Growing sales depends on the ability to know the answers to the right questions. Often companies make a decision to invest in their people in order to improve performance. Sometimes the investment pays off: other times, not so much.
When it pays off, it normally is a combination of the right things coming together at the right time:
- Leadership that thinks sales skill improvement is important to improve sales
- Sales management that really knows how to manager performance
- Sales management that understands that coaching is the job
- Recruiting that works to make sure the right criteria are being used to hire superstar sales people and doesn't settle for less
- Marketing programs that increase visibility, strengthen the brand and generate interest in the product.
- An economy built for growth
- A no-excuses environment
- Metrics for success that matter
- Systems and processes that support effective selling
- Salespeople that are motivated and committed
- Salespeople that have the right skills to sell to the market the company is attempting sell to
- Etc., etc., etc.
But… what do you do if sales growth isn’t happening as expected or needed? Where do you start?
- New management
- New leadership
- New salespeople
- New CRM and other sales enablement tools
- New marketing strategy
And therein is the problem; most companies don't have the answer to the question(s) of…
- How do we grow sales?
- Where do we start?
At our company, Anthony Cole Training Group, we have partnered with the #1 sales team assessment company in the world – Objective Management Group. With this partnership, we answer four critical questions for our clients:
- Can we be more effective?
- How much more effective can we be?
- What will it take to accomplish that?
- How long will it take to accomplish that?
To answer those four critical questions, our prospective clients work with us in an initial interview to get a “lay of the land”. We spend time asking questions to find out what work isn’t getting done. We listen to understand and we uncover the symptoms of the problems. We discuss the impact on the business and the solutions attempted in the past. What we know about every company is that they are perfectly designed for the results they are getting today and will get tomorrow. If those results are not acceptable, then we go to work.
We go to work with them by providing them a series of questions that have to be answered by senior executives, sales leaders and, ultimately, the salespeople. This thorough process results in a report that answers the 4 questions we’ve already discussed. The answers to these 19 questions ultimately answer the BIG question – How do we grow sales?
If you’ve been looking for the answer(s) to that question, keep reading and let us know how we could possibly help you or find you the help you need.
- How Does Sales Leadership Impact Our Sales Force?
- What Are Our Current Sales Capabilities?
- How Motivated Are Our Salespeople and How Are They Motivated?
- Can We Generate More New Business?
- Can We Be Better at Reaching Actual Decision Makers?
- Can We Shorten Our Sales Cycle?
- Can We Sell More Consultatively?
- Are We Selling on Price and Who Can Become a Value Seller?
- Is Our Value Proposition Consistent?
- Can We Close More Sales?
- Do Our Systems and Processes Support a High Performance Sales Organization?
- Can We Be More Consistent with Our Sales Process?
- How Well Are Our Sales Leadership Strategies Aligned?
- Do We Need to Change Our Selection Criteria?
- Can We Improve Ramp-Up?
- Can We Improve Our Pipeline and Forecasting Accuracy?
- Can We Improve Our Sales Culture?
- Who Can Become More Effective in Their Roles?
- What Are the Short-Term Priorities for Accelerated Growth?
Contact Tony Cole Directly: 513-226-3913 (call or text). If text, use subject line: “I need answers!” along with your name. Or email: tony@anthonycoletraining.com
Additional Resources:
- Sample Sales Evaluation and Impact Analysis
- Sample Sales Manager Evaluation
- Sample Evaluation: Sales Professional (Strong)
- Sample Evaluation: Sales Professional (Weak)
- Sample Evaluation: Non-Selling Professional (if in professional services like accounting, legal, architecture, engineering etc.)
