The building blocks to a successful sales organisation

A HubSpot Research recently stated that 72% of companies with less than 50 new opportunities per month didn't achieve their revenue goals, compared to 15% with 51 to 100 new opportunities and just 4% for companies with 100 to 200 new opportunities.1 Sales organisations spend a considerable amount of time working with clients on their sales outreach and engagement processes. How you identify, engage, and convert new customers are fundamental to business operations and there are so many ways to do it poorly that end up frustrating prospects, employees, and sales leaders. To get maximum return out of our sales development efforts, I have developed the following building blocks for high-performance sales development.

• Lead by example 

As a sales manager, you are no longer able to ensure sales by just going into the field yourself. Instead, you need to place your trust in your sales team to do the job. Showing sales reps how to sell to customers from varied backgrounds and situations whilst overseeing the process would enhance sales. 

• Focus externally

All employees and the sales force in particular should be trained and encouraged to prioritise customer-centricity, end-to-end servicing and have the foresight to identify opportunities. It’s important to identify your buyer personas. How they make decisions, what they expect, what are pain points, and what are the metrics that matter most to each, what they buyer needs to see, hear, feel and believe in. Once that analysis is done, customers’ needs are being addressed and the organisation’s activities and processes are aligned to those of the customers, customer satisfaction will increase.

• Coach and support sales reps

Great sales cultures view the sales team as a learning organisation that can always improve. Sales managers should constantly look to develop their sales team's skill, build relationships with salespeople, and create value in all coaching. Sales managers should recognise that teams need feedback to boost sales.

• Build a global sales organisation 

Beyond building a winning sales team — it’s important to nurture it for continued success, not just nationally but on a global scale. The need to collaborate and work as a single team becomes much more evident when you’re a global organisation like ECU Worldwide, operating through more than 300 offices across over 160 countries. Use global sales force as an extension of your local sales organization. 

• Offer great product support 

Listen to customers, customise as per their needs, offer seamless services and add to customer delight with relevant value-added services. But there is something very important, that customers expect from brands—good and timely customer support. Make sure to deliver on the promises you make. Customers would be disappointed if you do not deliver on your promise of support, having previously assured them you will take a course of action. 

• Be proud of your organisation 

Remember you represent values, vision, mission, market leadership and legacy of ECU Worldwide. Let them reflect in your business decisions and operations. Demonstrate them consistently by representing your organisation outside, for that is what sets you apart. Our group values of Trust, Integrity, Team Spirit, Leadership, Passion for Excellence, Respect for individuals, Transparency and Openness have always held us in good stead and continue to do so.

• Build processes for every possible situation you will encounter

Do a risk analysis, create systems and processes in place for any kind of situation that you are likely to encounter. When facing risks, the challenge is how well-prepared we are in overcoming those risks. Risk awareness may be limited, in which case there is a high likelihood of risk turning to a disastrous outcome. Successful organisations make constant efforts to change or update to manage possible risks in their business requirements. Building a great sales organisation needs strategy and effort. Based on our philosophy, we are building a great sales organisation globally and it will help us grow the business and achieve success. By taking the time to plan and implement the above-said sales management strategies, even you can begin to notice improvement in your sales team.

What are your thoughts on building a successful sales organisation?