Doubling Your Sales Revenue

Is this you… “We’ve got a great product/service. We work hard to service our clients. Our offering is so good it should sell itself! Our sales team seems to have a hard time selling it though. How can we 2x this thing?”

Some think the path to revenue growth is all about sales technique and methodology, CRM adoption, closing cycles and sales metrics.  It’s not. The real path to revenue growth comes down to your people strategy with your sellers.

Here’s the equation you need to know in order to 2x the results each of your salespeople generate:

Competence + Motivation = Sales Productivity

To explain…

Competence: this is how effective and efficient your salesperson[s] is at each of the many tasks they must execute in order to generate a sale.

Competence has its own equation which is:

Knowledge + Skill + Diligence = Competence

Knowledge is the depth of understanding your salesperson has around how to sell [sales methodology], how to move deals forward in the sales funnel [sales process] and how to create strategies that close leads and turn them into paying customers [sales strategy creation methodology].  Inside of each of these 3 components are many subcomponents. Your seller’s knowledge base around each one will be a predictor of selling success. If it is low, they will struggle. If it is high, they have a good chance to succeed.

Skill is your salesperson’s ability to leverage their knowledge, synthesize it towards creating sales solutions and then putting action to the solutions in a way that generates results. If a person is book-smart but has trouble applying their knowledge, their sales success will likely be lacking. If they are book-smart and can apply those smarts, chances are they will do well.

Diligence is your salesperson’s “stick to it-ness”.  A seller with lesser knowledge and lesser skill can still have decent success if they are diligent and continue to try and try again. The optimal of course is to have a skilful salesperson with a strong knowledge base who comes ready to play every day.

Motivation: this refers to how “into it” your salesperson is. 

Motivation has its own equation which is:

Role Fit + Satisfied Motivators = Motivation

Role fit means the right person is in the right seat on the bus. An individual who feels miscast will not be optimally productive. Further, they will likely not last in their role.  For instance if a Farmer is hired for a Hunting role they will perform okay but in their heart of hearts will not enjoy the role, will be unhappy and performance will suffer.

Satisfied motivators refers to the degree to which your sales people are being fed the things that motivate them. An individual who thrives on recognition but does not get any will feel frustration. One who derives great satisfaction from developing deep relationships will wither if in a hunting role. A coin-operated pure hunter who earns more than they would like will be happy as a clam.

Sales Productivity: Revenue generated by a salesperson is only one measure of productivity. Others are leads researched and contacted [if they are to generate their own leads], 1st Needs Diagnosis meetings booked, Deep Dive Needs Diagnosis meetings conducted, proposals presented etc. In other words, productivity around conducting events that cause sales to happen is equally as important as how many deals close.

What to do with all this…

In order to increase the sales productivity for each of your salespeople, set your people strategy for them.  First, ensure they are cast into the right selling role. Then train them deeply on the what-why-how of your sales-CRM process particulars.  Coach them on a regular basis to move them along the continuing to sales best practice implementation. Finally, ensure that your compensation and reward systems feed their motivators.  

Simple, right?  If you have any questions about how to go about this drop me a line at [email protected].