So now you turn to technology to improve alignment - but
replacing volumes of paper files and dusty 3-ring binders with
electronic sales "portals", passive information
management systems and email is hardly cause for celebration.
Many companies also believed, or at least hoped, their alignment
challenges could all be solved by systems that let sales people
search, access and pull information Just-in-Time.
But these passive information management systems, while very
efficient at storing information, aren't very effective at
making sales people better. These technologies are founded on
the belief that your sales people have the time, motivation,
direction and know-how to go to these portals frequently enough
to change behaviors, positively impact field effectiveness and
accelerate sales revenue - and that assumption doesn't even
remotely reflect reality.
Reality watches these passive systems evolve into massive,
underutilized, information repositories - becoming analogous
to giving sales people free gym memberships and hoping they all
get into shape. But in this case you gave your sales people free
memberships to your information gym, and they aren't going to it
frequently enough to change behavior or to accelerate results.
In order to be effective, salesforce alignment efforts must be
proactive and information must be reinforced continuously. Most of
the time sales people don't even know they need specific
information until they fail to respond properly during a sales
call - and then it's too late.
Making information merely available to sales people is not a
measure of success. Alignment success
can only be measured when sales people confidently remember to
apply the right information while speaking to their prospects.
The lack of departmental alignment, communication consistency
and accountability create a large variance in salesforce
alignment - negatively impacting revenue and pipeline
predictability. Increases in salesforce mobility and turnover
further complicate the issue.
Find out more
About Us and how we can help you accelerate speed-to-revenue
by improving salesforce alignment.
Or just
Email us or call 404.961.7350 to find out how Q can help
you.