Sales Process Management – The Natural Evolution of Sales Force Automation by Gilbert E. Cargill Software alone does not improve sales productivity. In order to maximize your ROI, you must marry methodology with technology. In a rapidly changing world, many businesses are struggling with how to rationalize their sales resources and maximize the return on investment (ROI) in finding, acquiring, and retaining customers. Sales productivity is being severely scrutinized leading to emerging technology-based solutions that combine the best of “old and new” approaches to achieve high levels of sales productivity. This new approach to the age-old sales productivity problem is called Sales Process Management (SPM), and it is changing the way sales teams drive revenues. What is SPM ? It’s simply the next evolution of Sales Force Automation (SFA), but it has leapfrogged traditional sales technology tools over the past decade to become a primary model for how companies interact with customers. SPM combines a practical sales assessment on the front end with superior Web-based technology to maximize the return on investment (ROI) of a company’s sales productivity expenditures. There’s no better way to gain balance in a company’s sales platform than to implement an effective SPM solution that captures the best practices of its top sales professionals. SPM clearly recognizes that software alone does not improve sales productivity. For example, Hewlett-Packard underwent an unsuccessful and costly $8 million SFA implementation before they realized they automated a poor sales process (i.e., facilitating a poor process so that mistakes could be made more efficiently). In effect HP was putting technology before methodology. Sales plummeted. On their second attempt, HP focused on fixing their sales process and, after completing a thorough sales process assessment, automated the right sales process. This resulted in a revenue increase of 57 percent and an increase of customer retention of 15 percent. HP’s story highlights the essence of Sales Process Management (SPM) – it combines a practical sales process assessment and definition with a technology solution to maximize the company’s return on investment (ROI) of their sales productivity tools. Without properly weighing the impact of “the process” prior to implementing technology, poor sales results will follow. As a $50 billion company, HP could likely absorb the cost of this oversight. For other companies, such a mistake could be devastating. An SPM implementation is most successful when companies use a proven methodology that incorporates careful evaluation, realtime situation analysis, measurement of results, and documentation of best practices. These companies have “broken the code” to effective SPM and are showing quantifiable results that can lead to continuous improvement.
How Sales Process Management Integrates Old Business Principles with New Technology One of the most promising uses of Web-based technology is developing Sales Process Management and automation. In order for this effort to be successful, however, the emphasis cannot be placed on pure technology solutions. It needs to deliver solid, measurable results to justify the investment. The SPM industry applies some “Old vs. New” principles of success to the business of sales management. For example:
Fundamental sales techniques have not changed in over 100 years. Unlike other business processes – R&D, manufacturing, marketing, inventory management, distribution – essential sales methods have not changed since the late 1800s. Then, John H. Patterson, the founder of National Cash Register (NCR), first codified the simple rules of successful sales processes: (1) Know your customer and product (2) Be present when the customer is ready to buy (3) Don’t forget to circle back to sell the customer again. Sales is the only business practice that does not follow a standard process. Sales is the only industry that is not required to have documented processes and when things go haywire, companies often neglect to improve the core sales process. Instead, they try to improve their revenues by arranging motivational seminars, team building workshops, or coordinating additional marketing initiatives. Such activities are geared toward affecting changes in sales people, and do not give proper consideration to the impact and power of the “process”. In conjunction with seminars, workshops, and marketing activities, sales organizations often apply a quick fix to the sales productivity problem by investing in Sales Force Automation (SFA) software, only to blame the new sales technology for a poor return on investment (ROI). When examining the sales process, companies should focus on how they can create more time for sales professionals to “sell”. It is vital to first assess existing processes, identify areas for improvement, and then determine how a technology-based solution can improve sales productivity to ensure success. Sales efficiency stems from the Three P’s: Process, People, and Protocol. Companies that have successful SFA/ SPM sales platforms usually have built a firm foundation for success by equally weighing the value of Process, People, and Protocol. To be effective in driving sales growth, a sales Process must harness the organization’s best sales practices. Sales professionals, the People, must buy into the process and must have management support and commitment to training and development. Finally, Protocol is the technology used to implement and administer the
successful and proven sales process. It is not a implementation focused solely on features and functionality.
technology
Technology is great, but it can’t generate investment returns until it is married with the sales process. Sales Force Automation/Customer Relationship Management (SFA/CRM) applications were key in the evolution of sales process management. The best SFA/CRM technologies have enabled companies to extend to an increasingly mobile work force secure access to their most valuable customer information. When this technology is married to an effective sales process, predictable, measurable results follow.
A Call to Leadership In an era bombarded by technologies that are designed to impress users with functionality, SPM distinguishes its implementations by identifying and improving sales processes prior to providing automation. For companies that perform “blind” technology implementations, their pockets should be deep enough to handle the expected underperformance that will follow. Having a healthy mix of the Old Economy principles (i.e., increasing company revenues) with a progressive perspective (i.e., investing/selecting an effective sales process prior to investing in technology) is the best recipe for modern-day business success. After all, at the end of the business day it’s really all about the bottom-line, and that’s what SPM delivers – sales results.