Dear Todd Cohen Sales Community,
I want to start a new conversation right now. I am always talking about and being asked my opinion on what makes a great sales culture. This is an important and critical topic for the sales community. Our profession is always changing. 2007 brought significant new advances in technology that brings new products and services…and then this brings new complexity to how we sell. This means that how well we sell is in part due to the sales culture empowering us. Right? Right!
I recently posed the following question to colleagues and associates from my Linked-In network: “ When you think of sales culture, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?” The answers came in fast and furious from all quarters. A few selected ones are:
“When I think of sales culture, it means that every person in the organization, from the CEO to the receptionist to the shipping clerk, understands that WE ARE ALL IN SALES.” – Eric David (thanks Eric, my sentiments exactly!)
“A culture in which every employee recognizes that he or she is part of the sales process – “everyone is in sales.” EVERY experience that a customer has with the company is integral in the process – each employee must embrace it and take ownership.” – Jerry Block
“Sales culture is the sum total of all the informal behavioral interactions among people, within the organization, and between the staff and customers. It starts at the top and pervades all levels of the organization. These behaviors will tend to fall into one of these behavioral categories: rigid, coherent, or diffuse. Coherent behaviors are the ones that engage people – staff as well as customers – and result, in the end, in growth in the bottom line, so those are the ones you want to identify and encourage if you want a great sales culture.” – Dr. Janice Presser, CEO, The Gabriel Institute
“…a customer-focused attitude that examines all phases of how the customer interacts with the company, and ensures that these touch points are easy, direct, and customer-friendly, and an internal focus on ensuring that every activity within the company is performed to satisfy customers. This approach shouldn’t be as narrow as it sounds – and it should help weed out any bureaucratic activities that consume time that could be otherwise directed to improving the delivered value to the customer.” – Mike Fisher
There were many more, and I will share them as the conversation unfolds. So, what do you think? What makes a great sales culture?
Bring it on.
Good Selling!
-Todd
4 Comments
What makes a great sales culture is the teamwork among all members of the organization. I don’t care what level you are at – - to understand the needs of your salesforce as well as the needs of your customers, you need to get in the trenches and see it first hand. You cannot build a great sales culture from endless meetings, conference calls, catchy acronyms, MBA Scholars or expensive consultants hired to determine what makes a great sales culture. You all have to roll up your sleeves, support one another and keep a common goal in mind – - not your own goal, but the goal of the TEAM.
There are certain feelings and qualities that permeate the most successful sales cultures. You can’t “see” them, but you know they are there! Enthusiasm, anticipation, curiosity, wonder and delight — these are the positive and palpable feelings that spark the actions and great expectations of winning sales cultures. Observe, prepare, attract, act and win!
Nancy L. Hohns, Executive Director, Public Relations, The Anderson Group; Brand Marketing and Communications, “Never Underestimate The Power of Your Brand”
What makes a great sales culture is the people. The people who believe in the products they are selling and a management team that supports them with great product, quality, and service.
So much of what happens in the sales effort is in the hands of the “people back at the office/plant”.
If the product development people donot come up with new and innovative products that are aimed at the customer then what will the sales people sell.
If the operations people do not insure that the customer is serviced properly then the sales people are always on the defensive and not able to sell.
If the purchasingpeople do not keep costs in line then again the sales people must be defending price increases and not selling.
If management does not give the sales people the ability to negotiate within predetermined parameters then the ability to close a deal always ends with the statement-” I need to check with the home office.”
Having a staff that can react to a customers need immediately. I have personal experience where a buyer for a major retailer wanted a new product and had asked a number of suppliers and came up empty until he asked the company I was working for and happened to be on the sales trip with our sales manager. I said “yes we can help and we would have a sample of the product here tomorrow for review with you.” That statement and subsequent follow up led to the development of an $8 million business.
In summary if the whole company is not “in sales” by doing their part of the equation then there is no “sales culture” just ” those sales people” fighting an eventual losing battle.
Understanding the basic concept of organizational culture (such as the definition offered by Dr. Presser), and the nature and structure of subcultures, are pivotal — critical — essential — like, really, really important — for those in leadership roles or consulting; this knowledge is the key to designing effective interventions to develop or change the organization. Typically, people (internal or external, more often external) that come into leadership or consulting roles that are not sensitive to the dynamics of culture are generally considered “clueless” (technical term used often by the employees) and have minimal (or negative) impact.
I see a sales culture as a subset of the larger organizational culture. It can be confined purely to the sales organization as in the well-defined boundaries of some companies, or it can permeate the organization structurally (matrixed — on paper anyway) or ideologically (like the way marketing is reputed to be part of the larger Coca-Cola culture). Your “everybody is in sales” movement to create a larger membership in the Sales culture is an outstanding concept that few would argue with, and extending the sales culture membership and identity to non-sales would undoubtedly strengthen the company and boost support and cooperation… but therein lies the hitch.
The difficulty is due to the fact that — sometimes, I’d even say often — the sales culture can be at odds with some or all of the larger culture, probably as much as any subculture can be (an example would be agents versus underwriting in the insurance industry, but that could also be argued as a sales culture issue). There are a lot of reasons for this, like differing goals, incentives, rules, rituals, systems, attitudes, language — a vast number of significant factors that can separate and often alienate the rest of the organization. This is clearly evident with programs such as “Sales Club” or “[Leader's] Circle” (which in an important part of the sales culture). Unfortunately, they can cause problems with the rest of the organization and are highly problematic and polarizing.
The movement to establish “everyone is in sales” has to overcome those hurdles if it is to be successful. You can state the “everyone is in sales” concept and get general agreement everywhere, but to actually — actually — embed it as a cultural attribute is a VERY different story, especially in an organization where there’s a sales/non-sales cultural gap. To be able to extend the sales culture and, more importantly, get people to accept membership, you have to surface and openly deal with the issues that put it at odds with the non-sales cultures — by doing so, you have a chance to resolve divisive elements and allow “everyone to be in sales.” But not doing so by either ignoring these elements or not considering them important — while continuing to push the notion of “everyone in sales” — just reinforces the gap. Further, it proves to the organization that the leaders of the movement are oblivious to the reality of the non-sales world (see “clueless” above), then it’s all considered a program and people recognize it when they next read Dilbert.
Of course, the sales culture can also have issues with the non-sales culture, and these need to be recognized and resolved as well — but my experience has been those are not as difficult as reconciling any non-sales animosity. This is especially true when the organization starts to embrace the sales culture, then I’ve found sales professionals will generally step up enthusiastically and are warmly accepting and indulgent.
So, that’s what first pops to mind when I think of sales culture (and the related issue of developing the “everyone is in sales” culture).
Ray