Do You have a Selling Problem
or a Buying Problem?

Revenues are down and the sales team is unable to meet their targets. The new products are not selling well and the older products have no further room to grow. Time to resume the whippings until morale (and revenues) improve.

In this only somewhat hypothetical situation, it is easy to shoot the messenger … your sales force. However, some soul searching must be done before the first shot because your sales people are your messengers. Sales own the customer and as such, they are most often that bring back messages of disapproval, success, disinterest, excitement, concern or satisfaction in the form of orders back from your customers. Before making changes to leadership, comp plans, or any other facet of your sales organization, you need to figure out if you have a selling or a buying problem.

The answer is in reality a combination of both, and will also involve far more than just your sales team selling and/or your customers buying. MMOmemtum believes in looking a problems in a holistic manner and this issue is no different. Instead of listing every possible reason for a lack of revenues, the best option is to list the reasons that are systemic to the organization, not just one department, and across across the entire development to production cycle.

Problems of the NOW:

1. Product Marketing and Sales Interface:
   1. Has the sales team been properly trained on the value of the product and competitive obstacles?
   2. Have they been provided with the collateral they need and the collateral they want?
   3. Does Sales believe in the product?
2. Marketing Communications and Sales Interface:
   1. Does the company’s brand support or hinder sales’ efforts?
   2. Has Marketing Communications team made the product easy to support? (e.g. on-line support)
3. Operations and Sales Interface:
   1. Are there any quality or volume production issues that could create a landmine for the customer and the sales person.
   2. Are costs limiting sales growth or traction?
4. Product Support and Sales Interface:
   1. Are the pre-sales and post-sales support team(s) able to support the number of customers required to achieve revenue targets?
5. Executive Leadership and Sales Interface:
   1. Are revenue targets based on shareholders’ demands (top down goals) or on stakeholders’ requirements (consensus-based stretch goals)?  As a note, they can be both.

Problems of the PAST:

1. Product Marketing and Sales Interface:
   1. Did Sales and Marketing work together to ensure that the product or service has the features and benefits the customers need and are willing to pay for? Does Sales believe they are part of the development process and their feedback valued?
   2. What internal customers were interviewed for their perspective on the product feature set? (see below)
2. Marketing Communications and Sales Interface:
   1. Does the company’s brand make it easy or difficult to get information and feedback on future products and roadmaps?
   2. How does Marketing Communication team get feedback from customers and the Sale’s team regarding brand?
3. Operations and Sales Interface:
   1. Does Operations believe the Sale’s (and/or Product Marketing) forecasts in order to support ramp to volume production?
   2. Did the Operations team get their feedback integrated into the product requirements? (e.g. features to reduce testing cost, minor adjustments to specs to reduce manufacturing costs, etc.)
4. Product Support and Sales Interface:
   1. Have the pre-sales and post-sales support team(s) provided their own input into the product development?
   2. Were sufficient support people hired to handle any increase in customers or in customer support work load?
5. Executive Leadership and Sales Interface:
   1. Has the executive management invested sufficiently across all aspects of the company to support Sales’ revenue goals?

The questions above are only a few of the issues that can conspire to limit the revenue growth of the company. The goal was never to create a comprehensive questionnaire, but to illustrate that a company’s sales problems are rarely just Sales’ problems. To only add to the challenge, if the alignment between executive and members of their team is poor, then the answers to these questions may vary significantly depending on who you ask. If these type of systemic issues are keeping your revenues down, MMOmemtum’s Profit MaP can help you get results.

If the scope of the issues are limited to the Sales group, then we have friends we can refer you to. Let us know either way, we are happy to help.