Growing Revenues in a Tough Economy

Your partner community is your extended salesforce. Why do so many companies treat them as an after thought? Especially in today’s economy?

Now is the time for companies to focus on their channel execution  more than ever! With less direct sales people on staff, and no new hiring on the horizon, targeted recruitement, enablement & go to market planning with your partners will result in expanded revenues in new accounts  & in new markets. And is not attainable by a direct sales model alone.

Companies that rebuild or optimize their partner programs with a focus on mutual accountability & driving joint revenues is the key.   Too often we find that partner programs only amount to listings on corporate websites or as powerpoint fodder.

Ask your VP of Sales how the partner program is doing. Either he will be honest & say it is a waste of time, or he will say it is doing great. If he states the latter, ask him to show you where on his sales forecast the deals that are partner driven or from a partner forecast. Chances are very few.

That is a sad statement given that the partner sales force of  System Integrators, ISV’s and OEMs far outnumber his own sales force. It should be that partner sales forecasts make up a far greater percentage of a company forecast.  In today’s economy, that could make the difference between survival or closing the doors.

The order taking days are over folks. Time for a wake up call in how we all sell & your partner community is just sitting there waiting for you to execute a fresh new sales approach with them.

A partner program that delivers is about focusing on what leads to breakout performance for you in the channel & in the markets you sell into. It’s all about selling smart utilizing all sales channels. It’s all about generating revenues!

Sales Management Style – What Works Best?

In the classic movie Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin plays the role of a tough sales manager from “Downtown” who is sent out by corporate to a local sales office to motivate a sales team falling behind quota.  He hurls insults & vulgarities at the sales team, and challenges them to close business or they will be fired permanently. The question is: Does this style of management really work, or is a more collaborative approach better served?

We tested both approaches with sales reps at several clients & found that early on, the intimidation factor actually did increase “paper activity” in the forecasts. However at the end of six months, over half the team treated with  the tough approach had left the companies with no additional revenue contribution.

On the other hand, the sales teams that we worked with in a more collaborative approach, using the techniques from our game planning service, rebuilt their pipelines & eventually started closing significantly more business.

The lesson is, by being collaborative with the sales team & mutually uncovering reasons why deals are not closing, you can increase team productivity &  save in the huge costs of having to recruit & retrain new sales reps.

This latter approach may not work in every situation, but is worth trying if members of the sales team have had a history of success with prior companies. Make them allies instead of enemies. Save your tough approach & “walk in the woods” approach for individual one on one meetings with reps, thus avoiding costly mass defections.

Palladin Consulting can help. Contact us to find out how.

http://www.palladinenterprises.com/Sales_Marketing_Channels.html to see the Glengarry Glen Ross Video.

Trouble in Paradise

As consultants, we work with a variety of companies ranging from start ups, to the very large, in growth & in troubled conditions. One common thread we often see in both environments is a lack of  coordination between the strategic business plan & the companies operational, organizational & individual plans. Or worse yet, there are no plans at all, just really bright founders, sales teams with polished resumes & a potentially hot product.

This lack of coordinated planning can really sink a company. They have truly left port without a compass. Only a stroke of luck will get them to their desired destination.

It is easier to get this point across to executives at troubled companies. Getting it across to executives & investors at emerging growth & fast growing companies is another matter.  Why? In the latter, early on sales are brisk with their products & services flying out the door. Everything appears hunky dory. It’s a cash bonanza for everyone!

However, most likely, competition will eventually creep in, market conditions will change, & growth will slow. Without factoring these variables into your companies overall plans, it may be hard to recover.  Is it a product problem? A marketing problem? A sales problem? It will be tough to know since there is no orchestrated plan.

As a result, like in troubled environments, even these companies will begin to stagnate.  The deer in the headlights gaze will start to appear at company meetings as customers, executives, sales reps & investors begin to abandon ship for the life boats. Death is in the air. The industry is littered with great ideas gone by the wayside or sold off at bargain basement prices.

Only companies who are dedicated to coordinating their plans between all four phases: strategy, operations, organizationally & individually –  will be in a position to make seamless mid course corrections. Your customers, partners, employees & potential acquisition candidates will understand your mission. You will be rewarded in the marketplace by your consistency.

This does not mean companies should remain inflexible to their plans to take advantage of opportunistic events.  However an ongoing selling, marketing & operational du jour process is a recipe for disaster in the long term.