Business problems are always interconnected, because all businesses are dependent on many people and departments working together, none more so than in selling.

Why is it then, when confronted by weak sales results, a common company response is to jump to the conclusion that something is fundamentally flawed with the salesforce, and it needs to be fixed:

• Improve sales rep skills with training courses

• Direct and monitor sales rep actions with a new sales force automation tool

• Improve sales rep visit frequencies with automated route planning

• Raise the game of sales reps with a bigger incentive

And still at the end of all this effort the results still leave many companies questioning the return on investment?

 It’s a given that Reps need to be able to sell. So, addressing skills gaps and providing new tools can unquestionably have a big impact on sales results. But these often only fix an isolated issue, and unless fully integrated can often lead to limited short-term benefits. Rather than blaming the sales rep, the more fundamental question should be asked:

'What can the rest of the organisation do to help the sales rep to sell?’.

Here are our 6 golden rules for a successful interconnected sales process:

Rule #1: Limit sales rep visit objectives to max 3

• Help the sale rep by providing no more than 3 objectives to deliver on each sales call

• These may be unique for each outlet depending on channel and outlet type, but 3 nonetheless

• You can a pitch a sale to a customer once or twice on one visit, maybe a 3rd at a push, but beyond this it will be ‘No’. It’s just normal human psychology at work

Rule #2: Plan internally to deliver max 3 sales rep visit objectives

• This means the business needs to be able to prioritise, and avoid cluttering the sales rep with too many objectives, or sales will ultimately suffer

  • Situation 1: Pressure on company results can lead to an overly ambitious set of demands on the salesforce from management

    • The outcome: Frustration in the salesforce from too many things to sell and not enough time to execute

  • Situation 2: When internal functions do not work in harmony to deliver the required direction, information and tools to guide the reps

    • The outcome: Confusion in the salesforce regarding expectations, leading to poor execution and a lowering of morale

• At the end of the day, the sales process is a total company responsibility, a multi-functional planning and execution effort, the culmination of which is a set of clearly articulated, manageable and 3 prioritised objectives per visit (each with a customer benefits selling presentation) for the sales rep to go and action

Rule #3: Give the sales rep as much time to sell as possible

• Ensure that selling time is maximised by minimising all non-selling activities for sales reps

• This should be handled by support functions, and constant vigilance applied to the removal of any new non-selling activities

  • Too much admin à lose focus on selling à targets are missed;

  • Overly ambitious management demands à too many things to sell à not enough time to execute

  • Siloed internal functions à confused salesforce expectations à lowering of morale

Rule#4: 1 page selling presentations for every selling situation

• Every selling situation (a new product, brand or SKU; merchandising solution; point-of sale item etc) needs to be supported by a single page selling presentation focussed on the right benefits for each customer, and following 5 step selling format:

  • 1. Summarize the Situation

  • 2. State the Idea

  • 3. Explain How It Works

  • 4. Reinforce Key Benefits

  • 5. Suggest Easy Next Steps

• The single page is crucial so it’s easy for the Rep to explain and simple for the customer to understand

Rule #5: Build your commercial strategy from the bottom, up

• When building your next commercial strategy, or problem solving why sales aren’t delivering, turn conventional business thinking on its head, and analyse the problem through the lens of a sales rep

• Viewed from the bottom up, it’s much easier to see:

  • The interconnected nature of all elements

  • Why sales are not delivering

  • How other dependencies are limiting or aiding the process

Rule #6: Give sales an equal seat at the table

• Embrace sales in the strategic and operational planning processes, by giving them an equal seat at the table to other functions; this also requires and forces sales to think more strategically

• It is unfortunate that the salesforce, by the nature of its external customer facing role, is often perceived by corporate functions as separate from the internal engine that runs the business

• Sales people, as a result, will often be excluded from the planning and decision making that determine priorities and the direction of the business

• The result is that any real sensitivity for what are realistic targets or plans for the salesforce are absent. This inevitably affects sales morale, leading to the salesforce feeling alienated and sales targets being missed.