The Sales Transformation Dilemma – To Tweak or To Transform?

“Sometimes a tweak (delivered through training or a new tool) is all a sales force needs; other times, a full-bore transformation is in order."The quote above was part of the book we created, 7 Steps to Sales Force Transformation. In the book, one topic we discuss is the difference between a sales force transformation and a tweak. Since the book release, we've received a lot of questions around tweaks versus transformations. What exactly do we mean by sales force transformation? As a sales leader, what are some qualifying questions we can ask that help assess if a transformation, or a tweak in the right areas, can boost sales effectiveness?

In response to these great questions, we've created additional tools and resources for sales leaders to understand the difference between these two options and which can be impactful for their sales organizations.

First off, a few definitions from the book are in order:

A sales force transformation is a holistic and multidimensional program, one that touches on every part of an organization, not just sales, and that fundamentally changes the way a sales force sells. A tweak is a smaller, incremental change, such as a new training program or tool.

As part of qualifying your transformation and determining whether you need to embark on a sales transformation or just a tweak, we identified some key questions to ask yourself:

• Is the solution to your sales challenge mostly addressable by training?
• Will technology alone help you meet the challenge?
• Would a one-time event, such as a team meeting or leadership off-site, help solve the challenge?
• What's the gap between your ideal state and what you’ve got now?

In a nutshell, if you can solve your sales challenge by implementing a training program or new technology, or the gap between where you are today and where you want to be is not that large, you should probably just execute a tweak.

A sales transformation is not a journey for the fainthearted. Transformation requires staying power, consistency, and commitment from sales and executive leadership. It's more than just a significant investment of time, money, and effort.

Our Sales Transformation Diagnostic Tool can help you rate your sales organization. The output will help you determine if a tweak or transformation makes the most sense. The diagnostic shouldn’t take more than five to ten minutes, and the results include some graphs and general recommendations around a transformation versus a tweak. At a minimum, it will help to engender some important conversations internally as to the status and health of your sales organization.

Contact us for a deeper dive into assessing where your sales transformation is today.