September 2006

Got Sales?
By Lee Raney, Pivot Point Strategies

• Your sales are stalled or declining. Where do you start to determine the reason and possible solutions?
• One division is underperforming. What are the top three things you can do now to improve top-line revenue?
• You are launching a new product or service. How do you ensure you hit your revenue milestones?

Diagnosing revenue problems and rekindling your sales growth is a multi-faceted process, for everything in your organization touches sales. But identifying sales problems and solutions is particularly urgent in the situations mentioned above.

The questions below will systematically take you through the revenue chain, defining the levers and drivers available for improvement. Answering these questions thoroughly will provide a roadmap for future growth opportunities, as well help you identify as short-term actions that can accelerate revenue now.

Prioritize Sales Goals

First prioritize your revenue goals and communicate those priorities across departments and functions. Ask yourself:

• What are your current top three sales priorities?
  
  • Revenues?
  • Profits?
  • Customer satisfaction?
  • New customers?
  • Customer retention?
  • Add-on sales?
• What priority do your sales managers and salespeople give these top three goals?
• What needs to be done in each department to facilitate these priorities?
• Do your marketing efforts align with your selling efforts? Really?
• What are your core competencies? How can you create new revenue opportunities using these strengths?

Customers

Do you understand your customers? To do that, you must clearly define your target markets, their respective revenue opportunities, the ideal customer profile and your targeted value propositions. And you must clearly articulate messages tied to each step of your sales process. Ask yourself:

• Who is your targeted customer and how do they buy?
• How your customer base changed? How can you address these changes?
• How do your products and services help customers succeed? Is your value proposition squarely focused on your customer needs?
• Which customers are the most profitable? Are you focused on them?
• What is your customer retention rate?

Competition

• Who is your competition? Who do your customers see as your competition?
• Has your competition changed?
• How can you compete more effectively?
• What impact do your competitors' products and services have on your own offerings?
• Do you specify your sales organization's role in differentiating you from competitors by adding value and building customer loyalty?

Products and Pricing

Take a hard look at your current products and services. Compare them to competitive offerings, recognize where they are in the product lifecycle and what that implies.

• Are your products - their features, benefits, pricing, and promotion - competitive?
• Are your products aligned with the needs of your target markets?
• What are the opportunities for product innovation? Extensions? Add-on sales?
• Can you take existing products to new markets or gain significant new business in existing markets?
• Is your pricing competitive? What would happen if you increased your prices? Lowered them?

Process

One of the top reasons companies fail to meet their revenue targets is they don't understand their sales process. If you don't already have one, develop a documented step-by-step process that reflects your customer buying cycles, your selling cycles and how they match up.

• Are your forecasts accurate or do forecasted sales opportunities slip from month to month?
• Do you have a consistent qualification process?
• Do you know where deals start to break down?
• Does your sales cycle map to the way your customers buy?
• Are your salespeople asking the right questions?

Distribution

• Is your distribution strategy optimal for your products and your buyers' buying behavior?
• What mix of alliances and partners will help you reach the most customers at the lowest cost?
• What do your customers expect of your sales force? Of other channels?
• Is there a more efficient and effective way to reach your customers?
• Do you have the most effective partner alliances? How do you know?
• How can you more effectively engage, empower and manage your sales channels?

People

Beyond the sales numbers, how do you know a budding star from a mediocre player? You may need to optimize your sales force by reviewing territories, compensation plans, quotas and processes (everything from product knowledge to sales techniques).

• Do you have the right salespeople?
• How well is your existing team executing your sales strategy? How do you know?
• Do you need to build a new team or reset an established sales team?
• How does your sales force add value for your customers?
• How can your sales force differentiate you from your competitors?

Sales Techniques

There is a lot of science in the art of selling. Make it a priority to identify and apply best practices - the most effective sales approaches, the best execution techniques, the most successful negotiation strategies and the most powerful presentation skills.

• Are your sales pitches and messages communicated clearly, concisely and consistently?
• Is your sales pitch optimized around the value-added elements of your product or service?
• What is your qualification process?
• Do you have innovative tools for your telesales, pre-sales, trials, pilots, and demonstrations? Are the tools used consistently?
• Do your salespeople know how to position your company, products and services against the competition?

Sales Tools

Practical and usable tools help drive effective execution. Tools might include territory planning, forecast and pipeline report templates, or proposal generation.

• Are your marketing efforts producing leads your sales can close?
• Do your sales people have the tools they need to sell?
• Can your salespeople illustrate your value proposition?
• Do you have a dynamic ROI analysis and presentation tool that enables sales reps to conduct financial analyses for prospects?
• Do you have messaging and collateral that supports your ROI claims, including white papers, case studies and data sheets?

Top-line revenue growth is an imperative, not an option for most companies. Fortunately, growth can be actively targeted and managed. By answering the above questions, you can begin to identify "quick hits" that can be rolled out almost immediately, as well as get ideas for longer term revenue acceleration programs.

©2006 Pivot Point Strategies. All rights reserved.

About the Author: Lee S. Raney is the president of Pivot Point Strategies, a consulting firm focused on revenue growth and revenue acceleration. These questions come from Pivot Point’s Revenue Assessment Process (RAP), a systematic and holistic approach to identifying and detailing opportunities for top-line revenue growth. Contact her at 650-739-0500 or lee@piovtpointstrategies.com.