Of course, the answer to the question in the title of this Post is complicated. That being stated, I am going to give you an answer that will make you uncomfortable, maybe even make you angry. However, I will also give you a reason it happens, and suggest a solution.
Here is the uncomfortable part, if your sales organization is not as successful as you would like, the responsibility falls to the CEO, the Sales Leadership, and or the business owner. It is a tough pill to swallow, but it should not be surprising.
Let me help you feel more comfortable. You are not alone, and the reason may lie with a psychological idea know as cognitive bias, which is a mistake in reasoning, evaluating, remembering, or other cognitive process, often occurring as a result of holding onto one’s preferences and beliefs regardless of contrary information. The truth is our brains are wired up to find answers that are consistent with our other beliefs and opinions.
So, if you feel you have worked hard and done your best, it cannot be your responsibility and the problem must be because of the damn sales people. The sales people are always the villain (often a well-deserved moniker).
Despite seeing terrible results from the sales organization and being frustrated because you are not reaching your goals, you keep doing the same damn things to fix the problems. You ignore the results and do not change how you evaluate sales candidates; you don’t make the effort to evaluate and understand the sales force as to who can improve and who may need to become your competitor’s problem.
You cannot change the results unless you do something different.
To get a better caliber salesperson, do you need to change the hiring process? Is your sales manager coaching your sales people the correct about of time?
Why Aren’t We Generating More New Business? Are We Reaching the Actual Decision Makers? Why Isn’t Our Sales Cycle Shorter? Are We Selling Consultatively?
Are We Selling on Price and Who Can Become a Value Seller? Is Our Value Proposition Consistent? Can We Close More Sales? Do Our Systems and Processes Support a High-Performance Sales Organization?
Let me ask you a tough question; do you have the answer to any of the questions?
It is not unusual if you or your team does not have the answers. Many business leaders do not ; worse most never correct their cognitive bias, and try something different.
If you want to change your results, do something different after you take a close look at the sales team. You can make a difference by looking at your situation and evaluate the why behind what the sales team is doing.
I created my company to help business leaders who are struggling with fixing ineffective sales organizations. Our approach is based on understanding your unique company. The challenges CEOs and Business Owners face fall into one or more of five buckets: 1) Sales Team; 2) Sales Management; 3) Sales Process and Systems; 4) Sales Hiring; 5) Sales Leadership.
If you would like some help, please send me a note with the title of this article in the Subject line. Our commitment is to have a business conversation without a sales pitch. You will have questions. We will have questions. The objective is to determine if we can add value, and value means fixing the sales organization once and for all. Contact us today!
