It's common to hear from many managers, "The sales team is not working, sales are plummeting, we have to make changes in that area and hire a new sales manager."
These phrases are increasingly heard in companies in our environment and you must reflect deeply to find the true meaning and causes of it. In my long journey through sales, I have met sales managers who act as experts, but with a little winning attitude and rather taking advantage of the innocence of some General Managers.
It is true that the final effect - and what is seen in the income statement - is the drop in sales, but, when analyzing the reasons for this drop, in most cases it is due in large part to the loss of competitiveness and not so much to the sales team. To understand the situation, it is necessary to have a global vision of the situation and understand that in the sale there are five components:
1. Corporate strategy (broad markets or segments).
2. Processes (distinctive logistics, working capital management, customer relationship).
3. Sales team.
4. Technology.
5. Product / service offered (customer value proposition).
Usually, sales falls are directly associated with the people in the sales team and the other four elements are neglected, making an inadequate assessment of the situation.
In order to make a diagnosis of the situation, I propose that you ask yourself the following questions:
Strategy: Has the corporate strategy been defined? In what position do you plan to compete in the long term? Have internal and external growth strategies been defined? Has demand been estimated, have forecasts been made appropriately ?, Is the target audience, segmentation, perfectly defined? Is there a differential positioning compared to competitors? Are there clearly defined and communicated objectives? Etc.
Processes: is logistics management adequate? Are there good relationships with suppliers? Do the processes support customer expectations? Is the distribution adequate?
Sales team Do they have the right profile, are they motivated and do they have sufficient skills? Is there a growth-oriented remuneration structure? Etc.
Technology, is there a technological platform that really manages to help the customer more and better (CRM)?
Product / service: is it differential from the competitors in terms of the value contributed to the customer?
"We cannot put everything in the hands of the seller's" skill or expertise. "
If the response in the areas of strategy, processes, technology and product is not satisfactory, then the problem is not only that of the sales team, but that it is a much more global problem that must be dealt with in its entirety.
Against this, clearly there is always the argument that a good seller sells independently of these elements, but it must be understood that we cannot put the profitability and viability of the company in the hands of the "art" of our sellers.
As a conclusion, the results of the sales area must be analyzed, understanding the company as a whole, since on many occasions these results have relatively little to do with the sales team and much with the rest of the organization.
