A clear understanding of the key roles in a programme of change management is a vital and often overlooked aspect of successful strategies for managing change.
It matters because a successful change initiative really does result from a clear understanding of the key roles that are needed to make it possible.
Regardless of the size of your organisation and whatever approach you are adopting, there are clear lessons to be learned and benefited from the programme management based approach to running a step change initiative.
In the organisation structure of a programme based approach there are three primary roles:
(1) In any change initiative someone has to fulfill the role of leadership and needs to be seen to be consistently the driving force throughout the initiative. That person also needs to be ultimately accountability for the change initiative. In a programme this will be the Programme Director.
The Programme Director owns the programme and therefore is ultimately personally accountable for the success of the Programme.
So this is not simply a titular role, the individual appointed must be empowered to direct the Programme effectively - capable of doing so - and seen to be doing so.
Without this role being fulfilled - it just simply will not happen!
(2) The second role is fairly commonly understood - the person with responsibility for day-to-day management of the initiative, its risks, issues, conflicts, priorities, communications, and ensuring delivery of the new capabilities.
However, what is not so commonly understood is that this role is more - far more -than that of a project manager.
In a programme this is the Programme Manager. This role has responsibility for the wider dimensions of the change initiative - particularly the management of the people impacts and all other broader strategic and operational aspects that have a bearing on the ultimate success of the initiative.
(3) The third role is less often fulfilled outside of programme management circles. This is the role with responsibility for actually realising [or achieving] the organisational benefits of the step change initiative - namely the Business Change Manager.
[N.B. This role within a programme management context is not to be confused with the business process improvement focus of a business change manager in a company with a project management culture that has no awareness or practise of programme management.]
There is a fundamental difference between the delivery of a new capability and actually realising measurable benefits as a result of implementing that capability.
The programme management approach recognises this difference in the complementary roles of Programme Manager and Business Change Manager.
The Programme Manager is responsible for delivering the capability; whereas the Business Change Manager is responsible for realising the resultant benefits through the integration of the new capabilities into the business operations.
This is so often overlooked. Partly because the whole idea of clearly defined and documented, measurable benefits is in itself overlooked and also because it so often assumed that simply completing projects and delivery new capabilities will of itself deliver the benefit - which of course it usually doesn't - as is reflected in the 70% failure rate of all change initiatives.
Each of these 3 roles may be a full-time role or a part-time role. The deciding factors are the scale and complexity of the step change you are seeking to implement and the size and complexity of your organisation.
The amount of time allocated to each role is at this stage very secondary to the fact that each role is recognised and defined and undertaken by a person with the appropriate skill, and personal authority to exercise the role. What is of paramount importance is that somebody understands and owns the execution of each role - whether it takes them 10 minutes per day or all day every day.
The change initiative will almost certainly NOT succeed, if these roles and the processes inherent in the execution of these roles are not fulfilled.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Inbound Customer Service - A Key to Successful BusinessBy Sandra Mary Jones.
Today many companies outsource their inbound customer services to an offshore call center. Most of the business owners have a hard time to give up the responsibility to their own employees, let alone an outsider. Customers are lifeline of any business and most of the companies value their esteemed customers. Most of the large business houses outsource the non-core aspects of their business after much thought and extensive research.
Today, the companies have realized that, customer service outsourcing is an important tool to boost sales and gain maximum revenues. While there are still many who are reluctant to outsource their inbound customer services. The truth is that in today's competitive business environment inbound customer service is smart choice. It allows companies to handle the important aspects of their business. Most of the reputed call centers have skilled work force. They are professional and are trained to handle calls proficiently which are needed to manage a business successfully.
Inbound customer service is important for retention of customers. Acquiring a new customer is seven times more costly than keeping the existing ones. An inbound customer representative understands the importance of customer relations and manages those relations in most professional manner. The call center services offered by an outsourcing firm is tailored to place the importance of customer service.
The inbound customer service offered by reputed call center is focused to make each customer a customer for life. A professional call center agent makes sure that each phone call that he or she handles results in something positive that your business can build upon. They play a pivotal role in making sure that the customers are satisfied with your product and services.
By outsourcing inbound customer service, a company actually increases the level of customer service. A call center has trained operators that are always available to handle customers need,concerns and problems. They process the requests of the customers as well as answer the queries of the customers related to the product or services. They also take all necessary action to resolve each and every issue so that the customers have unmatched level of satisfaction.
