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Focus on Performance: How Well Are You Managing Your Best Asset?

by Wayne Webster, Owner, ProActics | March 16, 2010
Wayne Webster
This report originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of DOTmed Business News

I was dining with a client recently when he asked me what I thought of his company's sales force. What was my response? "Overworked and underutilized." He was unhappy and confused by my assessment. I knew I was paying for my own meal that evening.

Most companies I know are poor managers of their biggest asset - their sales force. Management worries about the number of visits per day rather than focusing on efforts to develop a strong buyer base. The goal is to keep the sales force focused on being busy rather than on developing high-value customers.

Companies spend precious resources analyzing calls per sales person, calculating the value of sales generated per customer and other inane statistics until they find themselves in a statistical stupor. And to top it all off, it's typical when the statistics are interpreted to say the company isn't getting as much as it should from sales activities, sales force generated reporting is implemented. Now, the same sales force that isn't doing enough to earn its keep is required to regularly produce reports and projections. When do they do this work? You guessed it, when they're should be out seeing customers. Think what a sales force could accomplish if given the incentive to spend time focused on developing high-value customers.

I wonder how many companies could plan and implement a program in which the sales person has product training and is motivated to develop long-term strategic plans to build the customer base. No more worthless reporting for product managers, no useless road trips entertaining corporate insiders and no regional meetings where everyone comes together to sing Kumbaya, just a focus on sales and developing those all important high value customers.

How would one implement such a program? First, you'd have to realistically determine what the potential is for your product line, often a frightening admission. Then introduce the program to the sales force. Some sales people will automatically withdraw because they aren't able to distinguish buyers from shoppers. For them, everyone is a buyer. These sales people have to go. Encourage competitors to hire them.

Next, make certain each sales person knows the product line, not how to sell it, but how it's used by the buyer. Then rollout a commission plan rewarding them for identifying, planning for and closing high value customers. Fewer sales people are required with this plan. Each sales person can cover a larger territory because they aren't focused on the quantity of calls but rather on the quality. Let your competitors focus on the tire kickers.

Last, make certain your sales managers are in the field working with their sales people to ensure everyone receives what they need to get the job done.

We live in a fast-paced, technologically driven marketplace. Recessions, marketplace dynamics and the quick rise and fall of products and corporate reputations are all driven by changing technology. A sales force focused on the evolving high-value customer can be your guide if you're brave enough to plan and implement a change in the way you do business.

How well are you managing your best asset?

Wayne Webster is a consultant in Medical Imaging Business Development.
You can send your comments or questions to W.Webster@Proactics.net.


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