Organizational success requires profitable top-line growth. The most important way that most companies generate growth is through their sales organization. The spotlight of accountability continuously shines on sales. There is no room for mediocrity. There is no room to hide.

In years gone by, the salesperson was the purveyor of all information about a company's products, features, pricing, etc. Those days are gone. Now, before the salesperson arrives, the prospect has most likely gone to the seller's and competitor's websites and may be deep in the buying cycle before the seller is even aware of the prospect. Customers now have more choices and more information about what they can buy and how it can be bought, often leaving the salesperson playing defense in responding to a highly informed buyer. The complexity and sophistication of selling is expanding as customers become increasingly sophisticated and demanding. Today's salesperson must have a thorough understanding of the customer's company, the dynamics of the customer's industry, and the customer's needs (which are often complex), in order to address and differentiate product/service value in greater depth.

So how is sales doing in this new, challenging environment? Tom Atkinson, Research Director, and Ron Koprowski, Senior Vice President and Sales Capability Director of the Forum Corporation presented their Sales Effectiveness Study in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review (HBR). They asked 111 senior sales executives, in 96 major corporations across 17 industries around the world to rate their sales forces. Forty-two of these were listed as "most admired" by Fortune magazine and five were ranked among the top 15 sales forces by Selling Power magazine. In the HBR article, here's what they said: "The picture wasn't pretty. In general, the executives were under-whelmed by their sales forces' performance. On a scale of 1-10, the executives gave their sales forces an average grade of 7, or about a C minus. Roughly a third rated their sales forces below 7, about a third ranked them 7-9, roughly a quarter rated them between 8 and 8.9, and only one-tenth gave their sales force the equivalent of an A (9 or higher). This finding is consistent with other studies that show executive lack of confidence in sales. (A 2004 Accenture survey, for example, found that out of 178 executives polled, 56% saw their sales forces' performance as average, worse than average, or catastrophic." Why? A high percentage of those engaged in selling are not getting the job done.

ALIGNMENT AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT
The CSO (Chief Sales Officer), in a leadership position, should actively participate in developing and executing company strategy and must be able to articulate that strategy so salespeople can connect their actions and direction with the big picture. The CSO must ensure that the sales organization's processes are continuously aligned with and support the company's strategy. The CSO must hire, develop and manage a successful sales force. The role of today's CSO is indeed varied and complex.

CSO's who capture the power of process and people position their organizations and themselves for greater success.

Selling is: guided movement toward an objective…a step-by-step process, guided by the salesperson, to the final objective of closing the deal. Successful salespeople have a process they follow, even if it has never been documented. If an effective sales process is not documented and managed, salespeople invent their own. An important job of a professional sales executive is to make sure that a process reflecting best selling practices for the company is defined and followed. A carefully defined, proven process brings tremendous value to the salesforce. The process will vary depending on your product/service, the customer's buying patterns and cycle, geographic differences, etc. Sales processes must be defined to fit the marketplace, and then monitored, measured and revised based on even small changes in the marketplace. As shown in the July-August 2006 HBR article, "Understanding What Your Sales Manager is up Against," organizations that use effective sales processes and that also monitor and measure them have vastly superior performance as opposed to those organizations that do not.

Page 2 | 3 |