Today running a small or a large business is a daunting task. This is due to labor costs, recruiting problems and ever changing telecommunication equipment. At this time inbound customer service provides the basic ingredient for a company's success.
The call centres in India providing inbound customer service are well equipped with good infrastructure, highly qualified agents, security solutions and cutting edge technology.
The call centres in India have state-of-the-art multimedia centers that offer multichannel interaction through voice email, SMS and fax services. There is no doubt that Indian call centres can handle a range of outsourcing services.
Some of the inbound call centre services have specialization in appointment setting, research surveys, lead generation, debt collection, consumer response, dealer locators, direct mail response, email management services, help desk solutions, inquiry handling, interactive voice response, product technical information and telemarketing in verticals like mortgage, insurance, telecom industries. The inbound customer service includes order taking, technical support, customer service, answering service and help desk services.
In today's business environment outsourcing is often not a decision that needs to be justified. Some of the non core business functions that are handled internally could be outsourced. Business process outsourcing refers to the rearrangement of entire business functions to some other BPO service provider. Most of the companies that look to outsource are multinationals or companies from the western part of the world. Most of the BPO units are in countries like India, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Kenya and even Russia.
Today, the companies have realized that, customer service outsourcing is an important tool to boost sales and gain maximum revenues. While there are still many who are reluctant to outsource their inbound customer services. The truth is that in today's competitive business environment inbound customer service is smart choice. It allows companies to handle the important aspects of their business. Most of the reputed call centers have skilled work force. They are professional and are trained to handle calls proficiently which are needed to manage a business successfully.
Inbound customer service is important for retention of customers. Acquiring a new customer is seven times more costly than keeping the existing ones. An inbound customer representative understands the importance of customer relations and manages those relations in most professional manner. The call center services offered by an outsourcing firm is tailored to place the importance of customer service.
The inbound customer service offered by reputed call center is focused to make each customer a customer for life. A professional call center agent makes sure that each phone call that he or she handles results in something positive that your business can build upon. They play a pivotal role in making sure that the customers are satisfied with your product and services.
By outsourcing inbound customer service, a company actually increases the level of customer service. A call center has trained operators that are always available to handle customers need,concerns and problems. They process the requests of the customers as well as answer the queries of the customers related to the product or services. They also take all necessary action to resolve each and every issue so that the customers have unmatched level of satisfaction.
Today running a small or a large business is a daunting task. This is due to labor costs, recruiting problems and ever changing telecommunication equipment. At this time inbound customer service provides the basic ingredient for a company's success.
The call centres in India providing inbound customer service are well equipped with good infrastructure, highly qualified agents, security solutions and cutting edge technology.
The call centres in India have state-of-the-art multimedia centers that offer multichannel interaction through voice email, SMS and fax services. There is no doubt that Indian call centres can handle a range of outsourcing services.
Some of the inbound call centre services have specialization in appointment setting, research surveys, lead generation, debt collection, consumer response, dealer locators, direct mail response, email management services, help desk solutions, inquiry handling, interactive voice response, product technical information and telemarketing in verticals like mortgage, insurance, telecom industries. The inbound customer service includes order taking, technical support, customer service, answering service and help desk services.
In today's business environment outsourcing is often not a decision that needs to be justified. Some of the non core business functions that are handled internally could be outsourced. Business process outsourcing refers to the rearrangement of entire business functions to some other BPO service provider. Most of the companies that look to outsource are multinationals or companies from the western part of the world. Most of the BPO units are in countries like India, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Kenya and even Russia.
Way to Get Your Needs Resolved When Calling a Call Center. By James Thomas Mcguire
In the recent time, call centers are a growing industry not only in the United States but also across the world. Call centers have millions of customer care representatives (calling agents) across the world to fulfill the needs of customers. When call center customer service representatives do their job correctly, the customer is satisfied and never realizes that their call is only one of hundreds that will be received in any given day. They have been made to feel as if they are the only customer at the moment and their needs are the only ones that matter.
The call center agents handle incoming, outgoing and telemarketing calls from disgruntled customers and are trained to do so in a professional manner. Unfortunately, when a call is started with many insults to the agent, often the agent does whatever necessary to end the call at the earliest. Sometimes this means giving the caller what he exactly wants, but not always. To ensure that you will effectively get their needs resolved, it is much more productive to stay calm and work with the agent.
