Comments on David Alison's Blog: Startup 101: The importance of knowing your sales ...

@Dan: I experienced much the same thing. The botto...

2008-05-23T08:04:19.288-04:00

@Dan: I experienced much the same thing. The bottom line is that it's about convincing your top sales people that you cannot build the company if you cannot scale the sales model.

I'll share with you the model that best worked for us (and we tried many): We tied key incentives and paired up our sales people together - a sales pro and a person we called a "groomer". We paid the sales pro a higher base to offset the commission loss that came from them spending time to help their apprentice.

My feeling is the process is more important than any one sales person and here's why: You take those top performing sales people, the ones that far exceed what others are doing, yet no one else seems to be able to repeat that, and think about what happens when they decide to leave one day. You have a giant hole in your revenue that cannot easily be filled.

It's hard to balance the short term need for sales with the long term need for growth. If you can get your sales team, especially your top sales people, to buy in then it becomes a lot easier.

Curious how well it works in practice. In my expe...

2008-05-23T00:57:52.623-04:00

Curious how well it works in practice. In my experience, experienced sales people will try to ignore or sabbotage the process you give them as they think that it completely contradicts to what they are brining to the table, which is knowing how to sell better. Green sales people will get behind the process, but unless the product is very simple, they will not be able to connect with the customers as they will lack the dept of knowledge. How do you get around that?

I agree sales process is an issue that needs to be...

2008-04-28T11:26:15.033-04:00

I agree sales process is an issue that needs to be addressed. In addition so many of the companies I work with focus on the bottom 30% of sales performers not hitting their goals. In reality focus on what the top performers do, profile of their personality traits and establishing processes based on what you find will drive the fast, profitable, and repeatable growth every CEO strives for.

David, I am on your bus! Think how much more succ...

2008-04-17T12:23:52.138-04:00

David, I am on your bus! Think how much more successful sales reps could be if they were handed a documented sales process supported by effective tools on their first day. Yes, those born to sell would benefit by taking the process to the next level but not all sales reps are "A" players and some need help. Our clients love the fact that we document everything from voice mail and email messages through frequently asked questions and objection handling responses. Building a repeatable, scalable sales process lets you identify success and who doesn't want that?

@TLueker: I know where you are coming from on that...

2008-04-16T10:08:48.094-04:00

@TLueker: I know where you are coming from on that one Tom (Tom is my former partner at WebSurveyor). There are sales people that have the gift and you have to balance a good process with the natural sales gifts of key people. It really depends on the goals for your company; if you are running a life-style business then enforcing a process is not nearly as important as pushing as many sales as possible. If it's a growth oriented business though making it reproducible is critical.

I mostly agree. A process is key, but it has to b...

2008-04-16T09:28:38.985-04:00

I mostly agree. A process is key, but it has to be adapted to the skills and experience level of the sales people. Good salespeople are born that way and are always selling. They have a unique ability to internally manage their leads through the sales cycle. Too much process can actually hurt their performance, especially if it feels unnatural. For these types of sales people, a sales process that primarily focuses on status reporting is usually all that a business owner needs. Instead of building a complex process that a monkey could follow to make the sale, invest the time and energy to recruit natural born sales people.

@Steve: Thanks for the comment. Usually this is wh...

2008-04-16T09:05:58.425-04:00

@Steve: Thanks for the comment. Usually this is where a CRM system becomes the tool for managing this but you really need to understand what's gong on before you do that anyway.

Good points, David! Many companies try to hire a s...

2008-04-16T08:51:18.468-04:00

Good points, David! Many companies try to hire a sales superman to figure out what they have and why people would want it. Before you hire a sales person, someone who knows the market and the product should define a sales process. That way, each sales person can refine the process instead of creating it from scratch.