Escolar Documentos
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Frank V. Cespedes
fcespedes@hbs.edu
- Part I: Managing Selling and the Salesperson Use a case study to consider lessons learned: + and -
- Part II: Application Workshop Focus on specific topics Small Groups, Report-Outs, Discussion Some Suggestions, Guidelines, Warnings, Dos and Donts
HI
Importance of Implementation
Great Strategy
Poor Implementation
FAILURE
Average Strategy
Great Implementation
SUCCESS
You Can Come Up With The Best Strategy In The World - The Implementation Is 90 Percent Of It.
The process of ensuring that your strategy or plan is first understood, and then . . . is embodied and reflected in your organizations activities, behaviors, capabilities, and allocation of resources (Money, Time, People).
- Determine whether Marshs discharge was a management failure and, if so, what could be done to correct the situation.
Final Page: The central question seemed to be, how could this possibly happen to someone like Bob Marsh in a company like Cabot?
- What happened here? Why? - What should they do about it? Why?
3. Does my strategy make clear the basis for my sales recruitment, selection, training, and compensation policies? How (if at all) should those policies change in the current economic climate? What is the impact of global competitors and new technologies on required sales tasks? How do we best align our selling approach and talent with our strategy?
The Cabot Case Raises Three Key Questions About Strategy, Sales, and Implementation at Many Companies
What Is a Salesperson?
So What, Now What? - How Important is this for profitable growth? - How Get Better and More Productive at this Activity?
What Is a Salesperson?
Volume Generator?
Business Strategy
Salesperson
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Market Selection
Selling Organization Marketing Strategy Internal Other salespeople Sales managers Product specialists Service providers Operations support Finance, credit, administrative Top management
Sales Rep
External Gatekeepers Decision makers Customer perceptions of: Needs Our company Our products Our value vs. competition
Sales Force Control Systems Organizational Structure Performance Measurements Compensation and Incentives
Sales People Experience & Competencies Career Paths Training and Development
Selling Behaviors
Sales Tasks
Business Strategy
Market/Account Characteristics
- 500 Reps x 8% Turnover Rate = 40 Reps/Year = c. $160 Million in Sales Volume at Risk Annually
Note: Degree of risk depends upon how important you rate relationships vs. unique product in your industry and strategy
Some Conclusions
Talent Comes In All Shapes and Sizes . . . Especially in Sales BUT ultimately the sales person is NOT an individual contributor; must be seen and managed as a key agent of business strategy A major function of strategy is to guide field efforts (including selling efforts). That should be made explicit in the strategy and in its performance management implications Effective implementation in the field requires an understanding and buy-in to firm goals, choices, and trade-offs. This is a Leadership responsibility, not only a Sales requirement.
Next
Break
Application Workshop:
a) Big Picture: Articulating Strategy and Sales Implications b) Daily Field Performance Management: Performance Reviews
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Objective
The primary goals(s) that motivate behavior and resource allocations in the organization - Quantitative and qualitative: appeal to wallet and will Dimensions can be chosen from a range of targets - Profitability, ROIC, Size, Market Share, Brand . . . . - If there are multiple objectives, the hierarchy should be clear Choice or redefinition of objective can have big impact on a firm and required selling metrics, behaviors, and capabilities - e.g., Share vs Profits; Scale vs Premium Service, etc.
Advantage
Description of what the firm does differently, better, or worldclass compared to relevant competitors and substitutes Can be divided into two components - What is the value proposition to the customer?
Scope
Definition of the domain over which we will (and will not) operate Can be defined in multiple dimensions - Customers, channels, geographies, products, and/or services Not a precise statement of everything we do, rather . . . . - A delineation of the boundaries we should not go beyond (given the current strategy of the company) - A template for framing and debating inevitable trade-offs as customers, competitors, suppliers, regulators generate options that make competing demands on limited time, talent, or capital
Clarifying Where to Play (Scope) & How to Win (Advantage) are Core Choices in any Coherent Selling Approach
How to Win (Competitive Advantage)
Low Cost Broad Differentiation
4 Common Dimensions
Geography Product Mix Channel Selection Customer segments
Broad
Holiday Inn
Hilton Hotels
Scope
Focus
Motel 6
Four Seasons
Broad
Courtyard
Marriott Hotel
Scope
Focus
Residence Inn
Ritz Carlton
The Challenge
Can you articulate core components of your companys strategy?