Customer care representative (Call Agent) is required to ask some personal & confidential questions to verify account information and ultimately protect the client. Even if, you have entered information through the automated system, such as your social security number(SSN) or phone number, often the agent is still required to verify the information. Cooperating with the call center agent will speed up your call, and your precious time will save.
If you are calling to inquire about billing, the agent must take your call to resolve it as soon as possible. If you calmly explain about your problem, s\he will be more than happy to fix it out.
If you have problems with the service, the agent will need to do some research and / or set an appointment. Your patience at this point will enables the representative to understand of your problem properly and solve it once and for all.
The Call center agents are themselves customers, and most of them are truly dedicated to serving the needs of its customers. By establishing a friendly relationship since the beginning of the call, you can ensure that the agent will does everything in their power to meet their needs. If you truly feel the staff has not provided the service you deserve, ask to speak to the supervisor.
The call center agents handle incoming, outgoing and telemarketing calls from disgruntled customers and are trained to do so in a professional manner. Unfortunately, when a call is started with many insults to the agent, often the agent does whatever necessary to end the call at the earliest. Sometimes this means giving the caller what he exactly wants, but not always. To ensure that you will effectively get their needs resolved, it is much more productive to stay calm and work with the agent.
Customer care representative (Call Agent) is required to ask some personal & confidential questions to verify account information and ultimately protect the client. Even if, you have entered information through the automated system, such as your social security number(SSN) or phone number, often the agent is still required to verify the information. Cooperating with the call center agent will speed up your call, and your precious time will save.
If you are calling to inquire about billing, the agent must take your call to resolve it as soon as possible. If you calmly explain about your problem, s\he will be more than happy to fix it out.
If you have problems with the service, the agent will need to do some research and / or set an appointment. Your patience at this point will enables the representative to understand of your problem properly and solve it once and for all.
The Call center agents are themselves customers, and most of them are truly dedicated to serving the needs of its customers. By establishing a friendly relationship since the beginning of the call, you can ensure that the agent will does everything in their power to meet their needs. If you truly feel the staff has not provided the service you deserve, ask to speak to the supervisor.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Prioritize Projects - Move Many Things a Few Inches Or a Few Things Many Inches by Todd Gettelfinger
Today, I had a conversation with a client regarding process work that he's undertaking for his business. As a growing small business, the client has scaled to the point where the founders need to get out of the way and transition from doers to managers (and later to leaders). To make this transition, they are focusing on the importance of adding enough structure to the business to allow the team to own their work and deliver the same high quality service. The client is in the early stages of defining a consistent process, building tools to strengthen the process, defining the positions that own and support each process, and building performance measurements to drive quality.
As the client and I discussed their issues and ways to solve them, the client grew more and more concerned as the list of good ideas increased. The list contained work that ranged from small to medium sized projects. Even the small projects were several days of work time. The list drove real concern because everything is important and everything must get done, but the client didn't really know where and how to get started checking things off the list.
A common response to this situation is that we just start working on the whole list or at least many things on the list. We start brainstorming about everything on the list. We start working on everything on the list. This sometimes leads to what I call the "move many things a few inches" approach. This almost always leads to a freak out moment somewhere down the line. It also typically leads to crappy results because we just starting running a marathon without any training. Fundamentally, we make a couple mistakes in these situations:
* We fail to acknowledge that resources are finite. ALWAYS! I know that we get pressure to get everything done and sometimes we ignore this fact. We think that we are a work super hero who can get everything done just by working hard. The sooner we realize that there is a limit to our time, we can manage it better.
* We start building without a blueprint. We don't have a plan. It's hard to build anything without taking a few measurements, planning out your materials, and planning how you will systematically construct your building. Even for the smallest projects, it's important to develop a blueprint.
* We forget to prioritize. We all know this is important and yet we overlook taking the deliberate steps to pick the most important projects. The next time you are faced with a list of projects that exceeds your capacity, pull out the list below and use it as a quick guide for better planning. These high-level steps will at least help get the highest priority projects kicked off quickly.
1. Write a couple sentences to describe each project on your list - Create descriptions that help clarify what the projects entail and what objectives they will accomplish
2. Rank the top projects on your list - Determine some basic criteria and use it to develop a priority ranking of the projects
3. Pick the top projects on the list - Select the highest ranking projects. The number of items you pick should be based on how many projects you and your team can effectively handle at one time.
