Three wishes – three guesses – three little pigs – three bears – three billy goats gruff
This article won’t match the longevity or popularity of any of the above stories revolving around the number three for one reason & one reason alone. A modern sales company always moves forward as it evolves and the three things that’re needed to remain a modern sales company will always change as the rest of the world catches up.
As a career problem-solver (yet another way to not say salesperson on your LinkedIn headline), I’ve always looked at situations through the prism of people, process & tech. In this article, I’ll talk about each of these three categories.
People
A modern sales organization celebrates diversity by purposefully hiring from a wide variety of backgrounds. The ideal persona is not the stereotypical salesperson. I’ve seen people with a military background absolutely crush their sales numbers in a tech firm. I’ve seen quiet people, almost introverted, command tremendous respect from their prospects & clients just by virtue of being thoughtful and detail-oriented in their interactions.
You don’t know what you don’t know. Modern sales organizations recognize that and hire a diverse salesforce for that reason.
Process
The baseline for a good buying experience is so low that even doing the basics right will blow most companies’ competition out of the water. E.g.
- Get in touch with high-intent prospects immediately and through someone who knows enough about the product/service to not have to defer every prospect question to the AE in the next meeting.
- Make the discovery meeting all about the prospect focusing on what they want to achieve rather than the product’s features.
- Use video & interactive demos throughout the sales process to not just sell to the prospect but to help the prospect sell to other internal stakeholders who are (and will remain) off-limits to you.
Above all, a modern sales org captures data about what’s working and what’s not in each step of the process to continuously improve & evolve.
Tech
I’m yet to meet a single salesperson who loves their CRM. The reason for that is that CRMs have always been implemented for forecasting & reporting. Their value hasn’t been sold to salespeople thus the resistance & friction.
SEMs however are a different beast altogether. They’re key to help salespeople be more effective when they need it the most – in the moment of sales interaction. This is a baseline requirement now for any modern sales organization.
Summary
If this article is to stand the test of time like the three-themed folklores, the top three things have to be more about guiding principles than specific practices or tech.
- People – truly celebrate diversity so that you keep on learning
- Process – measure what’s working well to improve & replicate and that which is not working to rectify
- Tech – anything that helps your salespeople be more effective rather than just the management