September, 2010 | PrairieSkyGroup

Sales Force Automation Diagnostic Question #3 You Can Lead a Bear to Blueberries…

I was interviewing a sales candidate the other day, and I asked him to give me an example of how he’d used sales automation to achieve his sales goals. He replied, “Oh I’m too busy to use it; and my manager doesn’t care, so long as I’m on forecast.” I followed with, “How are doing against this year’s forecast?” “A little behind, but I’m optimistic,” was the reply. Then he added, “I just wish I didn’t have to do all the sales reports, it’s a real time sink.” I was transported back to the early ‘90s.

Sales Force Automation Diagnostic Question #2 Can the Bear Ride a Bicycle?

I ran into someone at a conference who wanted his SFA system to also do his billing. I want to go on record as saying a database is a database and anything is possible. But if you want to train a bear to ride a bicycle, it’s usually a good idea to start with a bear. In the last eight years, SFA has exploded with core capabilities and compatible software (witness SalesForce.com and their original AppExchange). However, it still is prudent to ask, “Does the system have the core functionality required to meet our needs?” (i.e., Are we sure the bear isn’t going to eat us before we get the training wheels off the bike?)

Sales Force Automation Diagnostic Question #1

If you want to get to the bottom of something…start at the bottom. Before shaving the bear, it might be a good idea to find out when the last time it ate was, or if it even feels particularly warm and would like a trim. When you want to properly diagnose and solve problems with SFA systems, you need to start at the bottom. One way to do this is to ask, “Is the ‘sales’ or ‘customer relationship management’ process you want to emulate with your SFA/CRM system well defined?

Shaving the Sales Force Automation Bear

In general, senior managers are not paid to solve problems; they are paid to think about the consequences of problems and then get other people to solve them. However, in my experience, they are not very good at it. They often succumb to the “Shaving the Bear” syndrome. If faced with Global Warming, do you really want to shave polar bears?

Does This Resume Make My Ass Look Fat?

A friend sent me his resume and asked me to take a look at it. This is a slightly sensitive situation since it is the equivalent of asking the question above. He’d also had a “Resume Doctor” jazz it up a little. The resume summary was terrible. I fell asleep during the first paragraph. Here’s an excerpt.

Carly Simon and the Wooly Mammoth

Suddenly, the wooly mammoth turned with a snort… its tusks swinging violently back and forth, its trunk searching for our scent. My mouth was dry. My palms sweaty. My heart thumped like the great beast itself. I watched with terror as Grog attacked from the flank and was swept away by the beast’s long tusks. Gnerk then bravely charged, but the beast reared on two legs and came down on top of him, stomping his small body into the ground. I cringed as I head Gnerk’s bones crunching, but seized the moment, the beast distracted, and ran my spear between the mammoth’s ribs and into its heart. What do Carly Simon, blogging and wooly mammoths have to do with Sales and Marketing?

Aretha Franklin and the Sales and Marketing Gap

A study recently published in the Journal of Consumer Research (Porath, MacInnis, and Folkes, 2010) on incivility between employees and its effect on customers reports that 40% of consumers witness acts of incivility between employees at least once a month. The authors found that witnessing employees behaving badly toward each other has a severe impact on consumers and is very detrimental to companies. “It induces consumer anger and causes consumers to make broad and negative conclusions (generalizations) about the firm as a whole, other employees who work there, and expectations about future encounters with the firm; conclusions that go well beyond the uncivil incident.”

The Buying Cycle and Nurturing Cycle – Part II

Finding the 10 to 15% percent of the marekt that is looking for your product or service is a waste of time and effort, especially by sales people. Constructing a nurturing campaign makes more sense. A recent campaign using a nurturing approach yielded a 20% market penetration and resulted in 30% growth.

Monthly Archive: September 2010