Engaging Sales Managers in Process Improvement

Engaging Sales Managers in Process Improvement:from SalesPerformance.com by deelaux
by Michael Webb
Question: How can you best engage sales managers in processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." improvementIn organizational development (OD), processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." improvement is a series of actions taken by a processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." owner to identify, analyze and improve. when they face so many competing priorities, such as considering new market initiatives, overseeing changes in software systems, and, of course, reaching sales goals?
ProcessA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." excellence leaders struggle with this question because they’ve been trained to start with “defining the problem” by gathering data and creating a SIPOC or a processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." map.  While this is logically (and usually) the right approach, it can lead sales managers to view processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." improvementIn organizational development (OD), processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." improvement is a series of actions taken by a processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." owner to identify, analyze and improve. as competing with their other priorities.   If your sales manager has customers awaiting answers and deals to close, processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." mapping will come in at a distant second place (if that).
It’s not just that sales managers don’t ordinarily think in processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work."-oriented ways.  It goes deeper than that, as shown by the poor outcomes of most efforts to teach processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." thinking to salespeople.  The real problem is that most sales environments work against processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work."-oriented thinking and behaviors.
Consider these questions:

• Do your senior executives express interest only in whether sales achieved its goals, or are they also interested in how sales achieves its goals?  (Usually, it’s the former, not the latter.)
• Are your salespeople’s commissions and bonuses weighted toward individual or team results?  (Individually weighted incentives encourage competition, instead of cooperation within a processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work.".)
• Is there clear, widespread agreement within your company on which specific sales activities do and don’t work, and which ones add valueThat which one (i.e., the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner).) acts to gain and/or keep. Also, that which our own company acts to gain and/or keep. versus wasteThat which the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner). does not want. Also, that which our own company does not want.? (Such agreement is rare.)

While the sales environment may seem discouraging, in fact it presents a great opportunity.  But to successfully pursue this opportunity, you need to know where and how to start the discussion.

 Where to Start

As a processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." excellence leader, you know what a valueThat which one (i.e., the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner).) acts to gain and/or keep. Also, that which our own company acts to gain and/or keep. stream is.  You appreciate the discipline of defining your terms around valueThat which one (i.e., the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner).) acts to gain and/or keep. Also, that which our own company acts to gain and/or keep. streams, processes, inputs, and outputs.  But how do you most productively involve people the sales department in this discipline?
Without being able to say so, sales is trying to tell you that they haven’t defined their valueThat which one (i.e., the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner).) acts to gain and/or keep. Also, that which our own company acts to gain and/or keep. stream.  This is not a criticism.  Rather, it is how most sales departments operate before they understand processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." excellence.  Few sales departments are able to track flow and qualityThe science of defining what the customer wants, and enabling your organization to provide it to them. through their production system.  Few have defined their operating variables, collected relevant data around those variables, and analyzed cause and effect.  Few can identify wasteThat which the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner). does not want. Also, that which our own company does not want. in their sales processes, and how to reduce it.
You can’t jump into this environment and expect people who do not yet understand the valueThat which one (i.e., the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner).) acts to gain and/or keep. Also, that which our own company acts to gain and/or keep. of processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." thinking to enjoy developing SIPOCs and processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." maps.  You must first build a bridge from their view to your methods.   As one of my sales managers long ago taught me, you have to sell the problem before you can sell the solution.

Defining Undesirable Results

I have found defining Undesirable Results to be a great technique for engaging sales teams.
An Undesirable ResultA measurable effect, outcome, or condition you do not like. UDRsMeasurable effects, outcomes, or conditions you do not like. UDRs distinguish facts and evidence of results from interpretations of potential causes and are a powerful way to clarify a problem. distinguish facts and evidence of results from interpretations of potential causes and are a powerful way to clarify a problem. (UDRA measurable effect, outcome, or condition you do not like. UDRs distinguish facts and evidence of results from interpretations of potential causes and are a powerful way to clarify a problem.) is a measurable effect, outcome, or condition that you do not like.  This term distinguishes the facts and evidence of results from interpretations of their potential causes.  Defining UDRsMeasurable effects, outcomes, or conditions you do not like. UDRs distinguish facts and evidence of results from interpretations of potential causes and are a powerful way to clarify a problem. helps people to avoid mistaking symptoms for causes and posing solutions before they identify the problem.
Defining UDRsMeasurable effects, outcomes, or conditions you do not like. UDRs distinguish facts and evidence of results from interpretations of potential causes and are a powerful way to clarify a problem. clarifies a team’s thinking about a situation.  It also engages sales managers in defining obstacles to reaching sales goals in terms of observable, measurable characteristics.  In a learn-by-doing manner, they discover that their language and definitions have been vague.  They see that making them more concrete leads them to potential improvements they never before considered.
Helping managers to convert their problem statements into precise UDRsMeasurable effects, outcomes, or conditions you do not like. UDRs distinguish facts and evidence of results from interpretations of potential causes and are a powerful way to clarify a problem. takes work, but it positions you to get sales to start collecting data that can confirm or contradict the validity of the UDRA measurable effect, outcome, or condition you do not like. UDRs distinguish facts and evidence of results from interpretations of potential causes and are a powerful way to clarify a problem. and problem statements.  In one client company, people wasted enormous amounts of time looking for current information and communications around customers, their channel partners, and the products and services they needed. Many of the company’s executives thought a CRM database to house all this information was a crucial first step.
However, as we worked with them to define their UDRsMeasurable effects, outcomes, or conditions you do not like. UDRs distinguish facts and evidence of results from interpretations of potential causes and are a powerful way to clarify a problem. some appeared more causal than others. One of these was “We have no means to determine what works and what doesn’t work for salespeople in the field.” As they applied the “Why? Why? Why?” technique, an interesting series of deeper causes emerged:
Why do we have no means to determine what works and what doesn’t work for salespeople in the field?
Because we never needed it in the past. We could always make our numbers by simply signing up a new distribution channel.
Why?
Because there were many places where our product was likely to be in demand. Unfortunately, that wasn’t working any more. The market had changed.
The company was no longer growing fast enough. They needed to learn what was blocking the growth. Clearly, until the senior executives recognized their need to think differently about field operations, their original idea for CRM software would have contributed to the company’s problems, rather than solved them.

 How to Start   

If your executives feel that processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." improvementIn organizational development (OD), processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." improvement is a series of actions taken by a processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." owner to identify, analyze and improve. competes with reaching sales goals and other priorities, you have probably started in the wrong place.  Your questions should be things like: “What is making it difficult for you to reach your sales goals?  What undesirable results are prompting you to launch new market initiatives or to change your software systems? What evidence do you have for these? Which ones seem to be the root causes?”
The answers can quickly lead you to issues important enough to gain the attention of even the most harried vice president of sales or business unit leader.  Help them solve these problems, and you’ve gone a long way toward demonstrating the valueThat which one (i.e., the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner).) acts to gain and/or keep. Also, that which our own company acts to gain and/or keep. of a processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." approach.
Interestingly, this same technique works beautifully at the tactical level of the sales processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work."The standard work required for finding, winning, and keeping customers. "What salespeople do" in the sales processA set of activities, through which work flows, aimed at a common result. The purpose of a process is to enable learning and improvement. Also known as "standard work." should be distinguished from what the rest of the organization does. Both need to be aligned to the customerThe person who pays for and/or uses your products and services. Also known as the "end user" (as opposed to channel partner).'s needs. itself. Is that something you’d be interested in discussing as well?