Building a world-class sales system

Our research has shown that sales is consistently one of the top decisions CEOs are focused on to support the growth of their organization.

As leaders look ahead and plan for the post-pandemic economic surge, a key challenge they face is reigniting the growth engine. As over two-thirds of small and midsize businesses are projecting revenue growth for 2021, the sales team is ultimately responsible for connecting with customers and prospects to win the business that will drive that growth. As your customers invest in their own growth opportunities, they will look to their providers and partners to grow with them.

While waiting for the restrictions of the pandemic to recede, CEOs need to rethink, rebuild and reignite their sales team. How customers and prospects bought in 2019 and even in 2020 will not be the same in the future.

Our report — Building a World-Class Sales System: A CEO’s Guide — provides leaders with a strategic thought framework and foundation to think about their sales function and how it connects to and aligns with customers and prospects. The insights in our report are not a quick fix solution or tips and tricks to improve close rates, rather a comprehensive analysis of the four components that comprise a world-class sales system.

A system that enables the sales team to evolve and scale as customer activity increases is comprised of the following components:

Customers: Defining buyer behavior

A sales system always begins with customers. Customers must be at the core of everything a salesperson and sales team does. Getting closer to customers is always the right answer. Deeply understanding the customer is the foundation of the sales system.

Salespeople: Aligning with how buyers buy

There is no single model of success for a salesperson. What makes one salesperson successful in one market, industry or company does not guarantee success in another. A salesperson’s success is based on the right skills, process, knowledge and experience, fully aligned to how your customers want to buy.

Sales leaders: Driving performance and execution

Sales leaders craft the vision and strategy for the sales team, but are most important in their roles as coaches. They establish the metrics, define processes and manage the performance of people all under the umbrella of revenue generation.

Sales support: Empowering the sales professional

Investments in sales productivity allow the salesperson to focus and spend time with their customers and engage with prospects. Providing leads, sales training, operational support and the underlying sales technology relieves salespeople from having to source and develop their own best practices.

The time is now for CEOs to reimagine their sales function and prepare it for the prosperity ahead. A tweak or simple adjustment from how you sold in the past will not achieve world-class results. Building a sales function that is capable of delivering consistent, predictable sales performance over the long term demands that CEOs invest the time and hard thinking required to build their system. This will enable them to realize the rewards possible from the projected economic surge as the pandemic passes.

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