Sales Process: Double Sales Rep Revenue in Five Steps

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Building a Sales Process:Customized to your firm’s needs

Understand the Buyer’s Perspective

Leverage Current State2

Implement the Sales Process

Prepare for Change

Design the Formal Sales Process

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3

4

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1. What buyer persona(s) are you going after?

2. For each buyer persona, what buyer stages do they follow?

3. For each stage, what observable behavior signifies the buyer’s transition from one of their buying stages to the next? These behaviors are called Exit Criteria.

4. Use discovery methods like:

– riding along with Sales Reps on sales calls

– speaking with customers

– using customer surveys

– performing Win/Loss/No Decision Analyses

5. Discovery will also reveal the buyer’s indications/questions that help you identify which sales stage they are in.

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The Buyer’s Perspective: Necessary for proper alignment 1

Buying Cycle

Sales Cycle

Catalyst Needs Recognition

Explore Options

Resolve Concerns Purchase

Prospecting Opportunity Identified

Determining Differentiated

Problems

Confirming Vision Match

Confirming Value and

Power

Finalizing Mutual Plan Negotiating Closed

First Meeting Pain, Timeline, Decision Criteria, SOE

Discovery, Schedule Demo

Demo, Summary of Findings

Reference Called,Activant Preferred, Proposal Review

Close Call Complete,Ask Order

Recognize Problem

Clear Vision of Solution Preferred Solution Identified

Risks Considered Issue Order

Sale

s Ex

it C

riter

iaB

uyer

Exi

t Crit

eria

Typical Misaligned Sales Process

HR SVP/EVP (Most senior person)

Focus: HR compliance, employee engagement/culture, productivity, accountability

Responsibilities: Benefits, Payroll, recruiting, compensation, performance management

Role in purchase: Always a key influencer and may be drive the evaluation. Evaluates employee engagement, staffing levels, and compliance.

Finance CFO (delegates to Controller)

Focus: Financial performance and productivity. Always looking for ways to increase profitability.

Responsibilities: Delivers bottom line numbers for the organization. Financial performance reporting, forecasting revenue, budgeting and cost control

Role in purchase: Approver/Economic Buyer

Operations COO

Focus: Optimal productivity and efficiency. Seeking Quality, Cost savings and Speed. Process driven to achieve customer satisfaction.

Responsibilities: Delivers on the promise of the organization (product/service)

Role in purchase: User Buyer, must work with the CFO to fund a WFM solution.

• Receive advanced notification and visibility to compliance issues

• Get visibility or access to historical data to manage compliance issues

• Identify root cause of performance and productivity issues.

• Maximize the productivity of my workforce

• ALL: Balance staffing requirements and employee schedule preference

• Ease of use solution for employees, limited training required

• An early warning alert and historical view of compliance challenges and issues

• ALL: Access to data that helps me maximize return on employee investment (Productive/Efficient)

• ALL: third party validation and proof of financial justification

• Increase employee engagement resulting in higher satisfaction

• Ensure compliance with automated HR and pay policy enforcement that supports workers and workplace

• High user adoption, reduced training and fewer errors with BIC user experience

• Get the reports I need to compare profitability of plants/stores.

• Identify root cause of performance and productivity issues.

• Maximize workforce productivity • Receive advanced notification and

visibility to labor expense leakage• Model workforce changes and see

how they impact KPI’s

• Ease of use solution for employees, limited training required

• To reduce costs of managing my workforce

• Deliver highest quality at the lowest cost in shortest time

• An early warning alert and historical view of compliance challenges and issues

• Schedule the right people, right place, right time

• Integrated solution resulting in improved accuracy (no re-key) and speed (no latency)

• Decreases administrative time Improve customer service and product quality while reducing costs by changing the way labor is deployed and scheduled

• Cloud solution is scalable and configurable, with an upgrade path that is automated and no cost

• Get the reports I need to compare profitability of plants/stores.

• Receive advanced notification and visibility to labor expense leakage and compliance issues

• To reduce costs of managing my workforce

• To drive out costs and enable incremental revenue generation

• Self-funding investment, clear ROI • Flexibility of solution to meet the

current and future needs of my evolving company

• Better align corporate performance indicators with employee activities

• Cloud solution is scalable and configurable, with an upgrade path that is automated and no cost

I Cant… I Want… Key Messages

Buyer• Do I have a problem? • How does this problem relate to

achieving my goals? • How painful is the problem? • Who does the problem impact –

departments, users, employees, decision makers?

• What are my peers doing?

