There are few sales organizations completely happy with their sales performance. Like most companies, you would probably love to crush your sales goals beyond expectations. All organizations can do better.

Becoming aware of your ineffective areas is the first step towards improvement.

The quick path of success is to assess the six factors for sales organization effectiveness. Each factor addresses key areas in your sales organization. Honestly assessing the quality of those factors will shed light on deficiencies. By using the 80/20 rule, you can get radical improvements in sales with only a few adjustments.

Marketing and sales partnership

It's important that your company has a clear value proposition. You and your team should be able to answer the question "why would clients pay you for your solutions?" The value prop contains keywords and compelling copy. It should be consistent across the company. This includes your website, emails, literature, handouts, and press releases.

Your organization should have an automated email list that provides valuable content. You want to keep your leads warm don't you! You should also have a lead generation machine. This can come from telemarketing or social media or Trade-shows or cold calling or drop buys or a mix. Processes should be in place to measure the quality of those leads. It's great to know if all that hard work actually generates sales.

Sales people

It's important to have the right sales professionals in place. Does your sales team have an attitude of being helpful versus pushy? In the age of the Internet, bullying no longer works. There is too much competition. Next are your sales reps "emotionally intelligent"? Are they great at reading people? Next are they good at problem solving, connecting the dots and turning the situation to their advantage? And lastly are they tenacious? Weak sellers are terrible at follow-up. It takes 7 to 10 touches before a prospect can remember you. Complex sales take time and patience.

Qualification process

Great sales organizations use key questions to qualify prospects. The goal is to qualify quickly and qualify fast. Spending time with unqualified clients is a waste of time.

Skilled sales reps advance the sale by ratcheting-up the pain and desire in prospects. Prospects who immediately see value in your offer are quick to schedule appointments. Getting the appointment is the most difficult task in sales.

There is an old saying that says "The sale was lost at the beginning." Moving a prospect from a state of ache to a state of agony is beginning of a closed sale. If a prospect's not qualified, they will never buy. Getting your organization to accept this is a step in the right direction.

Presentation

Once a prospect is qualified, the next step is to pose a solution in the context of your value proposition. Droning lectures and show-up and throw-up presentations are quick to bore the audience. Relatable stories of success build credibility for the seller, the company, and the product. Are your reps trained on how to connect with an audience? How about how to influence their thinking, and convince them of your product's value? Don't assume that everyone can generate and read buying signs. Terrific presentations matter.

Closing

Assess your team's ability to help clients make a decision that's good for them. It's imperative that they are fearless in asking for the sale. If they qualify and present correctly, closing is easy. To close ask the question "from what you seen here does it look like our solution is a match for you?" If your reps are relying on canned closing techniques, their deals are in peril. Next if a presentation does a poor job of presenting the value, prospects will balk at the price. The skill of walking clients through the return on investment is a must. Unless of course you want to leave money on the table. 

Sales process

It's critical your organization has a CRM and uses it. There are many key performance indicators to manage. But the most important metrics include the number of rep appointments, calls,and touches. More opportunities create more closed sales.

It's important to have a sales process your sales reps use. You need this formality to have great sales metrics. Without a process it's the Wild West. Success is solely dependent on the skill of the seller.

It's also important to me to have a comp plan that encourages long-term company success. Far too often companies have comp plans with a single focus. Long-term growth of the company, customer satisfaction, upsell's, new client acquisition, and other behaviors are often forgotten. Organizational dysfunction is born from ineffective comp plans.

Lastly, it's important to have continual sales training so that reps can improve their skills. And I'm not speaking of only product training, but honing their sales skills. It's easy to get sloppy overtime. It's human.

Conclusion

Having been a sales manager for many years, I understand the problems of running a large sales organization. You have my empathy. These factors have meaning to me because I've learned them the hard way. Yes, I make mistakes. Let's keep that just between the two of us.

But as long as you have a desire for continual improvement you too can find success. Be open to discovering what works and what doesn't in your organization. There is always room to do better. If done well, these factors can make for a productive and loyal sales team. And you'll crush your numbers!

If you would like to assess your organization with the Sales Effectiveness Assessment you can go to www.salesbabble.com/sales-consulting to learn more.

Pat Helmers is a Sales Consultant , Sales Trainer and host of the Sales Babble podcast. He is the inventor of the Selling With Confidence sales system. He teaches professionals how to be themselves, add value and make sales. To learn more message him!