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“With every mistake and failure, not only mine, but of those around me, I learned what not to do.” – Mark Cuban
Sales leaders have one task above all others: make the number. This task is accomplished as a result of dozens of big decisions throughout the year. The trick when making those decisions is avoiding the bad ones because when the bad decision is made at the top, the damage is multiplied.
We have complied a list of the most common mistakes sales leaders make in order to help you avoid them. Read on and make an inventory of what are the biggest mistakes you risk making in your job:
1. Ignoring the Buyer’s Journey
The way buyers make a purchase decision today is dramatically different than it was even a few years ago. We keep finding sales leaders who are certain they know their customers. But it’s been years since they’ve looked at how the customers make a decision. Their teams sell the way they do because that’s what they’ve done for 15 years. But today’s Buyers are educated. The balance of power has shifted from Seller to Buyer. Buyers do research online. They are less inclined to want to see the rep. Without really understanding how customers make a purchase decision, your sales team could be misaligned. Your Buyers buy differently than you sell. Is the frustration level high on your team? This is a possible reason.
2. Failure to Evaluate the Legacy Sales Organization
This mistake is tied to the one above. There’s a level of comfort and security in doing things the same way. The senior sales leader really understands the current sales force model. Sometimes it’s because it’s the one he used when he was a rep. Sometimes it’s because he helped to build and implement it.
This kind of inertia-driven thinking is dangerous. The current sales force structure may be completely out of whack. The allocation of resources between sales and marketing may be roughly the same as always. But if your buyers want to do their research online before meeting with you, is this the best way? Legacy sales forces are usually based on face-to-face selling. This is the most expensive way to sell. Could you drive expenses down and engage more new logos with a different model? Should you re-examine inside sales? Should you shift resources away from field sales reps and towards Demand Generation? The answer lies in buyer research. Sell the way your customers want to buy.
3. New Technology Will Save Us!
Cool new toys are awesome. But don’t buy anything yet. Before you spend few million dollars, think about sequence and the state of the organization. Can the organization manage the level of disruption inherent in this kind of change? Consider Marketing Automation. Once you buy it, what are you going to tell it to do? Process comes first. This isn’t a couch from IKEA that you assemble when you get it home. Process first, technology second. Process gives you gated steps that allow you to enable the technology properly. Here are four steps:
4. Underestimating the Rise of Content Marketing
10 years ago, when a Buyer decided they had a problem, there was a good chance they’d call a company they thought could solve it. The rep came in, educated the Buyer, and maybe got a sale. No longer. Now when a Buyer thinks they have a problem, they go online. They "self-educate." They go on a self-directed Buyer’s Journey. When they are online, do they run into you? What does your content teach them about how their problem and how you can help? “Content” could be everything from tweets to blogs to case studies, and many other things delivered in many other mediums. Good content distinguishes you as a leader in your space.
5. Gut-Feel Hiring Decisions
Your organization’s SVP of Sales is a real professional. His track record of hiring over the years is phenomenal. He’s really good at identifying talent. However, he has not implemented a hiring process within his organization. He proceeds on the assumption that his sales managers have the same “gut” he does. It’s true that some people are better at identifying talent than others. However, why does this excuse a lack of process? As Greg Alexander writes in Topgrading For Sales: “Sales has too long been an art. It is perhaps the last bastion of aimless, gut-feel decision making…” Too many sales leaders entrust their careers to luck. There is a better way. The Topgrading Method is a roadmap to upgrading your team.
6. My Sales Rep is the Trigger That Begins the Sales Process
This is the worst mistake of all. It misses the seismic shift of the last decade. Before the Internet, Sellers had the upper hand because they had much more access to information and knowledge than Buyers did. Buyers could say yes or no, but only based on information the Seller provided. Our wired world has flipped the balance of power permanently. Yet as we work with clients we still observe a huge degree of resistance this fact. Leaders pay lip service to the concept, but they haven’t allowed it to influence the structure of their organization. They try to achieve results by pulling the levers of rep activity level and headcount. They read that 57% of the Buyer’s purchase decision is made without a sales rep present, and they think “not in my industry.”. They marginalize their Marketing peers, who are uniquely positioned to help buyers on their journey.
World-class companies run towards change and excel at change management. They understand the field of battle now includes the virtual world, because that’s where the Buyers are. When your Buyers go there, do they bump into you?
