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| | The Marketing, Channels/Partnership & Sales Execs Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | The Six Most Common Barriers To Sales Success | Views: 1072 | | Feb 18, 2005 12:30 am | | The Six Most Common Barriers To Sales Success | # | 
Steven Boaze | |
There are a variety of reasons and excuses behind poor
sales lead management because the $10 to $2000 companies
spend to generate each business to business inquiry
largely go to waste. I call them Barriers To Sales success.
Here are six of the most common which plague businesses today.
1. SENIOR MANAGEMENT DOES NOT CARE
Paid to lead the organization in the big picture issues
of market strategy, quality and customer satisfaction,
senior managers are tempted to dismiss operational
fundamentals and assume all is well. They are not
aware of the tactical need for complete lead follow up,
rapid inquiry fulfillment, accurate qualification
practices or actual measurement of communications
and sales performance.
#2. SALES PEOPLE REMAIN UNINFORMED.
Unless they understand the potential value of qualified
leads, salespeople (an independent minded breed) think
they do not need help. Sales managers who fail to insist
on follow up imply that leads are at best an option for
slow days. Marketing departments that fail to qualify
leads in advance will most likely contribute to the
problem, giving leads a poor reputation.
3. POOR COORDINATION HOBBLES MARKETING AND SALES
Marketing and marketing communications people frequently
have little idea of the quotas salespeople must meet,
the timing of their sales contests, their need for seasonal
boosts in lead volume, the products needing extra lead
support and the geographical balance need to apportion
leads sensibly among sales territories. Meanwhile, the
sales force does not understand why lead follow up reports
are essential if marketing is to fine tune its advertising,
mail and other promotion tools.
4. THE COMPANY MISMANAGES ITS PROSPECT LIST
Inquiries become orphans in a netherworld between marketing
and sales. As a result, the company sends wrong information
to inquirers, sends it late and does not tailor it to inquirers'
specific interests. Marketing collects limited and uninformative
data and updates them frequently. Marketing rarely compares
separate databases - one for orders and one for inquiries,
for example - and even more rarely merges them into a
marketing information system.
5. MANAGEMENT DOES NOT HOLD SALESPEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE
Sales management does not insist on follow up and new prospect
status reporting, even though it fusses and gripes over detailed
expenses and call reporting.
6. MANAGEMENT DOES NOT HOLD MARKETING PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE
Chief marketing officers do not hold subordinates accountable
for lead handling performance. They do not insist on program
return on investment reports, for example, evidence that
inquiry generation ties in with company sales goals or analyses
of inquiry source productivity.
All six barriers are the product of poor communications,
inattention, lack of knowledge, human frailties and the
sublime dysfunctionalities that lurk within all organizations.
None is the result of weak strategies, poorly designed products,
sloppy manufacturing, competitive pressures, government
regulations or inadequate capital the classic management
issues that pre-occupy most companies in the world today.
Steven Boaze
http://www.copywriteplus.comPrivate Reply to Steven Boaze | | May 09, 2005 11:16 pm | | re: The Six Most Common Barriers To Sales Success | # | 
Dan B | | Accountability is needed to delegate anything. Good accountability means that people can TRUST again. Get accountability back into a company and all the barriers to all things will fall. Private Reply to Dan B | | |
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