Chris Hallberg, author of the book The Business Sergeant’s Field Manual: Military Grade Business Execution without the Yelling and Push-ups, joins me on this episode.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The process of capturing and converting leads has changed. Inbound marketing manages the sales process by exception. Don’t wait for leads to come to you.
• A mix of outbound and inbound works best. Even Hubspot uses outbound for enterprise sales. If the CEO is too involved in sales, it is a bottleneck. If the CEO neglects sales, the Sales VP may lag trends and lose growth.
• Andy recommends a sales organization should review their sales process every six months, including a lost business review, talking to customers, and creating a 90-day plan. Chris says, if it works well, leave it to work.
• Five-day blueprint for a deep dive: Day 1: Sales VP talks to customers for two hours. Day 2: SVP talks to lost deals for two hours. Day 3: SVP assesses reps. Day 4: SVP assesses process. Day 5: SVP creates a new 90-day plan.
• Chris notes that 60% of companies don’t have a documented process. Chris asks companies how they will scale $20M sales to $50M? Usually, that’s a short conversation! So, he helps them document a process.
• Documentation of process holds everyone accountable. Marketing and sales processes are different and have different objectives. Marketing makes the phone ring. Sales converts prospects into customers.
• Gino Wickman says forget about the results and measure the human activities that generate the results. Chris tells what this means. Start with email tracking. Calling someone while they are looking at your email is effective.
• Andy talks about the inequitable distribution of accounts among salespeople. A happy customer wants to buy more from you. It costs much less to sell to an existing client than to find a new client. Reallocate accounts.
• If a rep threatens to leave, let them go. You will keep customers that are pleased with your company. No one hires a “Rolodex.” When accounts are spread out, the ‘sales unicorn’ leaving will not hurt your company.
• The sales leader is to provide value to the greater good. If you can’t provide any lead to any particular salesperson, there may be an issue with that rep. Use equitable distribution of leads.
• Chris helps companies with execution but it’s hard to help a company with a poor sales organization. It’s a long slog just to get back up to zero. You need the right people following the vision. Andy refers to the 5-day blueprint.
• The first step to getting in shape is showing up the gym. You have to deal with the difficult issues, even when things are going well. Uncomfortable conversations are the best meetings. Dig deeper. Serve the greater good.