AWARENESS PREFERENCEPersona: Company Profile and FitFocus Verticals and Employee Count: Manufacturing, Retail, Transportation, Professional & Financial Services (300 – 5000 employees)Indicators of high likelihood of pain, strong fit• Old legacy in-house ERP and T&A systems• In-house manual systems and processes• Hourly workforce that is decentralized, unionized,• Growing/shrinking, leadership change, merger/acq• Facing heavily regulation with govt customersBuying criteria: • Increased productivity, Compliance, User experience,

business case, systems integration, employee satisfaction

Buyer• Can I ignore this? • Is there a quick fix? • Can I fix it myself? • Do I need help? • What are my choices if I need help? • How should I evaluate alternatives? • How will others on my purchasing

committee evaluate alternatives?

CONSIDERATION

Buyer• How long will it take to get this

fixed? • How much of our time do I need to

put towards it? • How do I know the fix will work? • How disruptive will it be? • How much will it cost? • What impact will it have? • What happens if it doesn’t work?

PREFERENCE

1. Is your current Lead Generation function capable of providing qualified opportunities to a new Sales Process?

2. Do you have a viable Customer Relationship Management system that is well deployed and adopted?– Does it have line-of-sight dashboard capability?

– Can you reasonably modify the CRM to match the new Sales Process?

3. What best practice methods are Sales Reps currently using that can be made Standard Operating Procedure in the new Sales Process?

4. Are there any high quality sales presentations in use by one area in the field that can be leveraged by all?

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Leverage Current State: Know your strengths & weaknesses 2

Lead Generation – Overview

Marketing Captured Lead (MCL)

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Sales Accepted Lead (SAL)

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)Opportunity Created

“Closed/Won”

Lead Management

Opportunity Management

Demand Generation

Marketing

Sales

Demand Generation – Lead Sourcing (Inquiries)

What is my upside potential?

• Volume Potential• Last Interaction • Top Target Accounts• Upcoming Renewals• Territory Potential

How is my overall performance?

• Win and Loss Rate• No Decision Rate• New ‘Deal Proposals’• Target Attainment• SFDC Activity Levels• Selling Time

In what part of the sales process do I need coaching?

• Stage Transition % and Target

• Stage Durations and Target

• SFDC/Sales Aids Use• Progression/Regression• Brand Value Articulation

Dashboard Design Guidance – BD Sales Rep

Am I meeting my personal financial/career goals?

• LRP/Budgeted Volumes• Short Term Program Targets• Activity Targets• Bonus

Am I achieving my sales goals?

• Pipeline Volume• Closure Rate• SFDC Activities• Target Volume• Target Accounts• Deal Profitability

What Leads/Prospects should I pursue?

• Leads• Qualified Opportunities• Lead Age• Lead Conversion Rate

Prepare for Change:Adoption is key in E=Q*A1

Assemble an Expert Panel of Top Sales Reps and Sales Manager.

Identify metrics/targets the new Sales Process will improve.

Develop Change and Communications Plans.

Are other departments on board with a new Sales Process?

– What obstacles and even sabotage will be presented by other departments like: Product

Marketing

HR

Customer Service

IT

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1Effectiveness of a solution = Quality of the solution * Adoption of the solution

1. Form of Discovery for internal best practices and centers of competency

2. Trusted Source to help vet initial observations and findings

3. Trusted Source to comment on initial solution design and plans

4. Resources that can be used to help train during rollout of the Sales Process

5. Form the nucleus of a pilot implementation6. Promote the change throughout the organization

1. Form of Discovery for internal best practices and centers of competency

2. Trusted Source to help vet initial observations and findings

3. Trusted Source to comment on initial solution design and plans

4. Resources that can be used to help train during rollout of the Sales Process

5. Form the nucleus of a pilot implementation6. Promote the change throughout the organization

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Expert Panel: Their purpose in a project

– For Sales Process, these are the usual metrics that improve:

1. Sales cycle length (World-class benchmark = 37% shorter)

2. Deal closure rate (win 48% more)

3. Average deal size (14-21% higher)

4. Average revenue per head (2x greater)

– What improvements do you think your sales force is capable of?

• Consider setting conservative targets for the first version

– Set your initial targets within first month of project, but know that they can’t be finalized until discovery is complete – you won’t know until later what metrics are available or feasible

Choose the Improvement Metrics

Sample Communications Calendar

Design the Formal Sales Process:Aligned with Buyer’s cycle for success

1. Document the Buyer’s process(es)

2. Design the aligned Sales Process(es) with appropriate Exit Criteria and Job Aids

3. If necessary, allow for product or channel variations

4. With Marketing’s help, design Sales Aids for Major Interactions

– These are stage-aligned presentations used by the Sales Reps to move Prospects to the stage Exit Criteria).