4. Define a project charter for the top projects on your list - The charter can be just a couple paragraphs, but should at least document the background, rationale, objectives, scope, and deliverables for the project. The level of detail should be enough to ensure that clear expectations are set for the project.
5. Assign one owner for each project - When possible, delegate the projects and make one person accountable for successful completion of the project.
6. Set deadlines - Get buy-in and input from the owner so they clearly commit to the deadlines that include regular milestones so that you can check on progress
7. Develop an approach - Ask each owner to develop a project plan and explain how they are going to manage the project. The amount of effort that should go into this step is dependent on the size and complexity of the project..
8. Develop a high-level plan for the items that didn't make the top of your list - Lays out how you'll attack them after getting the top few done.
All these prioritization and planning steps should be used on every project regardless of size. The key is to scale them based on the risk, sensitivity, and size of each project. If you follow these steps, you'll be more likely to deliver quality results faster. In other words, you can move a few things many inches rather than many things a few inches.
As the client and I discussed their issues and ways to solve them, the client grew more and more concerned as the list of good ideas increased. The list contained work that ranged from small to medium sized projects. Even the small projects were several days of work time. The list drove real concern because everything is important and everything must get done, but the client didn't really know where and how to get started checking things off the list.
A common response to this situation is that we just start working on the whole list or at least many things on the list. We start brainstorming about everything on the list. We start working on everything on the list. This sometimes leads to what I call the "move many things a few inches" approach. This almost always leads to a freak out moment somewhere down the line. It also typically leads to crappy results because we just starting running a marathon without any training. Fundamentally, we make a couple mistakes in these situations:
* We fail to acknowledge that resources are finite. ALWAYS! I know that we get pressure to get everything done and sometimes we ignore this fact. We think that we are a work super hero who can get everything done just by working hard. The sooner we realize that there is a limit to our time, we can manage it better.
* We start building without a blueprint. We don't have a plan. It's hard to build anything without taking a few measurements, planning out your materials, and planning how you will systematically construct your building. Even for the smallest projects, it's important to develop a blueprint.
* We forget to prioritize. We all know this is important and yet we overlook taking the deliberate steps to pick the most important projects. The next time you are faced with a list of projects that exceeds your capacity, pull out the list below and use it as a quick guide for better planning. These high-level steps will at least help get the highest priority projects kicked off quickly.
1. Write a couple sentences to describe each project on your list - Create descriptions that help clarify what the projects entail and what objectives they will accomplish
2. Rank the top projects on your list - Determine some basic criteria and use it to develop a priority ranking of the projects
3. Pick the top projects on the list - Select the highest ranking projects. The number of items you pick should be based on how many projects you and your team can effectively handle at one time.
4. Define a project charter for the top projects on your list - The charter can be just a couple paragraphs, but should at least document the background, rationale, objectives, scope, and deliverables for the project. The level of detail should be enough to ensure that clear expectations are set for the project.
5. Assign one owner for each project - When possible, delegate the projects and make one person accountable for successful completion of the project.
6. Set deadlines - Get buy-in and input from the owner so they clearly commit to the deadlines that include regular milestones so that you can check on progress
7. Develop an approach - Ask each owner to develop a project plan and explain how they are going to manage the project. The amount of effort that should go into this step is dependent on the size and complexity of the project..
8. Develop a high-level plan for the items that didn't make the top of your list - Lays out how you'll attack them after getting the top few done.
All these prioritization and planning steps should be used on every project regardless of size. The key is to scale them based on the risk, sensitivity, and size of each project. If you follow these steps, you'll be more likely to deliver quality results faster. In other words, you can move a few things many inches rather than many things a few inches.
Friday, July 3, 2009
The 7 Keys to Keeping Customers - Key Six - Be Reliable
It might seem ridiculous to include "Be Reliable" on the list of the seven keys to keeping customers because one would think that if someone owns a business, they would already understand the importance of keeping their word to their customers and how not doing so could lead to them lose those customers quickly.
But, unfortunately, a lot of business owners don't understand this simple principle and end up, either knowingly or unknowingly, letting their customers down by showing them they can't be trusted. If customers don't trust you, they won't buy from you. Period.
