SALES PROCESS


Why Sales Productivity Is Not Enough JASON ANGELOS


With so much investment in resources and tech- nology into the sales process, you might expect great improvements in sales productivity. But a new report by Accenture Strategy found the op- posite to be true.


The global survey of sales executives finds the investments electronics and high-tech companies are making in sales productivity are not paying off. One of the many reasons for this is that the excessive number of complex sales tools and a deluge of disaggregated and inaccurate sales data are distracting salespeople from selling. This distraction has contrib- uted directly or indirectly to produc- tivity declines. For example: • Over the past five years, dis- tractions have reduced sellers’


performance by 14 percent


• Sales productivity has declined over the past five years from 41 percent to 36 percent. Additional survey findings are summarized in a new report, Selling in the Age of Distraction.


ABANDON THE OBSESSION WITH SALES PRODUCTIVITY – FOCUS ON OUTCOMES Given these problems, the big change sales executives need to make is to abandon their obsession with sales


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productivity – aimed at giving sellers more time to sell – and instead focus on outcomes.


“Outcome selling” guides sellers to deliver 1) outcomes their organizations want and 2) experiences customers demand. Embracing the complex real- ity of today’s selling environment, out- come selling recognizes that the path to incremental growth is not paved by more available selling time. Outcome selling cuts through the “noise” of distraction and zeroes in on insights and actions that matter most. Many sales executives believe the


secret to balancing immediate and long-term sales requirements that need improvement center on provid- ing their reps with more time to sell. But, when sellers have more time, it’s often consumed with unproductive administration – not with more sales. This problem is especially acute for mediocre sellers.


MAX GRIBOEDOV / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM


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