What Constitutes a World-Class Sales Organization

I was asked recently by a long-term client, “What makes the difference between an average sales organization and one that is world-class?”  Great question – and one that deserved some forethought to answer.  So, after a few long flights and a couple of days of contemplation I shared the outline below with him.   I’ll be interested in your perspectives on what’s missing (or should be reinforced for that matter)!

• They insist on having the best talent – at all levels and functions within the sales teams.  They hire the best people, attract the best talent, and have very little patience for underperformers.
• They create a high performance environment/culture.  Translated to practical application:
  • They hate to lose and ensure all possible avenues are pursued to avoid and/or overcome a loss
  • They celebrate successes and really know how to “ring the bell”
  • They identify and promote high performers rapidly and invest in their skills and especially in their careers
  • They define and document sales best practices and tools so that new and existing sales people know what “right” looks like
  • And, they hold sales people accountable for these best practice processes and for the ultimate sales objectives.  Those that don’t deliver results, don’t last long.
• Great sales leadership
  • Sales managers that are focused on:
    •  execution and accountability
    • Developing their people, not being the “super-salesperson”
  • Executive leadership (CSO/Head of Sales) that insists on:
    • Hiring the right talent and not compromising
    • Installing the right infrastructure, tools and training to support the sales teams
    • Recognizing and highlighting successes
    • Removing sales impediments
• True strategic orientation on go-to-market topics including:
  • Market and account segmentation – to ensure we are calling on the optimum markets and the right accounts and treating them both unequally well
  • Key account management focus – that extraordinarily invests in the most strategic accounts
  • Opportunity strategy disciplines that provide a common, well understood and consistent set of tools to ensure that we execute a consultative approach to lead our clients – not a “hammer-looking-for-a-nail” sales-oriented approach
  • Effective deal coaching disciplines – that are integrated into every-day business processes.  Coaching that is efficient and timely enough to ensure they win more than their fair share of new pursuits.
  • Right solutions – that are price, value, and functionally competitive in the market
  • Effective branding, positioning, and marketing to condition the market effectively
  • Demand creation focus – to help create sufficient opportunities for the funnel/pipeline
  • Clarity of roles so that all key sales-related resources clearly understand their responsibilities and work together for common, shared success
• Recognition/compensation programs that are world-class:
  • Incents the right behavior and encourage effective time allocation
  • Strives to highlight the successful sales reps and expose the deficient performers
  • Attracts the right talent to the organization
  • Retains the “A” players and rewards them well
  • And creates Esprit de Corp within the sales organization – where sharing is encouraged, competition is healthy among the teams, and where organizational success is celebrated
• Knowledge Management
  • Capture and document what’s working (i.e. best practices) and what’s not
  • Competitive intelligence and tactics are captured, documented and shared in a sales playbook format
  • Selling tools to win deals, not just more collateral.  Examples of useful tools for the sales reps:
    • Objection handling – most common ones and the best “scripts” to address them
    • Competitive positioning – proactively positioning our competitive strengths and weaknesses to gain advantage and to expose the competitor’s weaknesses in a non-disparaging way
    • Common discovery questions that should be asked of each key stakeholder in your client environment
    • Financial justification tools to demonstrate the ROI of our solutions
  • Win/loss intelligence – to understand why we win and lose and to share these learnings with the entire organization
  • Streamlined enablement tools (CRM, marketing automation) that are viewed as helpful to the sales people, not just an accountability tool
• Sales Operations capability – a critical function in a sales organization that manages the goals, metrics, reporting, territory assignments, compensation, etc. that allows the balance of the sales teams to do their work successfully

There it is: one man’s view of what’s needed to be world-class!  Does it sound easy or impossible to achieve?  Are you world class in all areas or a few?

I look forward to your feedback and suggestions!