McKinsey interviewed more than 120 sales executives to uncover the secrets of their companies' continued growth. The results of the survey show that the best companies have 50-80% more revenue and profits than their peers. And all of these companies, without exception, followed the following sales strategy: to grow before their competitors;Multi-channel selling;Support for consumer sales;Let the sales manager play the role of coach;Achieve sales growth from the top. A company that excels at at least two or three of these is enough to be considered to have a top-notch sales organization.
Get growth opportunities ahead of your competitors.
It's dangerous if sales reps and sales managers are only focused on meeting short-term sales goals – competitors will find and lock in customers before they do. To do this, successful sales organizations take three steps: look to the future to understand how the market is evolving;Drill down into existing markets to uncover untapped sources of growth;Thoroughly search extensive data sets to develop real-time updated insights into customer preferences and behaviors.
For the future, sales winners need to monitor big market trends, and they do so over a period of up to two years, not two. There are many areas worth analyzing such as demographic changes, environmental changes, regulations, technology, etc. The savviest companies invest 2-4% of their sales budgets to find out what these trends reveal for longer-term growth.
To be successful, companies need to collect a wide variety of data sets. EMC is a global provider of IT and data solutions, working with leading customers, their own engineers, business development teams, and university research facilities. This diverse team played a crucial role, with the company's vice president, William J. ToiperTeuber) points out that because "the trend shown by any one ** is not very obvious, and only when you consider these points together does it show a clear trend." ”
It's one thing to know that you look at the weather forecast and pay attention to the sunny weather, but it's another thing to know that you can buy more cold drinks according to the sunny weather forecast and plan ahead. World-class sales organizations are quick to translate the trends they identify into revenue-impacting initiatives. When the financial crisis erupted in 2008, South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor saw that economic uncertainty would make consumers hesitant to buy a car. So on January 2, 2009, the company announced a program that would allow customers to return their purchased cars without penalty if they lost their jobs. Shortly after the program was launched, Edmonds, an automotive consumer research firm, reported that "purchase intent skyrocketed by 15%....and maintain more than 7% above its seasonal norm figures. "Hyundai became the only major automaker in the U.S. market to show an upward trend in sales in 2009.
The second element of being the first to grow is to dig deep into potential growth opportunities. Top sales companies break down the market into smaller units, analyze their growth potential and competitive landscape, and adjust resources accordingly.
In addition to tapping into and leveraging the market segments they serve, state-of-the-art sales companies target even smaller individual customer units. Because "big data" uses huge data sets that often contain real-time or location-based data, businesses can uncover hidden opportunities for growth.
Multi-channel selling;
Sales executives often put a lot of effort into thinking about the types of products to be sold. These aspects are certainly important, but our research shows that creating a sales experience that makes customers happy can be at least as important. If sales leaders are looking for an evaluation of that experience, they can't rely on what customers tell them because what customers say doesn't always represent what they'll do. In both commercial and consumer markets, consumers may often say that the sales experience is more important than the sales experience, but they behave the opposite.
Few companies can truly master multi-channel selling, and even if it pays off: companies that excel in this area tend to see greater profits and revenue growth. For example, in the banking industry, when a customer receives services through more than four channels, the product penetration and revenue per customer may be about twice as high as that of a customer who goes through only one channel. Recent McKinsey research more generally proves that consumers who shop through multiple channels, including physical stores, online and catalogs, spend about four times more per year than those who shop through only one channel.
In order to serve a highly diverse clientele, electronics manufacturer Samsung has carefully arranged all of its different but related channels, including telecom operators, consumer electronics retailers, IT resellers, direct sales personnel. "Our approach is to connect deep expertise, processes, and multiple channels, and leverage our cross-channel portfolio, innovation, and design synergies," said Lee Jong-seok, president and CEO of Samsung's Asia company.
Regardless of the form their particular channel mix takes, companies must unlock the full potential of their digital channels to boost sales. Digitalization has led many executives to worry about ceding too much power to their customers. Margo Georgiadis, president of Google Americas, noted that, in fact, "the digital age represents a momentous moment in the empowerment of companies," allowing them to "provide precise and relevant information when customers choose and are most receptive." ”
In fact, when they understand the rules of the game on both online and mobile platforms, leading organizations see an uptick in sales and conversions. In 2009, Tesco's South Korean subsidiary, Home Plus, installed a billboard at a subway station, replicating the hallway of one of its supermarkets. Office workers can use their mobile phones to scan the *** of the goods on the screen so that daily necessities can be shipped to their homes. Its advertisement claims to "bring the store to the crowd" and also proposes to "turn waiting time into shopping time". Two years later, 760,000 buyers* had uploaded the Home Plus mobile app. The company's user base grew by 76%, and sales increased by 130% between 2009 and 2011.
