Insufficient Processes and Metrics
The U.S. division of a global technology manufacturer launched a sales excellence initiative to equip its sales managers and sellers to achieve aggressive short and long-term sales goals. The initiative was supported by the company’s internal foundational sales training program. After reading Cracking the Sales Management Code, the leadership team realized foundational sales processes and key metrics were missing from the program.
A Commitment to Measurement
The sales leadership team became committed to formalizing the company’s sales processes. With guidance from VantagePoint, the sales leadership team was able to develop sales processes and metrics for call management, opportunity management, account management, and territory management. VantagePoint also conducted various workshops to augment the company’s existing internal training program and equip sales managers with best practices for deploying the new sales processes, coaching individual sellers, and improving pipeline management.
In addition, VantagePoint helped sales managers establish a sales management rhythm to provide a framework for how the new skills, processes, and tools would be operationalized within sales managers’ daily schedules. When all of the foundational elements were in place, VantagePoint helped the sales leadership team bring the entire sales force up to speed on the new and improved sales processes.
Sales Exceeding High Expectations
The sales excellence initiative, combined with the Cracking the Sales Management Code methodology and training, had an ongoing positive impact on the company’s bottom line. However, the ROI became especially evident during a fourth-quarter push for new orders. In the fourth quarter, a “Race to the Line” initiative was put in place to boost fourth-quarter orders. Expectations were high—yet sales exceeded expectations.
“Despite it being the fourth quarter, which typically isn’t a huge quarter for us, we were able to increase sales by 30 percent over the previous quarter, which led to $12 million in new orders above what our finance department had forecasted,” said the senior vice president of sales.