Declining Sales Performance: Have You Had Enough Yet?

Posted by Dave Stein on February 6, 2010

0 comments | 1239 reads

I’m on the road all this week. (In fact, I’m writing this on a plane from Minneapolis to Kansas City.) There’s not enough time to for me to write a long, thoughtful blog post. But I don’t have to. I’ve written enough of them here on this subject already—two year’s worth—just in case you’re interested.

I’ve been saying again and again that sales performance is continuing to decline. CSO Insights just published their 2009 Sales Performance Optimization report and the results validate my position. I’m not happy I was right. Not at all.

It’s not that I’m so smart. Anyone who thought about it could see it coming. You take what in many companies is an organization short of strategy, discipline, process, measurement, leadership and productivity, give them insufficient and ineffective marketing and other support, layer in a significant recession, and there you have it.

It doesn’t have to be this way. I can prove that. I just came from attending the annual sales awards dinner held by a major client who simply blew away their 2009 targets, recession and all. We’ve got lots of other examples of companies that wouldn’t stand for the situation they were in, took appropriate action, and never looked back.

OK, I can’t help it. I have to give you my opinion on the biggest single thing that can be done to fix this situation:

MEMO

To: CEOs, COOs, GMs, COOs, Boards of Directors, Investors, Presidents, and Business Owners

From: Dave Stein, CEO, ES Research Group, Inc.

Date: February 3, 2010

Subject: Declining Sales Performance

Demand that your sales organization be run like the business it should be. Now.

Republished with author's permission from original post by Dave Stein.

Dave Stein

After a career as a sales consultant, trainer, and author, Dave Stein is now founder/CEO of ES Research Group, Inc., which publishes independent evaluations and comparisons sales training companies and their programs and services. ESR is recognized as the leading authority on sales training programs and sales performance improvement. For the past twenty years Dave has focused on sales performance improvement, sales effectiveness and especially sales training.

About Dave Stein |
Connect:

Categories:

Sales Performance

1239 reads
Print
Email

0 comments »

Post new comment

Your name: *

E-mail: *

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Homepage:

Subject:

Comment: *

Input format

Filtered HTML

Allowed HTML tags: <a> <img> <hr> <table> <tr> <td> <th><ul> <ol> <li> </li><blockquote> <colspan> <rowspan>
Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
Images can be added to this post.

Post

Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
Images can be added to this post.

More information about formatting options

Notify me when new comments are posted

All comments

Replies to my comment

CAPTCHA

No spam permitted! Moderator reviews ALL content before publication to ensure compliance with the CustomerThink terms of use.

To block automated spam submissions, please answer this question.

What code is in the image?: *

Enter the characters shown in the image.

MarketPlace

Drive customer loyalty, empower support teams, and reduce costs. Get social.

[Feb 22] Guest speakers from Forrester Research, Allscripts, and CustomerThink will discuss market trends and research on social customer service strategies, as well as proven tactics from the trenches. Join the live webcast on Feb 22 at 10am Pacific (1pm EST).

Global Customer Experience Management (CEM) Certification Program

[March 13-14, Paris] An internationally recognized program with proven track record of success - being run for 33 times in 13 cities with attendees from 50 countries, the program is developed based on the U.S. patent-pending Branded CEM Method which aims to drive customer loyalty and brand differentiation with quantifiable business results. Limited offer: USD300 early bird discount.

10 Steps to a Single Customer View

Linking customer data across department databases and business units improves business intelligence, customer profiling, and customer management. This paper outlines 10 steps to improve the quality of customer contact data, including physical mail, email, and telephone information.