No, I'm too scared to know the truth about my sales force...

In fact, I don’t want to know how the situation is regarding their performance.
When the CEO of a medium sized corporation with about 150 sales staff tells you this, you know there is something very wrong going on.

Facts are:
The gentleman in front of me already knew that more than 70% of the sales force was underperforming. The company is the leader in their market, the sales people drove comfortable German cars, enjoyed many benefits and were quite happy working for the firm. Unfortunately most of them were complacent and the staff turnover was almost zero!  Revenue and profits were not growing in the recent years.

What lead to my meeting with the CEO:
I fixed my appointment with this CEO after understanding that his business was not doing well and that something needed to be done.

Was I surprised by his reaction? No, not really. This is a situation which is seen more often. It’s like people who see and feel that there is something wrong with their health, but do not dare to go to a physician. They don’t not want to know the truth and don’t want to get bad news. And in the end when they do consult a specialist they are too late for treatment…

So why would I start out at the beginning of 2015 with a message like this?

Because there is time. 360 days to do something about things that don’t work the way they should. And time to bolster courage and take though but good decisions, decisions which in the end will benefit all: workers, peers, the company and especially customers! Time to put a stop mediocrity, procrastination and make way for change. A change to alter your way of work and deliver high quality performance and results.

Concluding,

if you don’t dare to face the truth, you can’t make the necessary changes. Realise that you are missing out in creating opportunities to assist all those people around you who depend on the decisions you make to achieve what they are paid for: giving their best to achieve the best results.

Let’s meet and discuss opportunities. Call me at +31 (0) 6427 13033 or mail me r.peterson@peterson-company.com .

How to avoid losing more than 70% of your market share in just a couple of years!

Evaluating a salesforce delivers a lot of data and other information, which in turn gives an organization the ability to adjust, reform and increase performance significantly. It also helps you build a substantial competitive edge above the competition.

Looking from a rational point of view, the report and its content gives any management team and its CEO a huge opportunity to adapt in this fast changing world and keep the sales force in battle mode.

Alas, not everybody sees it like that.

Some years ago we evaluated a salesforce which was not performing well. The results were alarming: sales leadership was poor, there was no sense of urgency in a very turbulent market with great changes ahead and the salesforce was completely complacent. Furthermore, the Sales VP was seen by the market as very arrogant, with an attitude of “they need me more than I need them”. After processing our findings, the results were presented to management. The management team recognised the findings except for the Sales VP.

The Sales VP disagreed completely and decided to ignore all the conclusions of the evaluation. The CEO who had just been moved into his position with a more international background decided avoid challenging the Sales VP.

We recently understood via business publications that the company lost more than 70% of its market. The reasons given were the same as those we identified some years ago: poor sales leadership, accepting low performance over years, no sense of urgency, not adapting to changing markets, complacency and much more.

So, how can you avoid this?

• First, read Jim Collin’s book “Good to great”. Why? Sales management is also about sales leadership. When ego’s egos stand in our way and hinder us from making necessary changes, we end up with broken pieces. Jim Collins discloses to us that “most effective leaders are humble and strong-willed rather than outgoing”.
• Hold people accountable for their performance. They also hold you accountable for paying their salary every month and delivering other benefits. It should be quite normal to expect the performance that goes with it.
• Don’t hesitate to challenge people on behaviour and attitude. By doing so, you help people to grow. They will be grateful for you in the future.
• Dare to build a winning team. Being good is not enough. Just be great!
• Eliminate complacency. Sales teams need to be on the ball. It’s about winning the sales and giving the customer all the value you promise.
• Repeat business is essential. Knowing your customers and delivering what they need is key.
• Open up for change. The world is changing at a high pace. This goes for innovation, competition and customer demands. Be ready and adapt.
• And as a Sales Leader: dare to lead!

Want to talk about it? Contact me.