- Objective, Scope, Advantage: where are we clear? Where are we unclear? Whats hardest to specify? Why?
- What are examples of good-practice in strategy sales articulation and communication?
- In your experience, what are the barriers to linking overall strategic goals with on-going selling activities and behaviors?
- What are the barrier-busters?
The process of working with and + through others to develop specific competencies that a) Get Results in the relevant external environment, Get Results and b) Build Capabilities for achieving current and future individual and organizational goals.
Build Capability
Human Performance
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Delegation, Development, and Managing Performance: What Are We Aiming For? Competence and Commitment
Competent and committed people:
Who get the job done with relevant experience, skills, and attitudes
Who give 110% and work as a team Who drive a reputation that attracts the next generation of high performers Competence Commitment
And an organization that can: Capture discretionary energy, attention and effort of the best talent Has a reputation as the place-to-be
The Message From Research About How People Learn & Develop Over Time: Its in Your Circle of Influence
Source: The Lessons of Experience, M.W. McCall, Jr., M.M. Lombardo, A. M. Morrison, Lexington Books
Work Experience
The other things you do and love: perspective, insight, maturity (15%)
Training
Life Experience
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Theres diagnosis and theres action! Its a core leadership responsibility and it almost always involves dealing with change
Strategy is not just what companies say. It is their pattern of actual resource allocation across investment needs/opportunities, people and process capabilities, and product/service segments But it begins with strategy articulation and communication: if you cant say it, they probably cant understand it, and implementation is more difficult!
Human Performance
Operating Performance
What are the key activities in the business? How are they affected by market dynamics?
Market Performance
Financial Performance
A Common Trajectory for Sales Careers and Productivity Over Time: Costs Outpace Performance
A Sales Challenge: How to remain at the top of ones game over time How ensure that a specific technical expertise remains important to the organizations mission How offer a better deal than recent graduates who cost less, may be more technically up-todate, and provide 80% of the job for 50% of the fully-burdened cost
Contribution Cost Line
Performance Line
Time
Avoidance you would rather not have it and spoil the day
Delivering bad news: Concern about hurting someone Feeling awkward or worried; Afraid of backlash or resistance Conflict avoidance wanting to be liked and linked-in The all-purpose rationalization: I am currently too busy for this . . .
Understand that whatever makes the conversation hard is precisely why you probably need to have it!
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Delivering Performance Feedback: A Few Actual Examples (How NOT To Deliver Feedback) . . .
This employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.
"This person should go far, and the sooner she starts, the better."
"He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier."
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Overly general feedback is little more than an overall perception, and likely to increase defensiveness because it involves broad judgment
The report is terrible.
To maintain and reinforce the persons self-esteem and ability to listen non-defensively, focus on the specific behavior or action.
You interrupted people throughout the meeting. This resulted in people being less open to listening to your ideas.
Feedback relative to the person as a whole does not add value and may deter, not motivate, improvement.
Youre a terrible communicator.
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Make clear the standards by which performance will be judged (what you consider truly important and how much you expect), including ethical or other process standards
Make the time to provide feedback on performance, versus rushed drive-by comments Care for your people and their true best interests, and be worthy of their trust: admit errors and, when you cant keep a commitment, explain why
Make the decisions that are yours to make and let people know when a decision has or has not been made
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A desk is a very dangerous place from which to view the world. ~ John Le Carre
Thank You!
And Best Wishes for Continued Success in Your Marketplace, and in Your Careers . . . .
Frank Cespedes