Einstein did a lot of things in his lifetime that we recognize as genius. Einstein’s incredible conviction to challenge leadership behaviors if they were not curious to experiment or innovate is what sales leaders need to accelerate competency development in. Continually being open to try new ways of working is Einstein like behavior. Einstein believed passionately that: Imagination is more important than knowledge.
For too long, sales professionals have applied similar approaches to solving sales problems and the time has come to push beyond what we are comfortable with.
THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE CRAVES CHANGE
Sales Productivity is plummeting and in field customer time has dropped another 10% to about 31% in 2016 from 41% in 2011 (Accenture, 2016). This has to shift and rapidly as our world – wide economy is predicated on top line revenue growth. In addition, sales resources spend too much time chasing opportunities that do not have the best signals to win more efficiently.
PATHWAYS FORWARD
We know from analyzing historical representative data patterns that the average sales cycles closes within a specific period of time, based on specific opportunity types, customer history richness, solution types, competitive dynamics etc. Predictive Analytics, which SalesChoice specializes in, from an Einstein theoretical perspective, is the new harmonic force field that provides acute insights on the odds of winning or losing a particular deal.
Einstein was vigilant about challenging leadership behaviors and reinforcing that in order to transform, one must be in tune to the oscillating factors around them. The CSO Insights 2016 Sales Best Practices Study just released the 12 most important sales performance leadership behaviors. Consistent with last year’s research is: Sales and Marketing are aligned in what our customers want and need (World-Class 94%, All Respondents 39%).
FOUR NEW LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS EINSTEIN WOULD APPLAUD
Four Leadership behaviors for enabling sales and marketing alignment rallying around the customer are:
1.) Shared Vision of Success: A shared vision describes how the organization creates value for the customers and how success will be measured. Following the customer’s journey makes it easier to create this vision, and revenue contribution has to be one of the measures of success for both sales and marketing.
2.) Shared Strategy to Create value in every interaction: A shared strategy for creating and delivering customer value is necessary―from first contact and all the way through the buying decision and the customers using the products, services, and solutions successfully.
3.) Shared marketing, sales, and service processes: Based on this shared vision and strategy, sales and marketing have to agree on a shared sales and marketing process, ideally powered by integrated engagement and selling methodologies. It is essential that these efforts continue after the buying decision has been made.
4.) Shared technology: Integrated processes require integrated technology from the website to marketing automation to sales enablement to the CRM system. Integration is mandatory to leverage the potential of successful sales and marketing alignment. Allocating the right resources to the right opportunities is a challenge for most organizations because resources are like budgets—there is never enough to go around.
RESOURCING OPTIMIZATION
If the right resources are placed on the most valuable deals to increase the probability of winning those deals. For example, sales managers evaluating deals should consider the strategic value for the customer and the value for the sales organization. It is exactly this deal evaluation process that is often missing in many sales management approaches. When decisions about investments and resource allocation have to be made, the process of making those decisions should be tied to the sales process and the decision gates the customer must go through.
CRUSH AND WIN WITH PREDICTIVE SALES ANALYTICS
Predictive Analytics are a key rallying agent to prioritize the best opportunities and deals to increase your odds of winning. Companies like Macadamian Technologies,RelationEdge, Digiday are improving their resource allocations by focusing on the A plays that SalesChoice’s Predictive Analytics surfaces for them in real time, at 85% to 95% predictive accuracy.
CONCLUSION
In closing, Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
A recent Aberdeen Group report also revealed how today’s leading-edge organizations are deploying advanced predictive analytics solutions that yield improvements of up to 20 percent in quota attainment. In addition, this report reveals that productivity improves by over 50% using predictive analytics.
This is the type of EINSTEIN leadership behavior that is key to sales transformation success.
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