projections and saying, “You want me to do what with what?!” then I’d encourage you to read on for a bit of good news from an unlikely source.

As it turns out, our sister research program that supports CFOs is strongly advocating that companies shift more resources to activities directly tied to sales growth in the near term.

Now, before you dismiss that idea as too farfetched for your penny-pinching CFO to get behind, consider these key findings that will help you speak their language:

Only 46 companies from the Fortune 1000 have experienced “Intelligent Growth” across the last 20 years.  Our team defined “Intelligent Growth” as:

• Above median EBITDA margin and Sales CAGR versus industry peers
• Simultaneous growth of Sales and Margins for >50% of the time
• No sales growth stalls (that is, an 8+% drop in sales CAGR coupled with an actual sales CAGR of <2%) between 1990-2000 and 2001-2007

Impressive, but so what? 

Well, these 46 companies have proven exceptionally adept at turning past economic troughs into “value creation hot spots,” generating +5% Total Shareholder Return above industry median during the previous two recessions and achieving lasting competitive advantage.

Again – impressive. But how’d they do it?  Read More »