Segmentation of the Sales Process

In a time when the economy is facing uncertianty, companies are looking for more and more solutions to lower costs. Companies want to discover new ways to do more with less. The days are over, for now, when money for capital investment is pleuntiful. The buzz now it how a company, weather you are one person, or a top Forturne 500 player, the objective is similar. How can we save money? How can we do more, with less. I propose a solution that may seem counter intuitive, yet has a more dramatic effect than most others. Add new sales reps. 

You may be asking, save money, hire a new sales rep? How is that logical. I'll show you. 

The structure of most sales organizations is designed such that the individuals involved can focus on one or two aspects of the sales process. The idea of segmentation in the sales process is a fairly aged concept. What most organizations don't realize is they are neglecting, and possibly even skipping altogether, a few of the most essential roles in the sales process. I am going to outline for you the most neglected function in the sales process.

The Fronter

As new leads enter the sales funnel, most organizations route these leads based on some type of routing rule. The most common, and least effective, is region based. When the sales representative gets the lead, he or she initiates the evaluation process. They start to ask themselves qualification questions based on prior experience. It's like getting judged when you walk into a new car dealership based on the current car you are driving, what clothes you are wearing, and how good looking you are. Everyone of us has had this experience. It is a biased disqualification. But why should a sales representative waste his or her time on a lead they think will never close? This is a fundamental error in most every sales team in every company in the world. The objective is to take the pre-qualification step away from the sales person and give it to someone who's goal is not to close the lead, but to qualify the lead. Thus, we further segment the sales process. 

By moving the qualification step to a seperate individual, we pass on only those leads who are interested and qualified. Because the goal, and compensation, of the fronter is to qualify and set appointments, they are highly motivated to do so. In a recent study done with MIT, it has been found that close rates increase by almost 7% by simply adding this step and combining technology to increase a fronter's dialing capacity. 

This is just one step a sales organization can take to do more with less. In most organizations, the current sales staff will be unable to handle the volume of appointments handed to them by a quality fronter. This is one of those good problems to have. 

Making Time for More Time

My current position as a Channel Product Manager for Insidesales.com has given me the opportunity to work with various different people, in a wide range of industries. Having graduated from business school not too long ago (It's been more than two years now) I still have in my mind the words of my professors and textbooks regarding management philosophy, organizational management, and general management techniques. The real world is much different than the scholastic world.

In learning how people really manage their departments I have seen many different types of people employing different management styles. I am decided each person could have attended the same business classes as I have, yet still employ the same management style they do now. Not to say they are all bad. There are a lot of good managers out there in the world. What I am saying is that a managers style is highly regulated by his or her personality. If a person does not intentionally curb their inherint tendancies as a person when operating in the business world, those tendancies, good or bad, will come out and display themselves. 

This leads me to the point of this post. My position yields me the opportunity to consult with managers on strategy. Many times I am offering managers a bit of gold. I tell them to do this or that certian thing, and they are almost certian to significantly increase the company's revenue almost immedately. Although my suggestions are based on time tested experience, intense research studies, and industry wide best practices, there is still resistance and lack of implementation. Why is there a gap between what people know to be right and what they actually do?

Personally I try my hardest to live in accordance with what I know is right. This could now lead to a whole discussion on the world's increasing tendancy to voluntarialy surrender their parents morals for a lesser standard. Keeping with the business theme, I think it is because we, as people, tend to fall back on our personality and instincts when the "going get tough," as it most certianly does and will for all of us. To abandon what we know is right in this crucial moment is the seperation between good managers and great managers. Although the excitement is gone, the tasks difficult, and the pressure high, great managers operate as though the world is their's for the taking and make a killing every time. 

Insidesales.com gives managers the tools to allow sales and marketing managers to have more control and impact on their team's performance, if they choose to mandate and implement it. 

Economy and SaaS

As the economy has taken a tumble recently, many sectors are seeing a decrease in business. Financial stress, and the negative "wealth effect," has curtailed consumer spending. This means less revenue for businesses. A year ago, companies were looking for ways to increase revenue. How can we sell more? How can we make more money? Today companies are looking for ways to decrease costs, because revenues are no longer increasing. A big way to do this is to automate systems and processes.

The great thing about SaaS (Software as a Service) is it does both. Insidesales.com does both. By automating e mail campaigns, dialer processes, and providing many more productivity tools, they are growing at a phenomenal rate, even during this down economy.

Integrations with salesforce.com and other leading software providers have given Insidesales.com the position to be a market leader in a fairly short period of time. Their line of power tools has already provided a number of organizations with a 400% increase in year over year revenue, while decreasing costs and increasing sales.