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The great baseball
pitcher Satchel Page is credited with the quote: “Don’t look back. Something
might be gaining on you.” As companies try to gain or maintain competitive
edges, their sales organizations are challenged to identify and react to
change. While adaptive sales organizations are considered revolutionary today,
they'll become table stakes for survival.
1. Sales teams agree on a
common approach.
Reaction to change is
quicker and more concise if salespeople perform tasks within sales cycles in a
consistent manner, employing the same skill set and
messaging. Uncertainties rule in selling. As sales reps attempt to
persuade organization to buy their offers, sellers have influence without
authority over buyer actions. A defined process provides a fairly common
lens through which to see all opportunities and sales situations.
2. Companies measure
results.
Sales organizations have
tracked and will evaluate quota performance into decimal points. We
now recognize that YTD position against quota is a trailing indicator,
analogous to driving a car while looking in the rear-view mirror. Adaptive
organizations look much further upstream to understand how efforts and
outcomes relate. Therefore, they seek to measure sales actions and buyer
reactions in areas of leading indicators.
Business development
provides one measurable example. Suppose a company has an
average four-month sales cycle, and sales leads generated are 50 percent off
during two of those months. Crisis looms unless leadership takes corrective
action. Adaptive organizations study increments in weeks or even days
to identify any shortcomings that could affect revenue further downstream in
their pipeline.
3. Leaders identify what
is/isn't working.
Sellers who fall below
quota often are over-optimistic when qualifying “opportunities.” As they
prepare for pipeline reviews with their managers,
they're more concerned about quantity than quality. Adaptive
organizations seek different data points. If buyer actions can be measured in
response to consistent seller efforts, companies can analyze the information
over time to identify what works well and what doesn't. Successful
activities become "best practices" within the organization, while
unsuccessful tactics are changed or eliminated. The key is basing
decisions on objective measures (buyer reactions), not subjective factors
(seller opinions).
4. The business
continuously evolves.
Markets, competitors,
buyers and economic conditions all are in an unending state of flux. What
works today may yield poor results next quarter. Adaptive sales organizations
have the ability to tweak approaches on an ongoing basis. They measure
buyer reactions and change on a nearly constant basis. If these companies try
something new, they want to succeed or fail quickly so they can adopt or adapt
approaches. Small sample-lot testing allows them to succeed even during times
of high risk and uncertainty. When testing is done on leading indicators,
companies enjoy longer runways than their competitors.
Adaptive sales
organizations eschew Satchel Page’s advice and realize they must evolve or risk
extinction. The majority of the time, they look to the road ahead and use
leading indicators. They reserve the glances in their rear-view mirrors to make
course corrections within feet, not miles. This combination enables them
to confidently drive forward, hitting or exceeding their revenue targets.
Written By:
Frank Visgatis
Credit:
Entrepreneur.com
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