Strategy 3 Use sales operations and technologies as engines of growth 中

To achieve growth, you’ve got to have a sales engine which is tuned for the task. Savvy companies soup up their sales engines by using whatever technology that is available.

● Tactic 9 Tune sales operations for growth

Some companies have realized revenue growth of 10-to 25-percent by overhauling their sales operations. Optimizing sales operations typically involves two main areas of focus:

■ Give sales teams more time to sell by simplifying internal and back-office processes — While this sounds obvious, it’s amazing how many companies require their salespeople to do all kinds of stuff which takes them away from getting in front of customers. If you get your sales reps to keep a diary of how they currently spend their time, you may be amazed to find all kinds of time drains which have crept in. The more time they spend on analytics, filling out reports and developing one-off proposals, the less time they have to spend selling. Even just standardizing the preparation of proposals rather than requiring each to be developed from the ground up could be an efficiency booster. Figure out whether you can increase sales time by equipping your sales force with better tools, by outsourcing more of their back-office tasks or by investing in better self-help tools customers can access on their own. Create more selling time and then guard it zealously against encroachments from administrative work.

■ Makes sales operations faster and more responsive to the customers’ benefit — Optimizing sales can have a positive impact on the customer experience. If you can get quotes and proposals out to customers faster, that should translate into more wins and greater customer loyalty over the long haul. Bring in some of your best customers as an advisory board on how you can get this done. Let them point out where you can add value by shaving response time and where it really doesn’t matter so you’re focusing on the right areas. If you can reduce complexity by removing unnecessary steps or by allowing people to exercise their judgment, you should be able to achieve some sizable reductions in costs as well.

Key Thoughts

“To truly overhaul sales operations, the best companies have no qualms about engaging customers in the transformation—helping them change their own systems can be incredibly beneficial for both parties, reducing the resource commitment from both sides, while improving the process. For once, a win-win where both parties really do benefit.”

— Thomas Baumgartner, Homayoun Hatami and Jon Vander Ark

● Tactic 10 Build a technological advantage

Key Thoughts

“When companies get technology right, the sales results can be impressive. Supermarket chain Tesco runs a loyalty program that generates a tremendous amount of customer data that the company mines to inform promotions and strategic segmentation of customers. Progressive Insurance is known for conducting experiments to segment its customers systematically and effectively and to tailor product offers accordingly. Capital One’s unique customer profiling system mines transaction data from individual customers to generate personalized marketing and sales approaches. Over the years, this has given the credit card issuer a customer acquisition rate that is five times higher than the industry average.”

— Thomas Baumgartner, Homayoun Hatami and Jon Vander Ark

To get good at using technology to drive sales growth, look for practical ways to use technology on three fronts:

■ Arm your sales teams with insights — If you can give your reps the right tools when they’re out in the field as well as when they’re in the office, you’ll make them more productive. Even getting basic data into the right hands at an opportune moment can be a game changer when selling. Figure out what kind of sales force automation tools will help your sales reps create actionable sales plans and then work with IT to make it happen.

■ Enable your channel partners with the right technology as well — If you have a great IT system in place which helps you win sales, make your system available to your partners as well. Sharing your tools rather than hoarding them makes sense because it enhances your visibility in the marketplace. You may also want to develop alliances with your partners to go after major new opportunities which come along. This will be easier to do if you’re all using the same tools rather than having an uneven partnership. Find ways to extend your IT infrastructure to your partners.

■ Gear up to use analytics in smart ways — Leading sales organizations know the tremendous potential for big-data analysis, micro-market analysis and trend analysis to drive sales growth. Be prepared to take full advantage of all the new tools, technologies and talent which is coming along. Build your own analytical capabilities so you can hunt for the insights which could lead to pockets of growth. Recruit people into your sales teams who are skilled in using the new generation of analytical tools and make them a resource the entire sales team can use.

Key Thoughts

“Top sales organizations use technology to improve their own operations. Improvement can be something simple, like giving reps tablet computers to boost their productivity, or more complex, such as using sophisticated IT tools to give phone reps the right pitches and offers for each lead they call.”

— Thomas Baumgartner, Homayoun Hatami and Jon Vander Ark