'Transforming' vs. 'Tweaking' Your Sales Force

We've found that many sales training companies use the word “transformation” when they’re only talking about tweaking the existing organization. They focus mostly through training, not holistic transformation. Depending on your case for change and the gap between your capabilities and desired results, rolling out sales training or a new tool might be the perfect solution.Training could affect the change you need. Training could also prepare a sales force for an eventual transformation initiative or reinforce a transformation you have recently undergone. But training alone is not transformation.

We know that the buying process has fundamentally changed thanks to the knowledge and resources now available to buyers. Sellers must add value above and beyond their products or services by employing a consultative selling approach.

To get there, many organizations only focus on one thing and look for a short-term fix. But running a two- or three-day sales training workshop to roll out a new sales technique is not always enough. Sometimes a tweak (delivered through training or a new tool) is all a sale force needs; other times, a full-bore transformation is in order.

Transforming a sales organization to consistently deliver insights requires:

• New value propositions, case studies, and collateral from Marketing
• New competencies, skill development, and recruiting profiles from HR
• Alignment with Operations to refine products and services

A theme that runs throughout our experience is that successful sales transformations must involve other functional areas.

Though “change” and “transformation” are sometimes used interchangeably, not all change rises to the level of transformation. Here are four simple questions to help determine whether your organization needs a sales force transformation or just a tweak:

Is the solution to this challenge mostly addressable by training?

As mentioned, one of the most common misperceptions we’ve seen is the notion that training equals transformation. Sometimes transformation requires training, but training per se is not transformation.

If your organization provides sales training after not having provided it, that’s a change, but it’s not a transformation. But training alone will not transform a sales organization.

For example, we worked with one client who trained all their sellers around consultative selling behaviors, but didn’t change their processes, metrics, or management cadence to reinforce the new behaviors. The training got rave reviews. But it was treated as an isolated event. As a result, the sales organization didn’t transform, and the training was soon forgotten.

If your sales force needs vital product information, if it needs to embrace new rules or regulations, or if you are seeking incremental sales growth in your current markets with your current offerings, you probably need to roll out training, not transformation. But if you need to change the fundamentals of how your sales force sells – and you want that change to stick – you’re likely looking at transformation.

Will technology alone help you meet the challenge?

As with training, your organization’s transformation initiative may require new tools and systems. Adding a CRM tool or even an entire IT group are not sales transformations. At best, they're sales-oriented systems help to automate and enable processes. But they must be surrounded by many other elements, such as manager reinforcement, coaching, metrics, and training to drive user adoption, and ultimately, the desired ROI.

We still see companies confuse a CRM implementation with sales transformation. The technology may be necessary for a sales transformation, but it’s rarely sufficient on its own. If you’re looking to replace those Excel-based sales forecasts with a standard, automated system, this is the solution. But if your customers have told you that you need to dramatically improve the value your sales team delivers, you need more than a software tool. You need to transform.

Would a one-time event, such as a workshop, help to solve the challenge?

While motivational speeches, team-building exercises, and seminars may be helpful motivators, they are not transformational. These events could be useful and informative components of a transformation – great for morale and incremental gains. But sales forces that face sweeping market changes, mergers, and other dynamic changes won’t likely transform who they are and how they sell based on any one-time event.

There is no silver bullet. Transformation has lots of moving parts and interdependencies. This complexity often derails transformation initiatives, and in many cases, this is the reason why executives never even try.

What's the gap between your ideal state and what you’ve got now?

Draw it out, write it down, or brainstorm it with your colleagues. How big is the gap between what you have and what you want? If it’s big enough, you may need to transform rather than tweak.

For example, if getting there involves the whole organization (HR, IT Marketing, Product, Operations, etc.), not just sales, you’re probably talking about transformation. Are you aiming for relatively small incremental increases in sales? That may require change (such as training, new technology, or a motivational workshop), but not transformation.

On the other hand, if you were selling a product and now you’re selling a solution, getting your sales force to make that kind of change may require a transformation. After all, we’re not talking about selling more widgets or gaining efficiency, but changing the way the sales force sells, the way sales are measured, and the way the rest of the organization supports sales.

Does closing the gap simply involve more effort on the sales team’s part? Or does it require a whole new approach to sales? The former suggests a tweak. The latter suggests transformation.

A sales transformation is not a journey for the faint hearted. In our research for our book, 7 Steps to Sales Force Transformation, we have found that sales transformations should not be undertaken lightly. There are several reasons for that – potential sales leader and team turnover, people’s overall resistance to change, the pressures of bringing in revenues while implementing changes, and the challenge of building out new skills and capabilities.

Transformation requires staying power, consistency, and commitment from sales and executive leadership. Yet, with an average tenure of 18 months, who can blame sales leaders for seeking “quick fixes” that might show incremental improvement this quarter, while neglecting structural challenges that require significant time and effort to change?

Answering those four questions will begin to help you understand whether your sales force needs to transform or change. Again, each of those tactics may be necessary for your sales force. Each can support transformation, but they are neither structural, nor are they transformative on their own.

We're talking with sales leaders every day as they decide whether transforming or tweaking is right for their team. Contact us to learn more about what leading sales organizations are doing today.