“We’ve just introduced a top-flight sales process, but it has fallen flat. Why?” The answer is often straightforward. Too often companies institute a top-flight sales process but find inconsistent use. Some frontline sales leaders embrace it, and it’s adopted by their sales teams. On the other end of the adoption continuum are frontline sales leaders who view the new sales process as the “flavor of the month” and take a business as usual approach. Some salespeople see value in the new process and begin to use it; others are happy with how things are going and figure if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Others cherry pick what they want to use.
The result? In very short order, you can easily find someone doing just about anything you can imagine. Over time, it’s hard to know if the process is failing because it’s somehow flawed and requires some modifications or because it never really got adopted.
Why does this happen? First and foremost is the age-old barrier: resistance to change. In addition, structural barriers can pose problems when compensation plans, organizational structures and access to sales support aren’t aligned with the new sales process, so they don’t encourage its use. A third reason centers on how the process was presented to the sales team – was it sold to them so they see the benefit of adopting it or was it mandated? If the latter is closer to the truth, often a new sales process is dead on arrival.
Yet, having a viable sales process that can be monitored and improved upon is part of the puzzle for improving sales productivity – particularly in those markets experiencing rapid changes in their buying habits and processes. So, what’s a better way to introduce a new sales process that increases the probably of sales team-wide adoption?
The first key is leadership, planning and communication. Easy to say, but hard to do. In addition, we have found a more effective adoption is likely to be achieved if greater consideration is given to selecting the right sales process initially. Some selection parameters for increasing the odds for successful adoption are:
Keep front-of-mind that simple is better than complex. For most companies, any sales process with more than five steps is probably in for a journey on a rocky road.
Remember, a sales process must facilitate the execution of the sales cycle from beginning to end. It’s not a detailed model for executing one particular step. So for example, don’t mistake a questioning model or a framework for selling value as a sales process.
Balance the notion that the sales process must be robust enough to provide a guide to discretionary action but flexible enough to fit your entire product portfolio.
Sharpen the distinction between tools and forms. Tools help salespeople think and act strategically; they help them to translate data into actionable information for winning the business. Forms, on the other hand, are primarily used for writing down and documenting what you know. More often than not, they are simply viewed as additional paper work – the destroyer of any sales process.
Make sure there are deliverables that are easily identified and a viable set of metrics for indicating that each step has been completed.