Chapter 2

The Power of Alignment

Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.

—Jim Collins, Good to Great

Technology can be replicated. Processes can be copied. Strategies can be countered. But an organization’s people can create an entirely diff erent kind of advantage—indeed, perhaps its only true competitive advantage. People can make decisions to innovatively leverage technology, correct a broken process, and adjust a deficient strategy. The right people, with the right competencies, can enable a selling organization to successfully position itself in the market. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial to develop the unique knowledge, skills, and abilities that sales professionals need to succeed in today’s business environment.

This can be challenging: There has been a dramatic shift in the sales profession over the past 15 years. Today, the people who generate revenue must be true knowledge workers. They must be able to generate data, turn it into information, and wield it as knowledge. They must then transform that knowledge into an effective solution for the buyer. Salespeople must possess both intellectual and emotional intelligence, be able to think on their feet, and be able to comprehend and solve business problems. They must incorporate their organization’s vision, mission, products, and services into a sales process that builds a positive relationship with clients. Your organization can equip sales professionals for these challenges by understanding what they need to know and do to be successful. That understanding is the key to creating successful buyer-seller relationships.

Although the demands on salespeople are complex, most organizations’ approach to sales training has not kept pace. Underneath all of the new technology initiatives, motivational techniques, and measurement approaches lies the same sales process created more than 100 years ago.

The first company to define a successful sales process and develop corresponding support structures was National Cash Register (NCR) Corporation in the late 1800s. The NCR philosophy was

• know your customer
• know your product
• be ready for the customer to buy
• stay engaged with the customer after the sale (Friedman, 2004).

More than a century later, that approach still surrounds even the most complicated sales systems and processes. However, what has changed dramatically are the competencies required to execute the approach.

In the 20-plus years since I first became a salesperson, the sales profession has lacked real clarity on the benchmarks required for world-class sales execution. This has proved a frustration to the salespeople themselves as well as to any trainer or manager tasked with developing a sales team. World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies bridges that gap authoritatively for the entire sales profession. I would have loved this book in my previous life in sales management and sales training and development, and I look forward to using it now as a consultant with my clients.

—Giles Watkins, advisor, McKinsey & Company

Breaking Down the Complexity

In the early 1900s, a major shift in selling focus occurred: a shift from product-centric selling to process-centric selling. Companies began to understand the psychology of the transaction decision and studied how buying behavior works.

By the 1980s and 1990s, workplace technology increased the complexity of selling as organizations experimented with online account management, virtual customer interfaces, and centralized customer support. The focus evolved to a solution-oriented or consultative selling approach, driven by the greater knowledge, speed, and flexibility demanded by buyers. Today, the entire experience—from need definition through re-purchase—focuses on providing value, as buyers look beyond return-on-investment and the overall value of their purchase decisions.

According to Brian Lambert, director of ASTD Sales Training Drivers, “The development of this model is a crucial step in the definition and advancement of professional selling standards. It can be used by a variety of people—including leaders, managers, and salespeople—to align the entire selling system behind a clear focus that balances the complexity of market demands with the need to maximize and leverage individual talent to accelerate sales performance.”

To accommodate that shift and to position their salespeople for success, sales organizations must adopt a competency-based approach to managing the buying and selling experience. This is the approach that World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies can help your organization understand and create.

Excellence Through Alignment

Professional selling is a system. It is not simply a department or a function; rather, it is composed of interrelated processes. While these processes can be selected and ordered in numerous ways, each process requires competencies— a combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities—to complete. Because the needs of the business require salespeople to play different roles, these competencies must be present throughout the organization. Further, the processes in the sales system should be selected and ordered—in other words, aligned— with the requisite competencies to drive high performance. Developing core competencies without aligning the processes simply creates competency in a vacuum; without carefully designed context, the sales system will not function as intended. This alignment can play out in multiple areas and affect important processes such as

Talent management. Studies have shown that a deliberate approach to talent management, including the recruitment, selection, orientation, engagement, and retention of top sales performers, results in annual sales force turnover of less than 10 percent (BPT Partners, 2006). Top sales organizations focus closely on the proper identification and selection of new sales team members for the best fit with sales culture, selling system, and types of solutions being sold. Aligning talent management practices and world-class sales competencies enables your organization to maximize the talent it has and develop the talent it needs.

Skills development. Sales training and development should create knowledge and develop skills and abilities, rather than just rote product knowledge. When sales leaders coach and develop their team members, an overt link with world-class sales competencies broadens the scope of the coaching activity and permits each salesperson to set career-advancement goals that are realistically tied to organizational needs.

