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Friday, March 22nd, 2019
This project from 2016 explores how to create a sales control system designed to deliver a company’s key objectives. Introduction Sales is no longer an independent isolated function within an organisation, but is an integral and cross-functional part of a company’s strategy (Storbacka et al 2011). Sales now not only executes the strategy, but helps create and drive the strategy…
Friday, September 22nd, 2017
Introduction Working most of my career for global companies like PWC, IBM and SAP, I have been confronted with solutions and services of rising complexity, which are sold and delivered to increasingly knowledgeable customers in a competitive and transforming global environment. The daily activities of my sales team in direct relation with its customer are central: they are understanding the…
Friday, September 22nd, 2017
Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack. Peter Salovey and John D Mayer coined the term “emotional intelligence” in 1990, describing it as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among…
Friday, April 28th, 2017
Jeb Blount (author), Anthony Iannarino (foreword) The sales profession is in the midst of a perfect storm. Buyers have more power more information, more at stake, and more control over the sales process than any time in history. Technology is bringing disruptive change at an ever–increasing pace, creating fear and uncertainty that leaves buyers clinging to the status quo. Deteriorating…
Friday, April 28th, 2017
Mark Weinberg Why do sales organisations fall short? Every day, expert consultants like Mike Weinberg are called on by companies large and small to find the answer – and it’s one that may surprise you. Typically, the issue lies not with the sales team – but with how it is being led. Through their attitude and actions, senior executives and…
Friday, April 28th, 2017
Luis R. Gomez-Mejia (author), Pascual Berrone (contributor), Monica Franco-Santos (contributor) This research-oriented textbook focuses on the relationship between compensation systems and overall firm performance. In contrast to more traditional compensation texts, it provides a strategic perspective to compensation administration rather than a functional viewpoint. The text emphasizes the role of managerial pay, its importance, determinants, and impact on organizations. It…
Sunday, April 23rd, 2017
In our previous article in this series, “The classic performance dilemma”, we presented a brief outline of the properties of effective sales performance measurement systems. In this follow-up article, we focus on a widespread practice in sales organisations: the use of sales targets or goals. We highlight the key issues associated with performance targets and offer guidelines to minimise their…
Sunday, April 23rd, 2017
The old saw states that a poor workman blames his tools. These days, it could also be said that a successful sales manager credits his tools for guiding his success, but to use the tools available to them, sales managers need help. Manual systems for managing commissions and other sales processes don’t capture data in a form that allows fast…
Sunday, January 29th, 2017
Joe Morone, Karen Benjamin and Marty Smith This book is aimed at CEOs and sales leaders who feel their organisations have not yet won their fair share of their potential market. Co-author Joe Morone tells readers: “You have great products and services. You’ve amassed a dedicated team. You have loyal clients realising tangible success with your offerings. But improving sales…
Sunday, January 29th, 2017
Are sales force incentives linked to drug sales volumes the best way to motivate individual reps? With the performance of the sales force directly linked to the bottom line, ensuring representatives are well motivated and incentivized is a critical ingredient in any company’s financial health. Yet, with the huge amount of change reshaping the pharma landscape – from digital to…
Sunday, January 29th, 2017
How do we achieve a balance between input and output measures to manage sales performance effectively? Lucy is what many people would call a “high achiever”. She had always been focused on delivering the best service for her clients and always supportive of her colleagues and her organisation. Lucy always looked forward to Christmas time. It typically marked the completion…
Tuesday, November 29th, 2016
The GSK bribery scandal rocked pharma when a record fine was handed down in 2014. It has forced the company and the wider industry to reconsider their sales approaches. Just over two years ago the Wall Street Journal reported that UK drug giant GSK’s local subsidiary in China had been found guilty of bribery and fined nearly half a billion…
Saturday, September 3rd, 2016
How a productivity programme for a major bank achieved success through the introduction of a behavioural operating model for branch teams and, most importantly, team managers. Introduction The banking group concerned in this study is a diverse retail and commercial bank with 14,760 branches (more than any other international bank), over 193,000 employees and 102 million customers worldwide. Currently the…
Saturday, September 3rd, 2016
Bob Apollo on Building Scalable Businesses In the majority of sales organisations, a high percentage of sales revenue is generated by the same minority of top sales performers, quarter after quarter. According to research published by the CEB in The Challenger Sale, this performance gap between top salespeople and the rest is amplified in complex, high-value sales environments. They found…
Thursday, April 7th, 2016
The data analysis provided here offers insight into what motivates “account managers”. Motivators are the extrinsic factors that determine whether your salespeople really get up in the morning “ready to rock and roll”’ – or not! The global data in the following charts provide insight into what motivates people from different regions. It will help sales leaders decide whether in…
Thursday, April 7th, 2016
Are you, your team members or your customers relationship driven, achievement driven or growth driven? It makes a difference. Brian Tracy in his many books and tapesI claims that 50% of any sale is a “transfer of enthusiasm”; in other words, it is something quite independent of the skill sets that so many organisations spend so much money investing in….
Thursday, April 7th, 2016
A recent study by global sales and marketing specialists ZS Associates has found that strategically investing in sales force effectiveness (SFE) can boost sales performance for medtech companies by 2-8%. The firm ran a year-long study to measure the effect of SFE initiatives – such as sales territory redesigns, account planning processes, training or coaching initiatives and new compensation structures…
Monday, April 4th, 2016
You may have lost the bid but taking the trouble to find out why helps build trust. There’s a growing interest in the value to be gained by conducting detailed Win-Loss analyses: the statistics we shared in the October 2015 edition of the Journal (see page 58) caught the attention of readers and when they were later shared online. However,…
Saturday, January 30th, 2016
Why does the typical revenue-generation process yield only 2% and how can marginal improvements transform your sales performance? The revenue generation process is typically seen as a series of loosely connected but separate activities by most organisations. When the yields from each step are combined, the resultant efficiency is just 2.1% – see survey results below and page 5 of…
