Do Standardized Sales Processes Really Work Anymore?

Posted by Tony Zambito on Jan 31, 2012 6:28:00 AM

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Tony Zambito

Tony Zambito is Founder and Principal of the buyer research and strategy firm Buyerology℠. He is also the originator of the buyer persona research and creation methodology as well as Business Buyergraphics™ that are widely used to make informed decisions from buyer insights. Tony also served in the role of Vice President in Sales and Marketing capacities for TRW, Knight-Ridder, and Compaq (HP). He holds a B.S. in Business and an M.B.A. in Marketing Management. Read Tony’s blog Buyerology Now for insightful commentary on the impact of changing buyer behaviors related to sales and marketing today.

One thing we can always count on is this: sales will always say they want more leads. I was struck by Dan McDade’s statement in his recent article, Sales Leads: Why Your Reps Need Fewer, Rather Than More, that sales reps are paid to sell—not interpret leads. Two points Dan makes in the article are that sales reps want more highly qualified leads and yet can easily misinterpret the value of the leads they are given. I find this to be an interesting tension point—marketing providing more leads while sales is saying I don’t like these leads. While this is not necessarily a new tension point, there is something different about it in this new buyer-driven and hyper-connected marketplace.

For decades now, sales management has put in sales processes and systems to standardize how sales reps manage leads and close deals with prospects. These sales processes and systems typically have been enclosed by three points of a triangle: sales enablement tools, sales training, and sales pipeline or forecasting tools. A funny thing happened on the way to this new decade: buyer behaviors are changing rapidly as the advent of the Internet and social technologies come of age. What is different about the tension point mentioned this time is that the standardized sales processes and systems put into place for sales performance management, with reference made here predominantly about standard rack sales methodologies, may no longer work in today’s fast paced hyper-competitive world where buyer behaviors are changing every year if not every few months.

In a recent article I wrote, 5 Ways New Buyer Behaviors Are Impacting B2B Sales, I highlighted buyer behaviors that relate to what buyers are now doing and how expectations are changing. Such as:

  • Buyers have more expansive networks that participate in decision-making
  • Buyers expect sales reps to be more knowledgeable and better skilled at advising
  • Buying cycles are getting longer with more touches happening before sales engagement
  • Buying processes are changing and involve unique decision models
  • Buyers are relating differently with the use of Enterprise 2.0 and social technologies

Recent IDC research is very telling in terms of how sales reps are performing and what buyers think. Sales reps are being overwhelmed with more tools than ever yet IDC research shows that sales reps are only using 20-25% of the support they receive from marketing. According to IDC, buyers are consistently giving poor grades to sales reps respective to their knowledge readiness. You have sales reps saying that we have no tools that help us and we have buyers saying—it sure shows!

IDC Research also shows that approximately 40% of sales reps do not actively use the sales process or methodology implemented on a regular basis. I estimate that this percentage will continue to increase as sales reps get savvy about interacting with buyers. At the root of this issue is that standardized sales processes and systems were designed to align with predictable buying processes and standard linear staged views. A significant shift occurring is that this is no longer true. Buying processes are no longer predictable and no longer resemble neatly aligned stages. This is another way of saying that buyers are behaving differently and are all over the map when it comes to buying. The era of homogeneous buying processes and methodologies has come to an end and it has significant implications for sales performance management and standardization of sales processes. Let’s look at a few of these implications:

Understanding Unique Buying Processes: organizations will need to invest more in understanding how various market and buyer segments differ in their buying processes. Often overlooked, is the fact that decision models that buying processes fit within vary greatly among markets and sometimes among individual companies as well. Mapping the buyer decision process (or buyer decision journey) is an important element of gaining understanding but it is only one of several. More behavioral insights are needed to truly understand the uniqueness in ways that can make a competitive difference.

Enable Lead Interpretations: sales reps need improved understanding of how to interpret a lead and manage them. In Dan’s article I referenced, he gives an example of how a sales rep dismisses a lead for it did not come from a senior executive but research showed that business line managers were a better source of leads. Sales reps need to make the connection between unique buying processes and the value of leads.

Shift Resources from Sales Training to Buyer Training: sales training has usually been about training on specific off-the-shelf, perhaps customized to some degree, sales processes and methodologies. I suspect that many sales reps have that glazed look in their eyes when going through sales training. Either they are brand new and just plan scared or they have been around the block and know, with incredible disbelief, that what they are being “trained” on is not going to help them one bit. What senior sales managers need to be looking at is how to convert sales training to buyer training. Why? Buyers are demanding better prepared sales reps not to sell to them but to help in an advisory role.

Fix Sales Enablement: research on sales enablement shows a disconnect. If sales reps routinely discard 75% of the tools they are provided, then it is quite hard to call 25% a success rate. The disconnect lies in developing enabling tools that are buyer-oriented. The stated goal is to improve sales reps understanding of buyers and have enabling tools that give them the opportunity to align with buyers.

Re-evaluate Product Sales: my guess here is that many organizations are still structured around product groups that essentially operate as their own profit and loss entity. All of these product groups sharing in the corporate function of sales to drive revenue—through a standardized sales process and system. This exacerbates the buyer disconnect in my opinion. Not only are sales reps being bombarded by product marketing “tools” that they routinely discard, you can bet that buyers are doing the same. In big ticket sales, it is still not uncommon to find that a buyer seeking a fix to challenging problems finds 5 to 10 reps walking into a conference room—each representing a different product group.

As you can see from the above implications, the question I’ve titled this article with is not an easy one. I believe that some of the noted problems and issues have been there under the surface for a few years. What is different is that rapidly changing buyer behaviors are pushing them to the surface. Standardized sales processes are not working well because they no longer align with where buyers are at today or where they may be in the future.

I end with noting that changing buyer behaviors has created an interesting irony. Standardized sales processes and methodologies were designed to bring sales reps closer to buyers and help move sales opportunities forward. Today, if adaptations are not made to align with buyers, they may actually be contributing to a widening of the gap between buyer and sales reps with the results being missed opportunities.


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Topics: Sales Process, Guest Blogs


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