Combining the financials is one of the first priorities of any business merger or acquisition. Numbers don’t lie; data and science drive decisions, leading to faster profitability. The reasons are self-explanatory, but let’s quickly review how the data and science are used anyway. Combined overhead saves. A/P, A/R, payroll, liabilities, cash flow, taxes, and EBITDA is not optional for the leadership, boards, or SEC. Long-term and short-term loans are quickly combined. Duplicate IT, operations, and functions are eliminated. The expected dip in sales is offset by the savings from combining overhead and financials. Sales structure, process, systems, and capabilities are an afterthought, negatively impacting the revenue engine that drives everything else!
We can’t focus on sales right now we have to get these other things done first. They will keep selling, and we’ll figure it out later. I’m calling BS on that! Later is too late to fix what is about to be FUBAR’ed.
If data and numbers are critical, shouldn’t the revenue engine be as big of a priority as the finances?
The sales challenges we see, get ahead of, and fix are not in any particular order:
- Who is in the right role, and what are the skill gaps necessary to be effective in the same or new roles with the transition? This includes Sales, Sales Managers, and Sales Leaders.
- Sales Managers are crucial to transition, motivation, and productivity. If or when their conviction waivers, so goes their teams. Which managers have the skills to coach, grow, motivate, instill accountability, and lead through transition?
- Who you should keep, move, graduate, and or give more responsibility to depends NOT on their current or historical roles or productivity but instead should be based on their potential to grow revenue.
- A lack of common sales language, systems, and methodology also creates confusion, limits sales managers’ ability to be effective in coaching, impedes shorter sales cycles, and delays transition.
- Strategies with Leadership/Sales Alignment are not defined or communicated, which causes poor decision-making in the field. Time kills deals, and conflicting cultures divide harmony.
- Comp. plans inconsistency and changes create poor morale, killing momentum. We know that 70+% of salespeople today are not motivated by money. Additionally, 90% of sales managers and leaders don’t know what motivates their team.
- All of the above distracts sales from the daily activities that generate revenue and that allows the competition to sneak in.
- 10-15% of the top half of the sales team will leave within 6-8 months. This creates vacant seats and a weaker sales organization.
- 75% of new sales hires fail because companies hire salespeople like they hire everyone else. And the people doing the hiring don’t have any sales experience. Turnover cost 3X the annual pay.
In short, chaos in sales ruins results and delays the desired outcome of the original purpose of merging.
Utilize sales science and data to answer the questions you need to know for a smooth, effective, and rapid transition.
What questions do you need to know the answers to?
- Can we be more effective?
- How much more effective can we be?
- What will it take to accomplish that?
- How long will it take to achieve that?
- Can We Improve Our Pipeline and Forecasting Accuracy?
- How Does Sales Leadership Impact Our Sales Force?
- Are Our Salespeople Suited For Their Role?
- What Are Our Current Sales Capabilities?
- How Motivated Are Our Salespeople and How Are They Motivated?
- Who Will Generate New Business?
- Are We Reaching the Actual Decision Makers?
- Can Our Sales Cycle Be Shorter?
- Who is Selling on Price
- Who Can Become a Value Seller?
- Is Our Value Proposition Consistent?
- Can We Close More Sales Faster?
- Do Our Systems and Processes Support High-Performance Sales?
- Are We Being Consistent with Our Sales Process?
- Are We Effectively Leveraging Sales Technology?
- Do We Need to Change Our Selection Criteria?
- Is Our Ramp-Up of New Salespeople Fast Enough?
- How Much More Effective Can Our People Be?
- What Are the Short-term Priorities for Accelerated Growth?
- What is your expected ROI, and in what time frame?
The answers to the above questions provide the intelligence necessary to make decisions that accelerate the transition to growth in 30 days or less. Learn more here.