Unsung Heroes
Our local soccer team finally had a player return from a many game-missing injury. His return sparked the team immediately. Interestingly, he is a player that does not get a lot of publicity. He does not score a lot of goals because his job is to pass the ball to those who do score. Likewise, his job is to keep the ball out of the net, but he is not the goal keeper. Instead, his job is to keep the ball from getting close. He is an unsung hero for his team and within his sport. There are many like him on other teams and these are my favorite players. We don’t hear much about them – they certainly don’t toot their own horns. They may not provide much glitz, but they do serve as the heart and soul of the game.
A common activity for me when working on a team with a client is to map their sales process as an initial means of understanding how the function is operating. The business of selling can have a lot of moving parts, but there are also plenty that reoccur from company to company. There are common process elements that most companies want to improve such as forecasting. And there are common process elements that get a lot of attention in the trade press such as opportunity management. Then, of course, there are those process elements that everyone would love to have their sales force excel at such as prospecting.
But there is one component of the sales process that does not seem to get a lot of press – it is not all sexy. However, I find it everywhere I go and I wonder if it isn’t one of the most critical parts of the process for success. I am talking about the process of sales call planning.
Good planning for a sales visit can make or break the effectiveness of the call. What is the status of the current contract? What was the last service issue raised? Who has visited the account last and why? Are there any orders pending or is there an outstanding invoice? What was your most recent activity and have you followed up on all your promises? Does your contact have an upcoming critical activity or event (such as attending a convention or an approaching birthday)? Has your customer received a marketing promotion?
Having access to this information prior to a sales call is essential for managing the visit productively. It is what sales people tell me is one of the most critical elements of their performance. If they have the information they do better. If they have trouble finding the necessary information, the added burden of preparation can reduce the number of visits they make during the work week. Not being able to access information can reduce their understanding of the account to the extent of eroding credibility and even blowing deals.
A real key to successful planning is the CRM system. Certainly the ability to check up on customer profile details is critical. Better is the ability to review the most recent sales actions and follow up activities that may be outstanding. Seeing activities from other groups such as customer service is another feature that is highly valued. More advanced abilities include checking order completion and revenue against targets. Dashboards make it possible to check key indicators on a PDA literally minutes before a call.
Another feature loudly applauded is the idea of placing all tools in one location if they are not already co-located inside the CRM system. Most of my clients have calculators, reports, forms, and sales collateral that are separate from their CRM platform. Sales folks are most productive when these are all located together on a portal with speedy access and navigation. Of those items, the one I would raise as a super high priority for planning is access to content – product collateral, white papers, studies, objections response – anything with knowledge needed for advancing the deal.
Sales call planning is the unsung hero of the sales process. But, like most in this role it is also the workhorse. It is important that the CRM program or the sales force effectiveness initiative provide the correct tools to support this process appropriately. Efficient data and knowledge access is the name of the game. Fancy automation is not the key – simple ease of use is the true value.
With the right tools your unsung heroes will also be winners.