- March 14, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Have you ever noticed that the inside of your car can appear perfectly clean and then, if the sun hits the dashboard just right, all of the glass and plastic windows, radio, navigation, dials and displays are filthy dirty with dust?
Have you ever noticed the same thing in your home, apartment or office? The air looks clear, but when the sun comes beaming through, it suddenly illuminates billions of tiny dust particles that you didn’t know existed.
Sometimes, you get an even rarer peak into that confused state when you are between awake and asleep. You know you just caught a glimpse of a conversation that even seconds later you can’t recall. But it was there.
It’s the illumination factor that I want to talk about.
Every six months or so, I write an article that speaks to why companies evaluate their sales forces and solicit assistance from Objective Management Group (OMG). If you ask our clients what their experiences were like, I’m sure you’ll hear about how we illuminated their issues with their sales forces. Like the dust, 99% of the time, you don’t even know the issues are there. You can’t see them. They are hidden. You believe everything is fine and then, bam! You see it. I know that clients would talk about the previously-hidden glimpses. For example, suppose you just inherited a sales force. Depending on size and scope, it could take 18 months to get to know who you have and what were their true capabilities. That knowledge would pale in comparison to what you could learn by having OMG illuminate the hidden world of your sales force. It would be a lot like looking under a vehicle’s hood and having a mechanic explain what was there, how it worked, and why you got the performance you did.
Most executives think they know what they have in their sales forces. To say that they are surprised by the results of a sales force evaluation would be a huge understatement. Wouldn’t you be surprised to learn that:
- your top producer isn’t your best salesperson?
- some of your remote salespeople aren’t well suited for working remotely?
- your sales managers are having the opposite effect from what you needed?
- you’ve been hiring the wrong salespeople?
- as a group, your salespeople can’t execute your strategies?
- you don’t need to be losing business to the competition because of price?
- you don’t have anyone that can truly hunt for new business?
- morale isn’t what you thought it to be?
- your B’s are really D’s?
- your C’s won’t become B’s?