Ninety-eight percent of sales leaders have increased sales support resources in the past four years, according to CEB’s sales productivity in the new environment study in Top Insights for the World’s Leading Executives.
However, increased sales support adds to rather than reduces sales complexity. Supporting the sale is not the same as supporting the seller and missing the difference proves to be very costly. Internal complexity increases sellers’ perception of burden by as much as 62%—the highest increase of any type of burden. According to sellers, this internal complexity also causes 20% of stalled and lost deals.
What most organizations miss is the crucial link between the quality of the experience they create for their sellers and the quality of the experience sellers create for customers. Whereas most organizations pay a great deal of attention to understanding and improving their customers’ experience, very few manage the experience of their sellers. Rather than spreading sales support evenly across the entire sales process, which often increases seller confusion and burden, organizations need to deliberately choose the moments where providing targeted support will help sellers most.
Rather than spreading sales support evenly across the entire sales process, which often increases seller confusion and burden, organizations need to deliberately choose the moments where providing targeted support will help sellers most. It is reported that 30% increase in effort decreases internal complexity by 25%, according to the CEB report.
This is particularly relevant to post training sales coaching support. Where sales training may be generally applicable across the entire sales force, ongoing sales coaching may be most effective in supporting sales people in their unique client settings.
Source: Top Insights for the World’s Leading Executives – CEB
Consciousness In Business 