The following best-practices are guidelines for high performing sales professionals. Thanks to Don Henrich, VP Sales and Marketing at Vico Software for the genesis of this article.
2 min read
Modelling Sales and Marketing Performance on FC Barcelona
Last night FC Barcelona, a “star-team” beat Manchester United, a “team of stars” 2-0 in the final of the European football championship.
It was a disappointment for many English and Man-U fans, but an outcome entirely predictable. Apart from the first 10 minutes of the match, Barca controlled the ball through crisp passing, ball control through mid-field and selfless 100% contribution from every player on the team.
Man-U’s star strikers were held for most of the game and could not put penetrate the Barca defence; while Barca showed remarkable composure and scored 2 goals from a total of 7 on-target attempts, vs . no goals from 2 on-target attempts for Man-U.
At sport’s highest levels where teams are evenly matched, we see time and time again that “star-teams” almost always beat “teams of stars” in final matches.
Last year I wrote about FC Barcelona in “Training to Win”, after witnessing their summer training camp regime from my office window. Barca brings their whole team, trainers, doctors, coaches, even their own security and some of their grounds-men when they come for summer training; their preparation and training is second to none.
Barca’s 2008-9 performance was exceptional in winning the La Liga championship and EUFA Cup, scoring the most goals in any season, having the least goals scored against them. In just one year as coach, Pep Guardolinos' capacity for leadership, ability to develop and inspire individuals to believe in themselves, combined with disciplined and extreme work-rate and focus on technical excellence, have found him a place in football history.
In business we look at sporting hero's and great teams for lessons and inspiration.
If FC Barcelona was a technology company it would likely have all or some of the following characteristics...and a whole lot more;-
It was a disappointment for many English and Man-U fans, but an outcome entirely predictable. Apart from the first 10 minutes of the match, Barca controlled the ball through crisp passing, ball control through mid-field and selfless 100% contribution from every player on the team.
Man-U’s star strikers were held for most of the game and could not put penetrate the Barca defence; while Barca showed remarkable composure and scored 2 goals from a total of 7 on-target attempts, vs . no goals from 2 on-target attempts for Man-U.
At sport’s highest levels where teams are evenly matched, we see time and time again that “star-teams” almost always beat “teams of stars” in final matches.
Last year I wrote about FC Barcelona in “Training to Win”, after witnessing their summer training camp regime from my office window. Barca brings their whole team, trainers, doctors, coaches, even their own security and some of their grounds-men when they come for summer training; their preparation and training is second to none.
Barca’s 2008-9 performance was exceptional in winning the La Liga championship and EUFA Cup, scoring the most goals in any season, having the least goals scored against them. In just one year as coach, Pep Guardolinos' capacity for leadership, ability to develop and inspire individuals to believe in themselves, combined with disciplined and extreme work-rate and focus on technical excellence, have found him a place in football history.
In business we look at sporting hero's and great teams for lessons and inspiration.
If FC Barcelona was a technology company it would likely have all or some of the following characteristics...and a whole lot more;-
- An inspirational leader with a strategy and plan for success, who could inspire the team to believe they could win in new markets
- A technical team that builds quality products that people need, a support organization that is responsive to customer problems and a culture of innovation excellence
- A sales team that is disciplined in executing modern sales 2.0 process on a daily basis, works as a team in sharing success and knowledge and growing the team's selling skills; is expert in diagnosis and qualification which promotes forecasting accuracy and efficient use of corporate resources
- A fully aligned marketing and sales team, where marketing serves up high quality leads in a timely manner from effective inbound marketing process.
- A lean and mean administration team that is totally in sync. with the corporate mission and funding growth appropriately.
- Lightweight contracts that are easy to sign and business terms that are clear and transparent.
- A commitment to excellence and developing the skills of the whole team on a systematic basis.
- A customer community that is connected into the corporation through multiple opt-in outreach programs who provide valuable feedback on product direction and performance.
Topics: sales performance
2 min read
Sales Performance Survey on use of Best-practices
I created this self-assessment survey for one our clients, VICO Software last week to understand what skills and techniques they are actually using from our Consultative Selling training and performance support program. This survey was conducted prior to our group coaching session entitled "Getting out of your comfort-zone". I was surprised that a lot of the most useful techniques were not being widely used on a daily basis...hence the coaching session title.
Topics: sales performance
3 min read
Adapting Sales Process for Long Term Survival
Over the Christmas holidays I took my daughter to the London Museum of Natural History, and among other exhibits, spent a good deal of time in the Charles Darwin Exhibit. Darwin has been in the news a lot lately as it’s his 200th anniversary and there are all sorts of metaphors and lessons being drawn from Darwin’s works.
I was struck by the exhibit and his genius and thought about my industry, the technology industry, and how this closed system has recently undergone violent upheaval. I asked a partner of ours, Barry Trailer co-owner of CSO Insights, (CSO Insights is a research firm that specializes in measuring the effectiveness of today's sales and marketing organizations), what his thoughts were on surviving in the current market, and they were insightful
Barry suggested, “Most companies will simply jettison people in a knee-jerk reaction to reduce cost, but this is not adapting to the new environment. The companies with formal sales process that mirrors the customer buying process, those who adapt their sales process when conditions change, are favored to be preserved while companies with informal or tribal sales process will find it very difficult and may go the way of the Dodo".
Topics: killer products sales performance qualification
2 min read
Critical Sales and Marketing Skills and Practices
There are several proven routes to improving sales and marketing effectiveness, whether in good times or recession. What is surprising is how few companies have adopted this life-cycle approach to sales and marketing excellence.
Topics: inbound marketing sales performance
2 min read
When Sales and Marketing Stars Collide
Most of our clients contact us because they have sales performance issues.
Topics: marketing messaging sales performance
1 min read
Priorities and Sales Effectiveness
Let's examine your company's sales effectiveness in light of your likely half-year sales results.
According to CSO Insights, "Sales Performance Optimization - 2008 survey", the top four initiatives that Chief Sales Officers plan to implement to improve sales effectiveness this year in priority order are;
