ESR has a unique perspective on sales performance improvement. We don’t deliver sales training or sales consulting. We’re sales training industry observers, analysts, researchers and advisors to our clients on what works in sales effectiveness and training.
Here’s what’s been going on at ESR:
- A large client in the financial services sector is working very hard to keep their sales opportunities from coming down to price. That tendency is considerably worse right now than it’s been in previous years. They have superior service, a stellar reputation, a world-class team, enviable financial viability, and other significant customer-focused advantages. But in many situations, it’s a challenge to get the customer to acknowledge the direct link from all those capabilities to measurable business value for them. The client is becoming considerably better a competing, employing advanced selling skills, strategies and tactics for overcoming price disadvantage, when it exists. Even though demand is up, commoditization is the biggest challenge. All in all, a challenging year. I believe they’ll get through this pretty well, with everything considered.
- A smaller client is facing other challenges. They are doing well at demand creation. A strong marketing function is serving the sales team well. However, they’re facing the all-too-common 80/20 situation. The 20% of the reps that are bringing in the deals are top quality. The company has to make a move to redeploy the reps who can’t be trained and coached into a higher level of sales productivity. Also, the company is relatively process deficient. They possess a single, high-level Powerpoint slide that represents their selling process, but it is in no way sufficient to drive consistent performance across an entire sales team. The good news is that a strong management team is determined to overcome the challenges they have. We’re working with the CEO who will be driving the transition to a more effective sales capability. They aren’t looking for shortcuts.
- One Fortune 500 company is coaching us through creation of a collaborative proposal for ESR to perform an assessment of their global sales approach and capabilities. That will result in an RFP and a vendor evaluation and selection process. They need to transition from the commodity approach they employ now to a more collaborative and consultative relationships with customers. They are seeking a long-term sales training/consulting partner. We are delighted that they are taking a strategic approach to sales effectiveness. They aren’t looking for shortcuts either.
- Another Fortune 25 is in an enviable position with regard to the stimulus package and Obama’s strong energy initiatives. They want to make the most out of this situation. We’re providing guidance to them on the right approach for re-engineering their sales processes as well as in selecting a training partner. They’ll only have one chance to get this right, and they know it. No shortcuts here either.
- ESR is working with a leading sales training company, surveying the effectiveness of social media in B2B selling. I’ll provide a link to the short survey soon.
- ESR has been investigating and evaluating the use of virtual worlds—mainly Second Life—for training and strategic account management among some very large corporations. Anders Gronstedt is the expert in this area when applied to sales effectiveness and training. We’ll be reporting on Second Life in March.
- Having suffered through a number of delays, ESR’s Sales Training Vendor Guide, Third Edition will be published. Right now, I’m the bottleneck.
- Within a week ESR will be publishing a research update on Sales 2.0. I’ve been writing about this subject a lot on this blog. I’m very concerned about all the hype around Sales 2.0 and that it is distracting many companies from doing the right things to improve sales effectiveness. Al Case, our Principal Analyst, performed the research and is authoring the reports. I’m certain they’ll be enlightening because we’re unbiased, objective and don’t have any Sales 2.0 products or services to sell you.
- We’re working with a few trainers looking to sell or license their IP. At the same time we are in discussions with several entrepreneurs looking to invest, in one form or another, in sales training IP. Lots of phone calls and a bit of match making.
- We’ve got a number of events coming up:
- FranklinCovey Sales Performance Group — Wed, March 11, 1:00 pm ET — Strategies For Getting Your Customers Through the Financial Crisis A webinar.
- The TAS Group — April 8th — Time and subject to be announced for this webinar.
- Callidus Software — June 26 — Sales 2.0: How to Realize the Full Potential Value – A webinar.
- Boston Conferencing — July 30 — Hiring Salesreps and Managers That Get The Job Done A paid webinar.
- We’re presenting at ASTD’s ICE conference May 31 to June 3: How to Measure Sales Performance Improvement
- I’ll be keynoting at SMT’s annual conference October 14-16
- Assorted presentations at different internal company events…
- Lots more going on, including a new ESR website, new value for our subscribers, and a few new, exciting initiatives.
We at ESR are fortunate, at least for the moment. We see opportunity. Our clients need our guidance. So long was we can directly contribute to them getting through these tough economic times, they’ll be OK and therefore we will as well.
Photo credit: © Stephen Coburn – Fotolia.com
Filed under: Buyers, Competition, Economy, Hiring, Measurement, Methodology, On the Road, Opportunity Management, Presentations, Research, Sales 2.0, sales process, Sales Strategy, Sales Training Companies | Tagged: Anders Gronstedt, ASTD, Boston Conferencing, Callidus, FranklinCovey, Second Life, SMT, strategic account management, The TAS Group |
Thanks Dave – I look forward to hearing about the second life and social media research.
Dave – when do you get to sleep?? Keep up the great work.
Cheers,
Eliot.
I write fast, Eliot. 🙂