Sounds odd? When you stop and think about it, a company that makes money through legacy clients or a monopolistic situation has its work cut out for it, especially when it comes to performing and adopting better sales practices.
Often enough, such organizations are now mature and have a slow growth rate, if any at all. They also fail after a mishap such as losing an important client or going through important changes in technological, regulatory or political environments. The same applies to risks associated with a high concentration in a small number of clients or a loss of market share to unforeseen competition.
This best describes the situation in which we find manufacturers and service companies that have many years of experience. Indeed, for the moment, things seem fine. It’s business as usual and companies are making money. But what if something happens? Why wait until all hell breaks loose?
Don’t underestimate KPIs and CRMs
There are already clues that the organisation and its sales team are not proactive enough to prepare for such events or even to mitigate risk. But no key performance indicators (KPI) are in place to raise flags.
Without dashboards based on KPIs, how can management get the true story? Relying on the sales team is not the answer. Sales people have good reasons to explain the market and why sales are down or too optimistic at times. That’s why the director of sales needs to ask the tough questions and motivate his troops to reach new heights and objectives. He’s the one who has to push for tools that will provide him with sales and marketing intelligence, that will in turn provide management with the necessary insight for strategic decisions. That’s why a well implemented customer relationship management system (CRM) is an essential tool. Qualifying leads and supporting the sales funnel and progression of the different sales activities are mission-critical. So then why are companies not leveraging such tools?
The answer starts with the management’s state of mind. If management is comfortable with the present situation, orders continue to flow in “naturally;” sometimes big purchase orders just pop in without sales reps seeing them coming. Wow! The business is profitable. Then where is the problem? There isn’t one… until something happens. At that specific moment, the sales people are to blame because they are not doing their job and that all revolves around the founder. The model is not replicable, therefore it is flawed.
Why wait? If you feel your company is in this kind of situation, you should be nervous. If you’re a salesperson, ask yourself why you are against making more money. If you’re the entrepreneur, why would you not want to grow your business and make it more profitable?
Let’s face it: if you’re not ready for the next level, then forget it. We can’t help you. And that’s why there is nothing worse than a company that solves a sales team issue. Otherwise, call us. We can help you avoid failure in difficult times.
