Republishing this month’s newsletter in full: A look back on an article from February 2009 touching on a topic on the minds of many people and business leaders we speak to these days.

Business Survival in 2009

(Leadership Lessons from a Recession Year)

Since this is on the minds of most people and business leaders I speak to each day, I thought this would be a good topic for this month’s newsletter. While many companies are struggling to reach their goals (many adjusted to reflect the times), there is a subset of organizations that are growing – yes, growing. Some are have carved out a niche for themselves, some are in unique (growing) industries, and others are taking business from the competition.

Granted, I am not trying to paint this overly rosy picture because we all know the economic issues are real, however let’s remember – the economy has SLOWED, but it has not STOPPED. Your customers are still spending money, but more slowly and more deliberately. It’s your objective (specifically your salespeople) to position yourselves at the front of the money line. On the surface, “easier said than done,” so let me detail some examples of what I see working.

“More business is lost every year through neglect than through any other cause.”
-Rose Kennedy

I’ll share my thoughts based on these success factors:
VALUE – Clarity on what value your company provides to your customers
SALES – A highly efficient sales force
ACCOUNTABILITY – Core leadership strength to keep people focused

Too often the VALUE of a product or service is lost in the complexity and pressure of a sales cycle. It is easy to blame the sales representative but, often the breakdown starts with a lack of clear understanding of how your customer will benefit from buying your product or service. I would agree that your top sales people will figure it out on their own and make it part of the dialog with the customer but, what percentage of your sales force is the top tier – 20%, 30%?

Make it easier for the rest. The “deliberate” aspect of spending dollars in this economy is directly related to the value it returns. Higher revenue, greater efficiency, improved productivity–if that is not clear to the buyer(s), or does not exist, good luck! This must be understood by every leader in your organization so that it can be reinforced and be part of the leadership (specifically sales) message.

The value or benefit to you customer is directly impacted by your defined strategic direction and competitive advantage. How do you measure your success in important achievement areas–customer satisfaction, company culture, internal operations, and financial performance? What is your business focus? What differentiates your company from the competition? What are your company’s core competencies to support this value? The value of having answers to these questions is equally important to the dialog you stimulate with your company’s leaders. It builds immediate buy-in and commitment to what makes your company great and the perpetuation of success.

An optimized SALES force does not happen by accident. In fact, a large percentage of sales organizations I encounter do not have a truly scalable model that can endure during good and bad times. So, for the purposes of talking about this success factor let me detail what is missing and let you work the other way to improve your situation.

Lack of consistency (a.k.a. planning, process) is a major issue. In an informal survey I performed with companies having less than 250 employees, about 50% did not use a CRM (customer relationship management) system to track sales opportunities. Sales representatives were disorganized, sales leads were missed, and opportunities languished in the pipeline.

The negative impact was not as evident during good times but with a thinner sales funnel during tough time, it becomes glaringly obvious. There has been a significant push over the last few years to move sales organizations toward a value based selling model.

The importance of this is more evident now than ever before. If you are not familiar with the concept is essentially boils down to connecting the value of your product or service to the end-result-benefit it provides to your customer. For example, your product “X” may have a variety of features and benefits but it is up to your sales people to uncover which features and benefits help the customers business. Does it increase the productivity of people? Increase manufacturing efficiency? Minimize down time? Add revenue to the top line? This list is long and is unique to each customer. Referring back to the previous paragraph – performed well, this moves your company to the front of the line as your customer hands out purchase orders.

The reasons are varied and plentiful as to why it is often missing, however ACCOUNTABILITY is absolutely critical to business success. You’re probably thinking, “We hold our people accountable”, and that may be true, but the lack of accountability is a major culprit in the effective execution of business plans for many organizations. When we are asked to assist with the development and execution of a successful strategy, the first question I ask is “Can I see your plan from last year?”

If it exists in writing (often it is implied or floating around in the heads of a few executives), typically it is pulled from the shelf, is dusty, and has not been reviewed since it was created a year ago. It could be the best strategic plan ever created but there was no opportunity for the leadership team to hold each other accountable to the results. Need I say more?

Holding individual employees accountable is something else but just a critical since it cuts across every aspect of your business and provides multiple points of failure. Leadership strength (and that is all leaders in your company) makes the difference here.

Every single employee in your organization should have a very clear understanding of what is expected of them regarding there performance. Using your own cultural language, delineate the difference between A, B, and C level performance. Some A-performers can be groomed for leadership. The B-performers are great targets for coaching opportunities – moving them to the A-level. The C-performers need to be dealt with quickly and concisely as they are your obvious points of failure. The options are simple, improvement to an acceptable level or they must go. For some of you, this is a difficult concept, but ask yourself “What is best for business?” The risks are too high.