Focusing on sales excellence will continue to be an important prerequisite for the future viability of the business model from a sales perspective. The mastery and pragmatic implementation of central sales processes and the technological mapping in cross-divisional process organizations - essential parts of the target operating model - is not only an essential step toward increasing transformation readiness, but also increases the chances of success on the challenging transformation journey.
Optimizing the basics in sales still holds significant efficiency and topline potential, especially in established and hybrid sales organizations. It is also the basis for a coordinated approach to customer centricity and exceptional sales performance.
A successful introduction of sales innovations - such as AI - cannot do without consistent data management that collects relevant customer data at all individual customer touchpoints and systematically links it with data of customer-oriented end-to-end processes. Only based on valid data superior customer insights can be generated by means of artificial intelligence. This includes, for example, determining the next-best-offer, establishing a sustainable cancellation prevention system and efficient campaign management. This makes the strategic importance of operational sales excellence more than clear.
However, the achievement of sales targets often fails at the early stage of sales planning and management. Sales targets must be challenging, but at the same time should not be unrealistic and therefore demotivate. This is where a cooperative, potential-based sales planning approach plays a decisive role. Targets that are too low leave potential unused, and targets that are too high lead to resignation and frustration. If the targets are set accordingly, sales management that can react to events more flexible during the year is decisive. Whoever masters the interaction of sales planning and sales control with professional instruments best, will lead the sales force to intrinsic high performance!
Does your sales force spend enough time on and with the customer? Experience shows that this is not the case in well over 2/3 of all companies. Over the years, many disruptors have crept in sales that could be handled more efficiently and effectively in other, less cost-intensive areas of the company. Although sales processes have simply become over-engineered. But a diminishing sales focus, for example in segmenting and targeting customers, also leaves efficiencies by the wayside. Which customers need to be contacted, by whom, and how often? These are the simple questions. But is it profitable and, above all, wanted by the customer to visit them regularly? Customers already want 24/7 access to service. This opens considerable top-line potential but is also the central challenge of hybrid business models.
The supreme discipline in sales is and remains effective cross-selling and upselling - the fastest way to increase profitability. Many companies are still very ineffective in exploiting their existing customers? One of the main reasons is the lack of structured processes for cross- and upselling, which leaves many questions unanswered: What is and should key account management do with customers? How are customers simply transferred from one unit to another? How are offers from different business units coordinated, evaluated and prioritized? Numerous and recurring organizational realignments and restructurings have certainly not contributed positively to finding sustainable answers to these questions.
The hypothesis that cross- and upselling represents the largest potential for and the easiest way to realize additional top-line impact remains unrefuted - also raised anew in the course of the digitization of the respective business models. However, the inevitable future transformation of sales must also primarily address cultural obstacles and organizational silo thinking in that area.
