Procurement officers confirm that the number 1 challenge for sales reps is demonstrating true value during sales visits. However, 64% of sales leaders struggle with uncovering the pain points of every member in the decision making unit, making it extremely difficult to deliver that value. These 2 insights are just a few of what Professor Deva Rangarajan from the Vlerick Business School uncovered during the Sales Force Effectiveness research. Take a look at the presentation to learn more about what great sales leaders have in common.

1. Sales Force Effectiveness!
Research insights and panel debate!
Webinar – June 29th! #salesenablement!

2. WHAT IS KEEPING SALES MANAGERS UP AT NIGHT
PROF. DR. DEVA RANGARAJAN
VLERICK BUSINESS SCHOOL, BELGIUM

3. © Vlerick Business School
AGENDA
§ The changing world of sales
§ What keeps the sales managers up
§ Sales Effectiveness Framework
§ Findings from the Sales Barometer
• 29/06/15• 8 |

4. © Vlerick Business School
THE WORLD OF THE SALESPERSON TODAY
§ ……% of B2B buyers said they did not
talk with a salesperson until after they
had performed independent research.
§ Before being ready to speak to a sales
rep, B2B buyers:
§ Consume on average …… pieces of content
§ Complete ......% of the buying decision
• 9
77%
57%
5

5. 2.WHAT KEEPS SALES MANAGERS UP AT NIGHT

6. © Vlerick Business School
CURRENTS TRENDS IN SALES AND
PROCUREMENT
PROCUREMENT
§ Professional
§ Focus on transaction costs
§ Open book pricing
§ Risk averse
§ Internal compliance
SALES
§ Skill Availability
§ Sales force Enablement
§ Commoditization
§ Longer sales cycle times
§ Resource Allocation

7. © Vlerick Business School
FRAMEWORK FOR SALES FORCE
EFFECTIVENESS
• Prof Dr Deva Rangarajan• 12
Shapers
• Recruiting
• Training
• Coaching
• Culture formation
• Compensation
Enlighteners
• Customer Research
• Targeting
• Data and tools
• Customer relationship
management systems
Exciters
• Leadership
• Compensation
• Motivation programs
• Meaningful work
Controllers
• Performance
Management
• Coordination systems
• Vertical and horizontal
communication
• Compensation
• Sales strategy
• Customer
segmentation
• Customer offering
• Sales process
• Go-to-market strategy
• Sales force design
• Structure and roles
• Size
• Territory alignment
Definers
• Skills
• Capabilities
• Values
• Customer
insight
• Inspiration
• Motivation
• Expectations
• Success
measures
• Roles
• Territories
• Selling Process
Impact
ImpactThe Sales job The Salesperson
Salesperson
/ activity
Source: « The Sales Force as an engine of organic growth » by Bernard Quancard and Andris Zoltners, Velocity 2009

8. © Vlerick Business School
VLERICK SALES BAROMETER
§ List of 40 questions
§ Focus on procurement trends, structuring the
sales effort, role of marketing, sales force
enablement, sales force performance
management

9. © Vlerick Business School
DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
• 14
35
32
18
SME
Multi-National
Other
85
70
15
since
12y on
average

10. © Vlerick Business School
TRENDS IN PROCUREMENT:
• 15
3
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
Traditional cold calling
approaches do not work
Sales Cycle times are
becoming longer
Social Selling
Online Searchers
TCO focus
Value adding sales visit
3.3
3.6
3.6
3.8
3.8
3.9
On a scale from 1 to 5

11. © Vlerick Business School
PROCESS AND ORGANIZATION
• 16
2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8
Clear guidelines about when to work with indirect
sales
Clear idea about the pains of every member of the
decision making unit in the customer’s
organization.
We clearly differentiate our sales approach based
on the complexity of the sales process.
An exact understanding of the needs of every
customer segment
We clearly link every feature of our solution
(product + value added services) to the specific
need of the customer?
An understanding of the specific sales process per
customer segment.
Clear and easy to understand criteria for
segmenting customers
3.15
3.20
3.31
3.40
3.43
3.54
3.76
On a scale from 1 to 5

12. © Vlerick Business School
MARKETING NEEDS TO PLAY A MORE
STRATEGIC ROLE IN:
• 17
3.70 3.80 3.90 4.00 4.10 4.20
Developing customer specific
content
Track and monitor customer
activity on digital channels
Customer segmentation
Mapping customer journeys and
pain points
Lead generation and qualification
4.14
4.08
4.01
3.95
3.87
Averages on a scale from 1 to 5

13. © Vlerick Business School
SALES FORCE ENABLEMENT
• 18
2.75 2.8 2.85 2.9 2.95 3 3.05 3.1 3.15 3.2
Internal support team to create
customer value propositions
Easy to implement account planning
processes
Qualified leads are put in the CRM
system
We have an education system in
place ot train us on hi-tech tools
We have an easy to use CRM tool
Lead generation by marketing
department
We have tools to deliver latest
content at customer’s premises
Easy to access call management
tools
2.9
2.9
3
3.1
3.1
3.2
3.2
3.2
On a scale from 1 to 5

14. © Vlerick Business School
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
§ Over resource the best opportunities
§ Take opportunity selection out of the hands of
the salespeople
§ Involve marketing and marketing tools in
opportunity selection
§ Push transactional opportunities to cheaper
channels to reduce cost of sale
§ Upgrade the consultative selling effort
§ Equip your sales managers to deal with
managing the sales force during this transition

15. © Vlerick Business School
WE NEED YOUR HELP: UPCOMING RESEARCH
§ Understanding the Digital behaviour of B2B
customers and how this impacts the sales
process?
§ The role of KAMs in co-creation of innovations
with customer?
§ How can you help?: Please send us an email to
deva.rangarajan@Vlerick.com and we will get in
touch.
§ All responses will be held confidential and the
results will be shared in a webinar (but the
names of the companies will be hidden or not
mentioned)
• Prof Dr Deva Rangarajan• 20

16. THANK YOU!
EMAIL: DEVA.RANGARAJAN@VLERICK.COM
LINKED IN: BE.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/DEVARANGARAJAN
WEB: HTTP://WWW.VLERICK.COM/SEC

17. Questions!
sales@showpad.com!