We have found that professional sales teams rarely suffer from a lack of effort. However, the disparity between effort and positive result is quite common. So what gets in the way? Is it the marketplace? Is it the competition? Is it poor processes internally? Is it because there’s ineffective training? Is it because that there’s too much turnover? In many cases it’s some or all of the above!

We know that many companies invest in the professional development of their sales teams, but become frustrated when they don’t generate the desired results. The fact is that sales organizations are only productive when there is a convergence of effort and positive results. Real productivity in a sales process is recognizable and measurable because productive processes have specific characteristics. The most successful sales organizations are defined by having the following:

1. A customer focused strategy that permeates the entire sales organization

2. The ability to establish standardized processes to proactively engage decision makers on a consistent basis

3. The ability to outsmart the competition by positioning proposals and RFPs to their advantage and “win” a majority of the time

4. The skill to sell products/services at full market value, without discounts

5. The ability to establish a standardized process to accurately forecast new business and revenue performance

6. The ability to hire, train and integrate sales people who are able to become productive in a matter of weeks rather than months or years

7. The skill to retain the right people over an extended period of time

8. The ability to consistently cross-sell existing customers while improving customer satisfaction levels

9. The skill to continually improve the productivity of their sales process/cycle and measure the improvement on a regular basis

When these characteristics are integrated throughout a sales organization, a level of performance is achieved that we call the Productive Selling Zone. In the Productive Selling Zone, effort and positive results converge at every step in the sales process!

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