As sales leaders embrace the emerging possibilities in today's highly digital environment, they will also reinvent credible sales methods, such as direct sales. An optimized approach engages customers early in discussions to solve business problems and enables products and services to be flexible and adaptable to deliver better solutions. All of these efforts lead to an increase in sales, but the collaborative problem-solving experience is the ultimate focus.
Support sales.
Even the most visionary sales executive can't achieve growth by casting magic. Whether it's your company's own salespeople or your channel partner's success in frontline sales, you need to equip reps with the right tools and back-office support. When sales managers inspect back-office operations, they often try to cut costs. It's true that 20%-30% cost improvements are not uncommon, but the best sales organizations never forget that good sales enablement also translates into happier customers and more productive sales reps. By giving front-line sales teams 50% more time to sell, an effective back office can increase revenue by 10 to 25 percent. At the same time, customers will appreciate smoother sales and faster turnaround times.
In the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the first step in overhauling sales operations is customer segmentation. When executives see that the top 15 percent of customers generate 75 percent of revenue, they assign the best sales reps to those top segments and entrust smaller accounts to certified partners. At the same time, the lean management approach streamlines the core sales process. Combined, these improvements have resulted in a cost reduction of nearly one-third. Reaching the full potential of the support function is also key, "Our support staff talks to customers every day to help them solve problems, so we bring them into the sales process as well," said Alain Raes, CEO of EMEA. Raes notes that as a result of the transformation, "we've greatly improved collaboration and even optimized collaboration for distributed teams." Sales reps and support teams gather in front of the whiteboard for 15-minute meetings each day, and these daily briefings can help them plan their activities, while the whiteboard itself maps out performance and tracks progress. This process will make the workday more efficient and orderly.
One of the big takeaways from revamping sales operations is finding out how much time front-line salespeople are actually spending on sales, and the results are always eye-opening. For example, before Swift rolled out its lean management methodology, sales reps spent only 18% of their time working directly with customers. Three months later, that time jumped to 40 percent. The crux of the matter is to break down sales activities into discrete tasks and assign each task to the group that can perform most efficiently and effectively. This approach turns sales operations into a factory that smoothly converts leads into sales.
Let the sales manager play the role of coach;
McKinsey's analysis shows that there are three factors that make senior sales reps outperform laggards. Successful sales leaders understand that motivating employees isn't just about money. Winning sales means taking the time to develop a rookie into someone who calls for it. In the companies that do the best in this area, managers spend more than 60% of their time on training;At the same time, they set the right pace for reporting and intervention.
The sales executives we interviewed highlighted that the most important participants in this kind of training event are the first and second line managers. They communicate with representatives on a daily basis, constantly reinforcing good or bad behaviors. If these frontline managers can provide guidance and support to instill new behaviors and processes, then transformation will take root. However, organizations do not invest enough in these managers and often undermine the success of delegate training.
Würth, the global market leader in assembly and fastening materials, is a company that prioritizes the training of sales representatives. The company's sales force accounts for almost half of its 66,000 employees. Executive Vice President Mario Weiss believes that managers can be great sales coaches. "Our regional manager is the most important person in training," he said. "They are our 'champions of success'. "Most of the training happens during the "on-the-go visit" process, where a regional manager spends a full day with the sales rep on customer visits and provides immediate feedback and information.
Training mechanisms vary from company to company, but all top sales organizations think about the role managers at each level should take on when building an effective sales culture. For example, in a consumer services company, the sales manager performs most of the one-on-one coaching, while the regional sales manager acts as a champion and role model on a broader level. In many sales organizations, managers who work their way up the ladder consider themselves "super representatives," but they contribute more when the culture encourages them to become "super coaches." In fact, the best reps may not be the best coaches, so early detection of this will certainly benefit the company.
Drive growth from the top.
Great sales leaders know that everyone in their organization needs instructions from above. Superiors use their position and influence to challenge the status quo, motivate their teams, and act as role models and mentors for change.
Hubert Patricot, President of Coca-Cola Europe, exemplifies many of these sales leadership qualities. In addition to being involved in sales planning and strategic decision-making, he also regularly visits the field. "I spend a lot of time on this, sometimes even bringing board members with me," he explains. Where he makes sales, he "makes sure that every customer is using a 'Coca-Cola-style' way of selling every time."
Less than one-third of change initiatives achieve their goals, and sales transformation is no exception. No work can be implemented without unwavering support at the highest levels. Only a committed leader can compel executives across the organization to sit down, share data, and talk openly about what went wrong. This level of communication requires settling internal political divisions and focusing on finding the most ideal solution while looking at the bigger picture. Without strong leadership, any growth plan will fail.
Most companies have major programs to increase productivity and improve operations, but rarely place the same emphasis on sales. However, it is in terms of sales rather than chain management, finance, or procurement that there will be a greater gap between the best and worst companies.
As the five strategies we've identified demonstrate, sales leaders need to put a hard hit on sales if they want their company to be at the top.
This article is from *** Sales Director Information (non-profit organization;CSO Information;Assist sales practitioners to better engage in business development).