If you're a business owner who's having this problem, there's a simple fix. Just keep your word to your customers. If you tell them you're going to complete a job by a certain day or at a certain time, do everything in your power to make sure when that day and time come, the job is done.
Or, if you tell your customers they're going to love a certain product or service they purchase from you and they end up telling you they hate and it doesn't work like you said it would, be willing to either give them their money back or give them credit towards something else you sell.
The point is this. If you aren't 100% sure you can do something for your customers, don't even hint to them that you might be able to do it. Often when people hear you say you might be able to do something for them, they get so excited about the thought of having it done, they hear you instead saying you will do it.
This can lead to misunderstandings that cause your customers to see you as an unreliable person to do business with. It can also leave your customers looking for someone else in your industry who will be reliable when doing business with them. So, if you're absolutely positive you can make something happen for your customers, by all means, tell them. Then, when it comes time for you to make it happen, make sure you do.
But, if you're not sure about something or, even worse, you're sure you can't make something happen for your customers, don't make them think you can. This will only lead to a loss of business, or money, and of customers who no longer feel they can trust you.
By Jessica Martinez
But, unfortunately, a lot of business owners don't understand this simple principle and end up, either knowingly or unknowingly, letting their customers down by showing them they can't be trusted. If customers don't trust you, they won't buy from you. Period.
If you're a business owner who's having this problem, there's a simple fix. Just keep your word to your customers. If you tell them you're going to complete a job by a certain day or at a certain time, do everything in your power to make sure when that day and time come, the job is done.
Or, if you tell your customers they're going to love a certain product or service they purchase from you and they end up telling you they hate and it doesn't work like you said it would, be willing to either give them their money back or give them credit towards something else you sell.
The point is this. If you aren't 100% sure you can do something for your customers, don't even hint to them that you might be able to do it. Often when people hear you say you might be able to do something for them, they get so excited about the thought of having it done, they hear you instead saying you will do it.
This can lead to misunderstandings that cause your customers to see you as an unreliable person to do business with. It can also leave your customers looking for someone else in your industry who will be reliable when doing business with them. So, if you're absolutely positive you can make something happen for your customers, by all means, tell them. Then, when it comes time for you to make it happen, make sure you do.
But, if you're not sure about something or, even worse, you're sure you can't make something happen for your customers, don't make them think you can. This will only lead to a loss of business, or money, and of customers who no longer feel they can trust you.
By Jessica Martinez
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Elements Impacting Sales Compensation
Many sales-force consultants have models they use to describe the elements of a sales model. Based on my over twenty-five years of business experience, I have developed a sales model that contains the elements that impact both sales compensation and sales effectiveness.
Customer Segments and Profiles describes how customers and prospects can be characterized such as industry segment, annual sales, number of employees, buying patterns, potential, opportunity. The purpose is to understand slices of the market to determine insight where profit and opportunity exists.
The next element is Sales Channels to Market. Companies can deploy a direct sales-force or sell through distributors or both. Which is more profitable? If you have a direct sales-force, you can deploy outside reps or inside reps or national account managers or all of them. Once again, which channels are most profitable? And if you have segmented the market, companies can determine which channels should cover which segment.
Next, a Sales Playbook would include initial value propositions for each segment, for each channel and for each sales strategy. The definition of a sales strategy would be to acquire, retain or expand accounts. In addition, specific sales tools are used to execute the specific strategy.
The next element is the Sales Process. This documents the activities, generic roles and time allocation for each segment, channel and strategy. This would be the foundation for the next element which is Job Design and Hierarchy. Job Design would determine what type of roles you need to execute a sales process. Roles could be designed by segment, by channel, by sales strategy. Reps could be National, Key, Major, Territory, Inside, Outside or Indirect. roles are then placed into a hierarchy to determine whether the organization should be centralized or de-centralized.
The next element is Sales Deployment. Companies determine how many reps covering which accounts and which locations. And then management roles are layered on top depending on span of control.
The next element is Forecasting and Goal Setting. This is where the sales-force estimates upcoming revenue and is used as an input for the goal setting process. Depending on the goal setting cycle, goals are cascaded down from the top through the sales-force.
Finally, the last element is the Sales Dashboard. This is the reporting of results compared to budget.