Sales process execution. Salespeople must be equipped with the appropriate knowledge and skills to execute the processes your organization requires. Yet, 81 percent of sales organizations say that they do not have a consultative sales process or are not following the one they have (Gist and Mosher, 2004). If organizations do not articulate specific, consistent steps for salespeople to follow, they risk overlooking core activities, falling short in execution, or alienating customers.

Even if all this makes sense to you, you might be wondering, “Who is responsible for the alignment of our sales system?” Is there a single point of accountability, or is ownership shared among groups? More important, how is that working? The people who are responsible for personal selling, sales operations, sales training, and sales management cannot build and monitor these functions separately. To align and enable world-class selling, they must work cooperatively and align all aspects of these functions as part of one system. You cannot have alignment without accountability, nor accountability without alignment.

Tackling Alignment Within the Sales System

Salespeople are the front line of any business that sells a product or service. As the faces of the company, their skills and knowledge must be of the highest quality possible. Yet, training sales team members often falls to their managers as an incidental responsibility. According to ASTD research conducted in 2008, many organizations report that sales managers receive no specific education in delivering sales training. Further, two in three self-described “sales trainers” spend less than half their time actually conducting sales training. As the ways in which salespeople communicate with and advise their clients change, their training requirements become increasingly sophisticated, resulting in instructional needs that most sales managers lack the training and the time to meet (ASTD, 2008).

While it is understandable that the development of salespeople is often casual, given the productivity pressures of the sales profession, advanced learning beyond basic product information and skills training is arguably nonexistent. A Nightingale Conant–MI/SMGuru.com survey found that 51 percent of sales managers say they do not have the time to develop and coach their sales teams, and 67 percent say they are not using or are sporadically using sales coaching (AMI, 2005). Yet, 50 percent of sales trainers say that coaching is extremely important.

A New Definition of Sales Training

To create and sustain an environment for world-class sales performance, the training and development of sales teams must be holistic, all-encompassing, and proactive. There must be a paradigm shift in thinking. Sales training must quickly and deliberately evolve from an occasional activity by sales managers to an intentional effort that is directly tied to business strategy and measured according to business outcomes. Sales professionals must be knowledgeable, dedicated, and guided by a competency-based approach to develop and hone their skills.

A quantum shift to a competency-based approach will help sales trainers align their efforts with the real needs of the business and the roles that salespeople play. Sales trainers will be more effective in helping their organizations attain business outcomes and results by focusing on sales team member knowledge, skills, and abilities that are closely linked to workplace demands. Sales training and development staff will be able to work proactively with hiring managers to select new employees who demonstrate the predetermined competencies and expertise required for success in each position. These competencies then become part of the performance management system that monitors and evaluates each employee’s performance on the job. Finally, these competencies will lay out clearly what each worker needs for possible promotions and the assumption of new roles and responsibilities.

Functional Areas of Revenue Generation

Successful businesses are built on delivering value and satisfaction for customers, executing strategies effectively, managing costs, and generating revenue. Arguably, no functional area is held more accountable than professional selling for bringing in revenue and driving business growth. However, organizational leaders must recognize that there are other key functions that have a profound impact on sales success and revenue generation.

Figure 2-1 shows how organizational functions support competence and capacity. All of these functions, working together, are necessary to achieve world-class sales results—even though not all are directly responsible for revenue generation. When properly aligned and integrated, the sales system becomes more than the sum of its parts—and the use of competency-based development tools and practices in all functional areas can truly maximize its value.

A competency-based approach can help an organization identify, develop, coach, manage, and promote sales professionals with the right knowledge, skills, and abilities that are consistent with the definition of world-class sales competencies. This in turn will bring the entire operation into smooth alignment and increase productivity across the organization.

Sales Competence for Functions Directly Responsible for Revenue Generation

Sales operations. Sales operations oversees and implements the back-office processes, tools, and systems designed to support and manage sales team members. As world-class selling becomes more of a management science, more organizations are measuring their sales teams through more eff ective sales operations. When the efforts of sales operations staff are aligned with the process used by the sales team, an organization can increase its sales capacity. This, in turn, drives increased sales competence on the part of sales team members. The outcomes of well-designed and well-implemented sales operations initiatives can help the management team make better decisions with regard to setting quotas, determining coverage for sales territories, and achieving internal support necessary to achieve sales targets.

Sales operations managers who are responsible for defining tools, systems, and processes can benefit from World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies by understanding the knowledge, skills, and abilities of sales team members in various roles and designing operational parameters and supports. For example, you might increase a salesperson’s customer-facing activities or decrease his or her administrative work.

Tactical selling. World-class selling requires a dedicated sales team that is able to execute a well-defined sales process. Tactical selling is more than “overcoming objections” or “cold calling.” Tactical selling aligns the sales process with the crucial buyer-seller relationship through the definition of actions, processes, and steps required for success. While most salespeople understand the importance of listening to the customer, few are able to stay tactically focused on the right tasks at the right time that lead to the biggest return-on-investment.

