I’m in Ireland this week and next working with Sales Executives and CEOs in a series of one- and two-day workshops as part of the International Selling Program offered by Enterprise Ireland (Ireland’s commerce department) and DIT (The Dublin Institute of Technology, where I am an adjunct professor of sales and sales management). My overall message to the 125 or so people I’ll be in front of is one word: process. (Here it’s proh-cess, not prah-cess).
I cover three of the most critical processes for building an effective sales capability: qualification, hiring and planning. Sales process itself is covered in another module.
Timeline to disaster
One of the big challenges here is similar to that in the U.S.—selecting a sales VP (or director) who can get the job done. Considering the average tenure of sales VPs these days—less than two years—I created a pro-forma timeline for the newly-hired sales VP who isn’t going to work out long-term:
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Months 1-3: On-boarding. VP learns about the company, salespeople, colleagues in marketing, services, customers, competitors, etc. Asks a lot of questions. Generates excitement and hope.
- Months 4-6: VP makes changes in approach, terminology, territories, business partners, marketing materials, routine (sales meetings, forecast calls, etc.) VP may bring in former salespeople that worked for them in the past.
- Months 7-9: Little to no performance improvement realized. VP says that new mechanisms haven’t “gained traction.” Or that their new reps “need a little more time.” VP suggests that there have been changes in the market/economy/environment since they joined. Assures the executive team a little more time will do the trick.
- Months 10-12: An occasional success! The heat is off for a time, until the CEO realizes that “one big win does not a trend make.” (Dave Hathaway, partner, now retired, from prestigious VC firm Venrock Associates said that to me in a board meeting when I was an inexperienced VP of sales and bragged about a big deal we had just won.)
- Month 13: Consultant or board member or expert is brought in to assess the situation. Meetings, reports, discussions, back and forth
- Months 14-16: VP and CEO see the handwriting on the wall, but keep it to themselves, hoping that the situation will magically approve.
- Months 17-20: CEO covertly searches for new VP. VP covertly taps into his/her network while updating their resume with the appropriate spin on this latest position.
- Month 21 (or The New Month 1): New VP of sales arrives… On-boarding… It’s Groundhog Day!
Who is responsible?
You might wonder who are responsible for this all-too-common situation. It’s the people who continue to hire the wrong VPs of sales or promote their best salesrep to the job.
What is the root cause?
The profiles for a Sales VP and a salesperson are, by definition, different. Granted, most successful sales VPs have a sales background. But promoting a successful salesperson into a management role doesn’t work unless that person has the skills and traits required for that job. Here are a few generic sales leader skills: management (!), team building, conflict resolution, strategic planning, coaching, hiring, and motivating. There are numbers of additional skills required for success in each unique sales leadership position. Plus there are a list of traits, too, many of which even top-performing salesreps just don’t possess. Process orientation is just one.
Wait, wait!!!
If you’re about to hire a sales VP, director, or sales manager (or are about to promote a rep into one of those positions) and you don’t have a profile for that position specifying the skills and traits required for success with your company’s sales people selling your products to your customers against your competitors, STOP.
Filed under: Economy, Hiring, Leadership, Methodology, On the Road, sales process |
Great post. Profiles for for sales vp or manager jobs are so crucial. Not having one in place is like traveling to an unknown destination without directions or a map.
You’re right about that, Stefanie.