What's important is that all of these elements can have an impact on the effectiveness of the sales compensation plan. The most elegant compensation plan could be derailed if one of the elements is sub-optimized. Given this background, what do you think is the #1 inhibitor to compensation optimization? In my opinion, Job Design is the #1 inhibitor. Oftentimes, I have had to redesign roles before I could start on compensation design. The takeaway here is to make sure that you assess all elements before starting compensation design.
Bob Malandruccolo is the founder and principal owner of Sales Force Effectiveness Consulting. With over twenty-five years of practical business, management and consulting experience in sales and marketing, Bob has worked with a broad range of clients from Fortune 100 corporations to small, closely-held firms with special emphasis on sales and marketing process implementation. He has worked closely with his clients through hundreds of successful engagements and implementations across multiple industries (manufacturing, engineering, distribution, software, healthcare insurance, medical products, healthcare, automotive, telecommunications, retail, information handling, media).
By Bob Malandruccolo
Customer Segments and Profiles describes how customers and prospects can be characterized such as industry segment, annual sales, number of employees, buying patterns, potential, opportunity. The purpose is to understand slices of the market to determine insight where profit and opportunity exists.
The next element is Sales Channels to Market. Companies can deploy a direct sales-force or sell through distributors or both. Which is more profitable? If you have a direct sales-force, you can deploy outside reps or inside reps or national account managers or all of them. Once again, which channels are most profitable? And if you have segmented the market, companies can determine which channels should cover which segment.
Next, a Sales Playbook would include initial value propositions for each segment, for each channel and for each sales strategy. The definition of a sales strategy would be to acquire, retain or expand accounts. In addition, specific sales tools are used to execute the specific strategy.
The next element is the Sales Process. This documents the activities, generic roles and time allocation for each segment, channel and strategy. This would be the foundation for the next element which is Job Design and Hierarchy. Job Design would determine what type of roles you need to execute a sales process. Roles could be designed by segment, by channel, by sales strategy. Reps could be National, Key, Major, Territory, Inside, Outside or Indirect. roles are then placed into a hierarchy to determine whether the organization should be centralized or de-centralized.
The next element is Sales Deployment. Companies determine how many reps covering which accounts and which locations. And then management roles are layered on top depending on span of control.
The next element is Forecasting and Goal Setting. This is where the sales-force estimates upcoming revenue and is used as an input for the goal setting process. Depending on the goal setting cycle, goals are cascaded down from the top through the sales-force.
Finally, the last element is the Sales Dashboard. This is the reporting of results compared to budget.
What's important is that all of these elements can have an impact on the effectiveness of the sales compensation plan. The most elegant compensation plan could be derailed if one of the elements is sub-optimized. Given this background, what do you think is the #1 inhibitor to compensation optimization? In my opinion, Job Design is the #1 inhibitor. Oftentimes, I have had to redesign roles before I could start on compensation design. The takeaway here is to make sure that you assess all elements before starting compensation design.
Bob Malandruccolo is the founder and principal owner of Sales Force Effectiveness Consulting. With over twenty-five years of practical business, management and consulting experience in sales and marketing, Bob has worked with a broad range of clients from Fortune 100 corporations to small, closely-held firms with special emphasis on sales and marketing process implementation. He has worked closely with his clients through hundreds of successful engagements and implementations across multiple industries (manufacturing, engineering, distribution, software, healthcare insurance, medical products, healthcare, automotive, telecommunications, retail, information handling, media).
By Bob Malandruccolo
Elements Impacting Sales Compensation
Many sales-force consultants have models they use to describe the elements of a sales model. Based on my over twenty-five years of business experience, I have developed a sales model that contains the elements that impact both sales compensation and sales effectiveness.
Customer Segments and Profiles describes how customers and prospects can be characterized such as industry segment, annual sales, number of employees, buying patterns, potential, opportunity. The purpose is to understand slices of the market to determine insight where profit and opportunity exists.
The next element is Sales Channels to Market. Companies can deploy a direct sales-force or sell through distributors or both. Which is more profitable? If you have a direct sales-force, you can deploy outside reps or inside reps or national account managers or all of them. Once again, which channels are most profitable? And if you have segmented the market, companies can determine which channels should cover which segment.
Next, a Sales Playbook would include initial value propositions for each segment, for each channel and for each sales strategy. The definition of a sales strategy would be to acquire, retain or expand accounts. In addition, specific sales tools are used to execute the specific strategy.
