Sales Reps who are behind in Q2 risk missing their number for the year. Often it’s the major opportunities that determine Sales Rep success or failure. But when a big opportunity is slipping away, Reps ask this question: Can I win the big account back?  Can I close the big deal and make my number?

I bet that two vital pieces are missing from your sales strategy.  These two missing elements can have great impact on revenue growth.  If you formalize them into your sales process, training and measurement, revenue will grow.   Otherwise, your sales team will be eaten up.  Your revenue will be lost to the swift and the strong.

Remember in elementary school when you lined up to pick teams for football? Two captains would pick. They decided who was good. No forms, no reviews, no 360s. Good ‘ol fashioned public stack ranking. And when somebody was picked before you, it stung.

As CMO, you implemented marketing automation; provide great content, and your campaigns are world class. But you are not seeing results. It’s always the last mile that bites you. If you don’t have alignment with sales then it will all be wasted effort. For proof, try to measure the return on marketing spend without sales alignment. In the end, the CEO’s view is you’re not providing value to the company.  The frustrating part is you’re doing all the right things.

Sales Leaders miss or make the number one sales call at a time.  Yet they typically don’t pay enough attention to each call.  They look at each rep’s performance to quota.  They review the pipeline.  These are difficult to control.  Sales leaders can control the quality of sales calls every day.  Great single sales call execution will lead to great results.

The Fortune 500 list is out.  It’s the annual ranking of America’s largest corporations.  There’s one aspect of the list that’s pretty amazing.  Only 57 of the original Fortune 500 have been on the list every year. 

Execution.

How often have you rolled out a new sales project that failed? Most projects fail because they lack a well-defined execution plan. Here is a story of a wise CEO who never lets this happen.

Meet ‘Yoda’

I met with a veteran CEO and his new sales leader recently. The CEO had been around the block a few times. He had CEO skills and had tremendous wisdom. He reminded me of Yoda from Star Wars. Short. Chubby. Bald. A leadership style full of wisdom.

“Do we have a sales turnover problem that needs to be fixed now?"

I recently had a conversation with a marketing VP of an equipment manufacturing firm.  We discussed her key objectives and biggest obstacle.

Some reps are convinced they can’t sell a new product. The next day, another rep does just that. Why is this? How can some reps be so effective and assertive, and others so passive? Confidence and belief are certainly big parts of the equation. The other part: exceptional storytelling. Here’s a great example: