The key components of sales success

Many commentators have a view on the question "What makes for a successful sales team?"

Here at Accredit, we believe sales success hinges on three key internal issues (assuming of course that you have something people want to buy and have access to the market you are aiming to serve)

Over the next few weeks we will be discussing our views on what these three key areas are. This week we will focus on introducing them and briefly outlining why we think they are important and essential to sales success.

We believe the 3 components to successful sales enablement are:

1. Message - do you have "sales ready messages" and are they explicit so that both customers and sales people understand them. Think about it as having a "WIIFM" for all audiences
2. Environment - This in our view is a combination of:
1. Process - is it easy for me to sell the product/solution and the customer to buy the product/solution?
2. Motivation - Will our sales people want to sell the product/solution? Typically this is a combination of incentives and sales management (carrot and stick)
3. Support/Culture - Do we know what good looks like and is there coaching support to get the sales people selling? - Again this is all about Sales Management and organisational appetite for improvement and success.
3. Resources - Are your sales people capable of delivering the messages and do they have the skills to turn opportunities into business? How will you know? Typically there are different internal resource skill and knowledge levels and therefore the capability and skill requirements differ depending on who sales people engage with and the sales process they use and of course their confidence and attitude towards their role and their own personal success drivers.

Because of the nature of sales people, if you do not get Message and Environment "right", it does not matter what you do with the Resources; you will fail. It's a bit like training someone to drive an F1 car so they can drive very quickly and then giving them a Smart Car and telling them to drive in the centre of London. They will not use the new skills because there is no relevance to what they actually have to do.

Sales Management is also key - Sales Management can make or break any sales enablement process. The sales guys need to be confident that their SM can coach them, support them, motivate them - indeed help them to be successful. It is about Leadership not just Management. Do you have SMs that can do this?

So what does this mean for us as sales people and sales managers?

• We believe you should begin with your Messaging components, i.e. Collateral. This is on the basis that until you have the collateral finalised how do you know what you want the sales people to ask, understand, say etc?
• Next come the Environmental components. You need to ensure that your sales people have the tools and processes to make it easy to sell (and for the customer to buy) and that you have defined what good looks like for the sales process and how you measure it.
• The tools you need to use to ensure success at each stage of the sales cycle and how they are going to drive success are for example:
• Opportunity management
• Account Development
• Sales Planning
• Forecasting and Pipeline Management
• Finally, and only when you have excellent Messages and the right Environment should you tackle the Resources element. By this we mean it is pointless training in new skills and knowledge unless the other elements are in place first. Often we are asked to train sales people and once we commence understanding what we are getting into we find the first two vital components are missing.
• The starting point for the Resources element has to be in sales management. You not only need to train sales people you also need to include checks and balances to ensure sales people are continually assessed and coached in terms of actual performance. The ultimate measure of success for sales enablement is not completing a programme, but achieving the sales figures, this is an ongoing challenge, especially as your portfolio and therefore your solutions to customer problems evolve. Sales Managers are the driver to achieving this. They should properly manage the forecast by ensuring that the good behaviours you are training people in become everyday habits.
• By including sales management you turn this from a sales engagement process (what are the steps I as a sales rep should take to engage with a client) into a sales enablement process - how can I ensure we successfully sell the product/solution and hit our numbers.

In summary, Accredit's three keys to successful sales teams are

1. Messages - Internal Collateral and External Collateral
2. Environment - Tools (should include order management processes, remember sales people will expect everything to work), Measures and Sales Management
3. Resources - Skills, Knowledge, Coaching for performance

Over the next few weeks we will explore these in more detail, commencing next week with Messages.


If you are about to commence a review of your sales team, or launch a new product now contact either Mark Savinson or Fred Nelson and let Accredit help enable your sales organisation to maximise the opportunities your product set creates.


Remember, we can give you quick feedback just by placing a comment on this blog, or we can work with you to ensure you are best placed to start drive the activities that will help you be successful.