5. Create a Sales Playbook that contains the details of each Stage, Step and Task

6. Run a pilot using the Expert Panel as Pilot Team

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Buying & Selling Processes Stage Names

1. Recognize

Need

2. Search for

Information

3. Evaluate

Alternatives

4. Resolve Concerns

5. Implemen

t

Sales Process

Buying Process

1. Qualify Opportuni

ty

2. Value Propositio

n

3. Proposal

4. Preserve and Close

5. Implemen

t

Description – one sentence description of the purpose of this stage

Customer Indications Strategic Sales Activities

Typical Customer/Prospect Actions, statements, and observations that point towards this stage being their current state in their buying process

List of steps, in order of accomplishment, that tell the sales rep what they should be doing to move the customer forward

Sales Aids Customer/Prospect Exit Criteria

List of the tools the sales rep should use in this stage to help achieve the exit criteria.

Tools with an (I) indicate internal use only

Tools with an (E) indicate external use with the customer/prospect

Description of the prospect/customer-specific actions that indicate the buyer has moved to the next step in their buying process and that we should move to the corresponding next stage in our selling process

Internal exit criteria may also be listed here

1. Qualify Opportuni

ty

2. Value Propositio

n

3. Proposal

4. Preserve and Close

5. Implemen

t

Sales Process Guidance Panel

Implement the Sales Process:Focus on Adoption1. Develop Courseware and Train the Sales Force

– Use Expert Panel Members as co-instructors

2. Execute to the Change and Communications Plans

– Heavy emphasis on post-training reinforcement that includes weekly SM and SFE Team topic-based sessions

– Allows the general training session fire-hose effect to be absorbed in digestible chunks

3. Have changes to the CRM software implemented in order to align with the new Sales Process and required SPM Dashboards

4. Perform Continuous Improvement

– Requires periodic audits of use

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Sample General Training Session Agenda

Module Day Time1: Introduction and The Buyer’s Process 1 1:00-3:002. Sales Process Overview 1 3:00-4:003: Sales Process Stage 1: Qualify Opportunity 1 4:00-6:004: Sales Process Stage 2: Value Proposition 2 8:00-10:305: Sales Process Stage 3: Proposal 2 10:30-12:00Lunch 2 12:00-1:005: Sales Process Stage 3: Proposal (cont.) 2 1:00-3:306: Sales Process Stage 4: Preserve & Close 2 3:30-6:007: Sales Process Stage 5: Implement 3 8:00-9:308: Course Review and Wrap Up 3 9:30-12:00

Sample Post-Rollout Reinforcement Schedule

Weekly Call TopicsDate

Week Starting Week Starting Week Starting7/11/2011 7/18/2011 7/25/2011

Theme Map Opportunities to Stages Buyer's Process SPM Sessions

Theme Specifics

SMs to instruct Reps to go through their current portfolio of Opportunities and determine which stage they are in by using the Customer Indications and, possibly, the Opportunity Assessment tool.

Re-acquaint Reps with the Buyer process by covering slides 21-22 of Module 1 of training. Have Reps discuss (and then add to SFDC) the specific exit criteria that their buyers in current opportunities have exhibited.

Training on new SPM dashboards in SFDC and the new metrics that will be tracked. Hands-on training with participants logged into their SFDC accounts and viewing their dashboards and learning how to run reports and filter them. Multiple sessions will occur: BD Reps, Reseller Sales Reps, Marketer Sales Reps, SMs.

Method of Delivery Sales Team Meeting + virtual Pilot Team Member.

Sales Team Meeting + virtual Pilot Team Member. Live webinars.

Speaker/Instructor SM + Pilot Team member. Pilot Team member of SFE Lead. SFE Team and SFDC personnel.

Suggested Action Items

1. Each Rep to have all of their Opportunities mapped to new SFDC stages by next week.

1. Each Rep to add in a Note the specific buyer Exit Criteria to each current Opportunity in SFDC.

1. Reps must try out their login id and ensure they can see their new dashboards in SFDC.

Prework

One Pilot Team member from the region should have already done this to be able to assist the SM in explaining how to do it. Also, all Reps should read through/be familiar with the Customer Indications of each Sales Stage.

Can you do this yourself? Understand Buyer’s Process

Identify Buyer Steps, Questions, & Indications

Understand Exit Criteria

Determine Buyer Personas

Prepare for Change

Design

Develop Channel/ Product Variants

Create Sales Aids & Sales

Playbook

Pilot with Expert Panel

Choose Improvement

Metrics

Implement

Execute Comms & Change

Management Plans

Develop Buyer-

Aligned Sales Process w/

Exit Criteria

Sales

Audit Results &

Continuously Improve

Recommend SFA/CRM Changes

Sales Sales Sales

Develop Change & Comms Plans

Sales

Ops

Develop & Train on

Courseware

Assess Org Alignment

Sales

Ops

Understand Current State

Identify Lead Generation Capability

Assess CRM Tools, Use & Capability

Leverage Best

Practices and Sales Aids

Assemble Expert Panel

Sales

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Sales

Ops

Sales

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