In part 1, Steve faced the challenges of the New Normal. Here’s part 2, the growth plan.
As Steve awaited his slot on the agenda at the Widgets Inc board meeting, his thoughts drift to the very productive leadership meeting 24 hours earlier.
Their focus on Sales-quality would be their north-star, guiding the whole company towards growth. At times the discussion had been tough going, but it was a hugely valuable debate and he was proud of the way the team stepped up to the challenge.
The VP of Sales, Sue had suggested a way to think about the new world of selling. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot”, she said, “and by reflecting on the old-world we can agree on what must change going forward”. She went on, “the old-world sales mindset is all about more. More dials, more emails, more people and such like. If we compare this with a mindset that focuses on better, we can tease out some guiding principles.”
This had really worked, Steve recalled, as a way to challenge their beliefs on what was important.
The whiteboard captured their inputs, grouped into three significant areas.
Sales-Quality People and coaching will transform their selling capability as a business. After all, Steve reflected, they are still a people business and their sales cannot be done online quite yet. They would need to work hard at developing their people, particularly sales managers. Some of them wouldn’t come out the other end of the change, but these tough decisions would be necessary if they wanted to compete.
Developing a Sales-Quality Proposition and how their messaging would need to change to be more compelling for customers, and easier for their sales teams to understand. Jenny was committed to aligning marketing to this new approach.
And finally, a Sales-Quality Processes and tools will improve both productivity and decision making. This had particularly excited Frank as the CFO as he could see a future with more transparency and accuracy. Steve smiled.
He was confident in the team’s new strategy and the impact it could have on how Widgets went to market.
Sales-quality is a positive mindset shift and it will encourage them to make definite choices, be more courageous and stand out from the competition.
Steve snaps back into the meeting as his name is called. He opens his notepad to his notes and is ready to share the plan with the board.
“Good morning all….” he begins.
If you would like to talk more about improving the sales-quality of your team, get in touch.