The next element is the Sales Process. This documents the activities, generic roles and time allocation for each segment, channel and strategy. This would be the foundation for the next element which is Job Design and Hierarchy. Job Design would determine what type of roles you need to execute a sales process. Roles could be designed by segment, by channel, by sales strategy. Reps could be National, Key, Major, Territory, Inside, Outside or Indirect. roles are then placed into a hierarchy to determine whether the organization should be centralized or de-centralized.
The next element is Sales Deployment. Companies determine how many reps covering which accounts and which locations. And then management roles are layered on top depending on span of control.
The next element is Forecasting and Goal Setting. This is where the sales-force estimates upcoming revenue and is used as an input for the goal setting process. Depending on the goal setting cycle, goals are cascaded down from the top through the sales-force.
Finally, the last element is the Sales Dashboard. This is the reporting of results compared to budget.
What's important is that all of these elements can have an impact on the effectiveness of the sales compensation plan. The most elegant compensation plan could be derailed if one of the elements is sub-optimized. Given this background, what do you think is the #1 inhibitor to compensation optimization? In my opinion, Job Design is the #1 inhibitor. Oftentimes, I have had to redesign roles before I could start on compensation design. The takeaway here is to make sure that you assess all elements before starting compensation design.
Bob Malandruccolo is the founder and principal owner of Sales Force Effectiveness Consulting. With over twenty-five years of practical business, management and consulting experience in sales and marketing, Bob has worked with a broad range of clients from Fortune 100 corporations to small, closely-held firms with special emphasis on sales and marketing process implementation. He has worked closely with his clients through hundreds of successful engagements and implementations across multiple industries (manufacturing, engineering, distribution, software, healthcare insurance, medical products, healthcare, automotive, telecommunications, retail, information handling, media).
By Bob Malandruccolo
Customer Segments and Profiles describes how customers and prospects can be characterized such as industry segment, annual sales, number of employees, buying patterns, potential, opportunity. The purpose is to understand slices of the market to determine insight where profit and opportunity exists.
The next element is Sales Channels to Market. Companies can deploy a direct sales-force or sell through distributors or both. Which is more profitable? If you have a direct sales-force, you can deploy outside reps or inside reps or national account managers or all of them. Once again, which channels are most profitable? And if you have segmented the market, companies can determine which channels should cover which segment.
Next, a Sales Playbook would include initial value propositions for each segment, for each channel and for each sales strategy. The definition of a sales strategy would be to acquire, retain or expand accounts. In addition, specific sales tools are used to execute the specific strategy.
The next element is the Sales Process. This documents the activities, generic roles and time allocation for each segment, channel and strategy. This would be the foundation for the next element which is Job Design and Hierarchy. Job Design would determine what type of roles you need to execute a sales process. Roles could be designed by segment, by channel, by sales strategy. Reps could be National, Key, Major, Territory, Inside, Outside or Indirect. roles are then placed into a hierarchy to determine whether the organization should be centralized or de-centralized.
The next element is Sales Deployment. Companies determine how many reps covering which accounts and which locations. And then management roles are layered on top depending on span of control.
The next element is Forecasting and Goal Setting. This is where the sales-force estimates upcoming revenue and is used as an input for the goal setting process. Depending on the goal setting cycle, goals are cascaded down from the top through the sales-force.
Finally, the last element is the Sales Dashboard. This is the reporting of results compared to budget.
What's important is that all of these elements can have an impact on the effectiveness of the sales compensation plan. The most elegant compensation plan could be derailed if one of the elements is sub-optimized. Given this background, what do you think is the #1 inhibitor to compensation optimization? In my opinion, Job Design is the #1 inhibitor. Oftentimes, I have had to redesign roles before I could start on compensation design. The takeaway here is to make sure that you assess all elements before starting compensation design.
Bob Malandruccolo is the founder and principal owner of Sales Force Effectiveness Consulting. With over twenty-five years of practical business, management and consulting experience in sales and marketing, Bob has worked with a broad range of clients from Fortune 100 corporations to small, closely-held firms with special emphasis on sales and marketing process implementation. He has worked closely with his clients through hundreds of successful engagements and implementations across multiple industries (manufacturing, engineering, distribution, software, healthcare insurance, medical products, healthcare, automotive, telecommunications, retail, information handling, media).
By Bob Malandruccolo
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