Sales team members who are responsible for tactical selling can benefit from World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies by prioritizing tasks based on the model. They can improve the focus on the customer by identifying ways to improve the tactical selling skills identified in the model. Sales team members can also benefit from improved decision-making, problem-solving, and project management skills, which were identified as some of the most important competencies within the model.

Sales management. World-class selling requires the organization to recognize that the sales team is an important competitive advantage. Many senior-level executives are increasing their support and visibility with the sales organization. In fact, it is often said that the CEO is the most important salesperson in the organization. Obviously, executive-level sponsorship and leadership is critical to the overall alignment of the organization to support sales professionals. While many sales managers take a short-term focus, World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies calls for a balance between the short term and the long term. To accomplish this, it is imperative that an organization that seeks world-class sales align its sales strategy tactics with the competency model.

Sales strategy is no longer the exclusive realm of the marketing department; rather, it is an important consideration for the long-term success and improved performance of the sales team. Identifying, sourcing, and hiring sales team members with the requisite competencies for strategic direction and execution is an important ingredient for your organization’s success.

Sales training and development. World-class selling requires the sales organization to determine sales performance requirements associated with business strategies and to engineer performance improvement initiatives designed to develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities that salespeople need to meet those requirements. A continuous improvement approach, based on the ASTD World-Class Sales Competency Model, will help sales training and development professionals to identify capability gaps and recommend solutions designed to overcome those gaps.

Sales trainers can use World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies to drive a competency-based approach to planning and developing capability based on a solid understanding of critical levers that will most likely increase sales results. They also can use the world-class model to design and develop learning solutions tailored to the unique sales culture found in most sales organizations, and they can tailor rapid design and delivery methods to better support the sales team through an integrated use of virtual, collaborative, and classroom training as appropriate.

Sales Capacity for Functional Areas Indirectly Responsible for Revenue Generation

Marketing. The profession of selling is as much of a “subset” of marketing as it is a separate profession. Both occupations are separate but equal in driving revenue for an organization. When they work together successfully, an organization will achieve greater profits and drive more revenue. Marketing professionals can benefit from this book by tailoring their marketing materials and design strategies to leverage the competencies of salespeople.

Management. Many organizations, whether they sell services or solutions, rely on managers to define requirements, hire the right people, manage communication, and create the service offering for customers. Managers can benefit from World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies by understanding how to work with sales professionals to create the right service or product, define scope, manage risk, maintain quality, and manage processes that support sales success.

Human resources. Human resource functions are critical to the success of the sales organization. HR compensation, hiring, and development practices for sales professionals must encompass the entire continuum of the sales transaction. The right talent must be hired into the best sales positions that fit individual strengths and weaknesses, and then those people must be developed and retained. HR professionals who understand World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies are in a better position to provide proper assessment, compensation, and training practices for sales teams that support the revenue-generation efforts of the company.

Customer service. Customer service staff work alongside sales professionals to create a positive buying atmosphere and experience for customers. Customer service is a value-added service that is often integral to the success of the sale. Customer service professionals can benefit from understanding world-class selling competencies and gaining a deeper understanding of how sales team members articulate value.

Information technology. Information technology and its deployment and support can make or break the effectiveness of a salesperson. IT professionals can enable the sales process and often will help troubleshoot sales calls from the field. By understanding World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies, IT professionals can provide their sales colleagues with technology that helps maximize knowledge, skills, and abilities while navigating the steps of the sales process.

Production. A production organization is the crucial business unit that produces what the sales professional is selling. This could be the actual manufacturing facility (for products), or the service organization that codes software, programs the database, or customizes the solution, to name but a few. World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies can help production teams appreciate the constraints often placed on sales team members and help them understand the context of the buyer-seller relationship.

Accounting and finance. Accounting and finance organizations play a vital role in helping sales professionals price products and build a return-on-investment strategy that resonates with buyers. Accounting and finance professionals who understand World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies are in a better position to streamline billing, collection, and finance functions for sales transactions.

Legal. The legal administration of internal forms, documentation, and other paperwork is crucial to properly selling the product and/or service. Often an organization will provide some sort of legal support for the sales professional, or the sales professional might outsource this function. Obviously, the more legal requirements are placed on salespeople, the less time they have available for selling. Legal employees who understand World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies can proactively identify ways to help salespeople lighten their administrative workload to allow for more value-added and customer-facing activities.

In the Next Chapter

Chapter 3 provides an overview of the ASTD World-Class Sales Competency Model, which includes the competencies and areas of expertise that sales team members must have and the roles that they will play to succeed in the future.