IS IT THE RECESSION?

Company managers regularly question whether their poor sales performance is due to the recession or because their sales teams are under performing. Worst still is when sales people stay with the company because they aren’t good enough to work elsewhere.

My answer to the question is to measure SFE – or Sales Force Effectiveness to use its proper name.

Firstly I look at the background:

How effective is your marketing?
The saying is ‘Only half my marketing is effective – I just don’t know which half’. I disagree with that statement as there are very simple tools you can use. For example, I am currently helping one client to examine the merits of Yellow Pages, local paper advertising, leaflets and the glossy luxury magazines we get put through our doors. Once we know the answer we can focus their resources on the place where they will get the best value for money and the best quality leads.

What is the competition doing?
Last year I came across a company who were renting out vans for £1 a week – no one can compete against that price, but there are other actions you can take until the campaign is over.

What are the barriers to success?
For example, does your credit control department turn too many deals down – this is difficult because none of us like bad debts but you do need to take risks. I actually believe that, in most industries, if you don’t get bad debts then you are making a mistake.

What is happening to the industry?
At present new car sales are down dramatically and clearly every dealership will reflect this. On the other hand, good salesmen will still be active – the winners perform even in the worst environments.

What has happened to customer service?
The best salesperson in the world can’t keep a customer if the rest of the company let them down. In my experience this question often triggers off a heated debate where sales blames everyone else for not supporting them, and the rest of the business blames sales for making unrealistic commitments or not bringing in the right kind of customer.

My solution to this is to run an independent satisfaction survey but one with a difference – one where you don’t get bland statements like “service is OK”, but where you actually get a score and can measure every part of the business and establish the truth about how you are looking after customers.

All the above can be analysed and measured to come to a definitive view. Whatever the outcome, and even if the above say the environment is tough, the wise businesses will still need to address the issue about the quality of the sales team and each person within it. Have you really got the best team in your area or industry – even if you think you have, how do you know for certain?

To answer this question I perform a structured review of all the key facts on: sales activity, pipelines, conversion rates, profitability, pricing, size of sale, source of business – new customer, referral or repeat business – product mix.

I also look at the little tricks that can be used to mask poor performance – for example how do you know when a salesperson is giving away price but not on the face of the order?

All of the above steps are valid whether you have a team of one or twenty. The business rules are the same regardless of size.

Hopefully, after looking at all the above issues, we will come to the view that it is the recession at fault and that is great news on two fronts. Firstly, and most obviously, you have an outstanding team, but secondly it enables us to look positively forward and grow your business. This is the part I enjoy the most as we look at what we need to do to achieve a larger market share and put all the steps in place to get there.

In summary, however good you think your sales team is, you would still benefit from getting the facts to support that view. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Please refer to Sales Force Effectiveness.