“I’m dead Busy, But I Still Can’t Hit My Sales Target”

When clients tell me that they need to grow their business, I find the best place to start is with the diagram on the right.

Whatever’s blocking growth can always be cleared by focusing on just one of these 3 sections at a time.

So, if you hear your sales team say things like;

“I haven’t got enough time to look after all the existing customers on my account list and prospect for new business”

then their problem sits in the COST section.

As a definition of what I mean by COST – I’m referring to anything that a sales person has at their disposal that is expendable – in particular I’m talking about;

TIME

MONEY

EFFORT

The first question each member of your sales team need to ask themselves is;

How much time should we allocate to make the most out of each opportunity?

But also – and possibly more importantly;

How much time have we actually got available to us to achieve it?

If your sales team are making statements that point you towards a mismanagement of TIME, MONEY or EFFORT, then they need to focus more on the planning and preparation stages of their Business Development Strategy, build on their Time Management and Account Management skills, together with a Structured Key Account Plan and a more focused sense of Direction and Vision.

On top of that, your team will probably benefit from an understanding of the different forms of Account Portfolio Analysis (such as 80/20) – how to map out the way they are perceived by their account base (do buyers class you as; Critical, Strategic, Leverage or Commodity suppliers) – and how they should approach or improve those relationships moving forward.

Action Points for Your Next Team Meeting

Make sure you work through some exercises so that your team;

Can give you a short sharp review of their entire portfolio & tell you where the biggest opportunities lie for new business
Understand how 21st Century buyers make their decisions
Only open their mouths to the “Blue Whale” opportunities that will feed them (see video below)
Are keeping their CRM system up to date so that it works for them and not as a reporting tool for the business
Are embedding themselves as the trusted, primary supplier with all of their key accounts and opportunities

“I’m dead Busy, But I Still Can’t Hit My Sales Target”

When clients tell me that they need to grow their business, I find the best place to start is with the diagram on the right.

Whatever’s blocking growth can always be cleared by focusing on just one of these 3 sections at a time.