Failure to Engage – When Procrastination Causes Sales To Fail – 3FORWARD

Failure to Engage – When Procrastination Causes Sales To Fail – 3FORWARD:from 3forward by Dan Hudson
There are many reasons why companies consistently fail to make their sales and revenue objectives. One sure-fire reason might be because your senior leadership team is putting off making the hard decisions on improving selling effectiveness in terms of people and process.
Think about it in reference to your own business.  Are there individuals who consistently underperform yet continue in their position year after year?  Are there process related issues that never seem to get resolved and are discussed over and over again by the sales, marketing, or operational teams.  By now you are likely nodding your head in agreement as you think about the various areas of your business that need some type of correction or improvement.  So, if we know we have issues or problems slowing down our ability to conduct business efficiently why don’t we take action sooner?
The most prevalent reason that many executives don’t take action sooner is that it is easier to make smaller decisions today rather than tackling those large issues that often take months or years to show results.  As an example, many firms will live with a mediocre or poor sales leader because the thought of terminating a sales executive and beginning the search for a replacement is an easy decision to put off. Another example would be a changing the way lead generation efforts are handled by you firm. If your marketing organization is not embracing the fact that they are at least partially responsible for identifying and nurturing prospects to the qualified stage they are living in yesterday’s world. Leads are what fuel the sales team and without fully qualified leads to pursue, your sales efficiency will suffer.
Senior leaders that procrastinate in making the tough decisions to improve sales and marketing functions are sabotaging the future viability of their firm. Take the time to fully inspect your sales and marketing activities, and benchmark them against your top competitors and organizations similar to yours.
Most importantly, make the commitment to improve today not tomorrow!