Julian Griffith is the Managing Director and founder of The Good Peanut. A specialist in sales force development, his focus is on working with business leaders intent on building world class sales teams within their organisations – no matter the size of the company.
Julian has held senior sales and management roles in the UK and Australia. He has worked in and managed sales teams across a range of industries including plastic card loyalty programs, print management and direct mail. In conjunction with a leading UK consultancy, he has also built and facilitated sales training and development programs which delivered remarkable, positive sales change for clients.
This UK experience was the catalyst for Julian to bring these tools and programs to the Australian market. The Good Peanut has arrived, and has been immediately embraced by a number of organisations looking to effect sustainable, long-term improvement in the sales function.
I’ve had a number of conversations with Julian over recent months about many things sales, and have asked him to present the key steps he believes are essential for every sales team to implement, if they are to become truly world class.
Julian, you believe that most sales teams in most organisations are underperforming. Before you tell us how this can be overcome – why do you think this is the case?
Whilst sales are probably foremost in the minds of senior executives, we have found most CEO’s do not come from a sales background, and understanding the sales force does not come naturally to them. They tell us they’re concerned that sales management is not doing all they can to grow sales and most are not sure how to accurately diagnose the problem or how to fix it.
Our findings consistently show that major problems lie within sales management, with companies having the wrong people in these roles, who lack the skills to effectively coach their people and to hold them to account.
The combination of hidden weaknesses we identify in sales managers are reflected in their sales team.
Companies are not prepared to upgrade their sales teams and tolerate mediocrity. They pat themselves on the back because the sales team hit 95% (or less) of budget. You wouldn’t be so pleased if your finance team could only account for 95% of your money, or your warehouse maintained a stock inventory with an accuracy of 95%! I have a strong feeling that many of your readers will relate to this.
Having evaluated over 400,000 sales people, our findings show just 26% of sales people are high achievers so it’s not difficult to see why there are problems. These problems are then exacerbated as companies fail to identify their best sales people, by which I mean those who are doing the right things every day and have the potential to grow, and use them as the model for the future. All too often those responsible for the highest revenue are held up as examples of how things should be done, when in many cases these individuals who were most likely once great hunters for new business, have over the years turned into really good account managers. They may have been with the company a long time, inherited some great accounts and be complacent about looking for new business.
So, what are the essential things that CEO’s must do to ensure they optimise the performance of their sales teams?
I would point to five headlines here, firstly
1. Be genuine about wanting change
To start, if there is a gap between where you need your sales team to be performing and what they’re currently achieving accept it and make a genuine choice to do something about it. Often it’s hard to face up to problems here and I think pride can stand in the way, making it difficult to be open and seek new ideas.
If you take this first step, you’re on your way. Then you need to: Continue Reading…
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