Archive for June, 2009
In an article titled “The New Science of Sales Force Productivity”[1] Harvard Business Review espouses a methodology that Growth Development Partners has been offering since 1974. Our challenge is to beat the drum louder, and in more places. This web site is an effort in that direction.
It appears that Growth Development Partners has been an almost invisible ground breaker for decades. “The Salesperson As An Investment” was written back in 1981. This article is available for the asking from this web site. See: “Get a Special Report on Profitable Sales Force Management”, which describes the Sales Production Quality Assurance™ methodology. The other pages on this site provide additional insights into SPQA™.
The HBR article on The New Science of Sales Force Productivity specifies “four levers” needed to “boost reps’ productivity in a predictable and manageable way.” The levers are:
- Targeting,
- Optimizing automation, tools, and procedures,
- Analyzing and managing rep performance by measuring both internal processes and results, and
- Sales Force Deployment –matching sales, support, marketing, and delivery resources to customer needs.
You can order the HBR explanatory article, and/or get the Growth Development Partners “how to” guides by ordering:
Click here to get both KC-101 and KC-202 for $5.00.
Click here to get both KC-201 and KC-202 for $5.00.
Then, if you’re thinking of expanding or replacing some of your sales coverage, ask for –
- K&C-303: Applying Quality Assurance to Sourcing, in addition to the free
[1] September 1, 2006 issue.
Posted in 
Customize Your Contact Management Software to Objectively Measure Order Production Progress
Quality assurance requires specification, measurement, documentation, and correction. Establishing objective measurement criteria is the basis for accurately monitoring order development progress. It is the basis for a Sales Performance Quality Assurance™ system.
You can help both your apprentice and seasoned salespeople more quickly and reliably produce sales orders. Simply create an Account Data Sheet listing the information that needs to be collected and exchanged to produce an order.
By completing this checklist, the salesperson maximizes the reliability of getting a request for quote and then closing an order. Sales activity reporting becomes simply sharing the progress on Account Data Sheet completion. This turns the art of selling into the science of producing an order.
For guidance in upgrading your contact management software, phone or email Growth Development Partners. For additional insights into how to help both your apprentice and seasoned salespeople, ask for our free report on The Salesperson as an HR Investment.
is to help your salespeople close orders.
As a Harvard Business Review article pointed out, “boost your sales reps’ productivity not by hiring the most-gifted individuals but by helping existing reps sell more.”[1]
It may sound too easy to be true, but it’s a sales strategy that works! We’ve been helping clients implement this strategy since 1977.
If you are already getting all the sales you think are available during this economy based on identified target accounts (see If You Covered the Territory: KC 102), then you DO have a challenge. If you believe that sales could be increased despite the economy by using effective targeting and process control, then you have an obligation.
Your obligation, of course, is to determine how to improve your targeting and better manage your sales process. The two simplistic answers are:
- Refine and redirect your targeting with database marketing, and/or
- Refine and apply quality assurance management to your sales process.
Targeting, of course, means you need a complete and prioritized list of target accounts, plus some easy way for you – and each salesperson – to monitor and measure coverage. Yes, I did say easy. The process may require a little effort for you to set up, but it will then be easy for you and your salespeople (including independent reps) to use.
Now is a very good time for you to help your salespeople advance from the art of selling to the science of order production (see You Can Achieve Profitable Growth by Treating Sales as a Production Process: KC 201). Let’s discuss how you might implement Sales Performance Quality Assurance™, to maker it easier for both you and your salespeople to monitor and manage sales growth.
Phone or e-mail to get a dialog going.
[1] “The New Science of Sales Force Productivity;” Harvard Business Review Article; September 1, 2006
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “if we but know what to do with it. ”
Yes, I’m old enough in my business career to have been through a number of “down turns” in our economy. I offer my comments on some previous recessions on our newly published web page to those of you who are willing to consider that age can (but doesn’t always) contribute to wisdom!
Having not been blessed with a silver spoon, I have had to use the “Power of Positive Thinking” many times during my career. This attitude doesn’t solve problems, but it should initiate enough creative thinking to come up with alternatives to “wringing your hands.”
If one of your major concerns is building sales, it’s possible/probable that the perspective and experience of Growth Development Partners can help. Ask for Knotes & Comments 104. Give us a call, or send an e-mail. We’ll try to offer a fresh approach!proach!