Sales as a Team Sport by Peggy Klingel

1. Peggy Klingel 608-512-8830 Sales and Market Strategy Development and Execution Change Management, Startup & Turnaround Expertise Sales as a Team Sport The benefits of a broad organizational understanding. PeggyKlingel@gmail.com www.twitter.com/PeggyKlingel www.linkedin.com/in/peggyklingel

2. Sales roles are increasingly complex. • Providing more technical product and service solutions. • Acting as a customer’s business advisor. • Leveraging broad competencies in competitive products and market trends. Training programs alone cannot address all learning.

3. Top salespeople take advantage of all learning resources. • Sales training must be incorporated across the sales process and reinforced with ongoing training. • Salespeople also need to assume responsibility for their own development. • Competitive knowledge, market trends and financial acumen require ongoing research and learning. Recruiting the right talent is increasingly important as new technologies require updated skills and sales approaches.

4. The ability to learn becomes more important. Candidate initiative in learning new skills and roles can indicate aptitude in roles requiring diverse knowledge and skills.

5. Learning should occur across disciplines. • Foundational training programs in sales process, technology and skills development continue to be important. • Technology training should be conducted within the sales process to avoid the unintended consequence of sales teams spending less time selling as they interface with inefficient technology. • Providing direction and access to additional learning through industry resources, trade publications and on business trends will help improve sales business acumen development. Constant learning is a prerequisite for peak sales performance.

6. Business knowledge increases effectiveness. In addition to technology, training and process improvements, a 2013 Accenture sales force optimization study identified enhanced integration of marketing, sales and service as one of five recommendations to improve results.

7. Plan to grow sales team business knowledge. • In addition to training programs, industry conferences, trade journals and personal development, sales professionals can benefit from an understanding of functional business areas. • This has been difficult to achieve with a goal to minimize time away from the field. • Job shadowing often misses the target when used as a means to increase cross-functional knowledge. • Engaging multiple business functions to develop relationships provides the best learning. Increased sales understanding of business functions can add value during the sales process.

8. Begin by understanding the background. • Teams outside of sales don’t understand the sales function giving the sales team a mystique. • Sales is a visible and easily measured role. • Quotas and at-risk compensation plans perpetuate the view that sales is difficult and risky. • These views may result in limited sales team interaction with other functional business areas. • Sales failures are often visible throughout the organization. • Sales may be isolated, operating with a limited understanding of how other teams within the organization interact with customers. Yet, everyone is talking to the same customers!

9. More knowledge can improve the customer experience. • Serving customers requires sales to understand the customer’s business, the market and their products and services. • Developing solutions pushes sales to know how their company provides products and services to position solutions that meet customer needs. • Understanding the underlying solution financials allows a sales person to speak intelligently and confidently about pricing and when explaining why a discount is not available. • Discussing implementation processes and their purpose helps sales properly set expectations during the sales process. Increased sales understanding of business functions will improve results.

10. So how do we achieve this learning goal?

11. Join the learning with the sale. • Understand financials by sitting with finance while a solution is being priced. • Spend time with the implementation team as they develop the customer implementation plan to learn the process. • Attend an internal service meeting that includes a review of the upcoming implementation and service turnover plan. • Sit with billing as they review the payment terms on the agreement to understand key dates in the process and their importance. • Attend early implementation or development meetings to engage and support the team implementing the solution. • Listen to the customer’s questions throughout the process to learn the answers. And most importantly…

12. Keep the internal relationships growing.

13. Better results are achieved with collaboration. • Sales sets customer expectations during the sales process to minimize surprises. • An internal network of cross-functional resources comes together when sales encounters a challenging opportunity. • More complex solutions are proposed and won through increased team communication. Ongoing cross-functional communication enhances results.

14. Resulting in higher customer satisfaction, revenue and margin.

15. Peggy Klingel 608-512-8830 Sales and Market Strategy Development and Execution Change Management, Startup & Turnaround Expertise Sales as a Team Sport The benefits of a broad organizational understanding. PeggyKlingel@gmail.com www.twitter.com/PeggyKlingel www.linkedin.com/in/peggyklingel

16. Other Presentations by Peggy Klingel Other Presentations by Peggy Klingel Leadership Principles for High Impact Results Priorities to drive organizational change. The Five C’s of a Company Review Business areas to understand before joining or partnering with a company. Growth Strategy Execution How to Start Fast and Deliver Results. Building Bridges for Growth A review of my history and philosophy behind driving revenue growth. PeggyKlingel@gmail.com www.twitter.com/PeggyKlingel www.linkedin.com/in/peggyklingel