Before engaging with most clients we conduct a Sales & Marketing Assessment. This identifies strengths and areas for improvement in the organization.

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Sales & Marketing
Assessment
December, 2016

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Missing Revenue Targets
Declining Margins
Shrinking Market Share
High Seller Turnover
Inability To Enter New Markets
Inconsistent Marketing Messaging
High Cost Of Sales
Common Problems We Solve

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 Identifies areas of strength and areas in need of improvement across sales
and marketing organizations
 Typical activities include:
Review of sales strategy, structure, process, sales support systems, and roles
Interviews with a cross section of sellers, sales managers, sales executives, and sales
support personnel
Observation of sellers interacting with potential clients either in person or remotely
 Customer Interviews
On line surveys to gather feedback from key leadership personnel and identify
strengths and weaknesses of selling skills across organization (14 critical skill areas)
 Information would be compiled to produce an easy to implement roadmap
for immediate, long lasting improvement in revenues and margins
What Is A Sales & Marketing Assessment?

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Assessment Focus Areas
Strategy and
Marketing
Sales Support
Systems and
Tools
Sales Process
Seller Skills
and Behavior
• Solution Orientation
• Differentiators
• Go To Market Strategy
• Brand Marketing
• Product Marketing
• Lead Generation
• Automation Tools
• Sales Tools
• Social Media Usage
• Organization Structure
• Performance Management
• Recruiting and On-
Boarding
• Compensation and
Rewards
• Sales Process
• Sales Management
Process
• Planning Process
• Sales Culture
• Forecasting and Financial
Plans
• Selling Skills- Tactical
• Selling Skills- Strategic
• Seller Time Utilization
• Manager Skills
• Manager Time Utilization

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Typical Assessment Process
Interviews with Sellers, Managers, and Sales Support Personnel
Ride Alongs With Sellers and/or Mangers
Review Of Available Documentation About Sales Activities
Customer Interviews
Web Surveys – Skills Assessment and Organizational Assessment

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On-Line Assessments
Sales Situational
Survey Example –
Target Sellers And
Sales managers
Organizational Survey
Example – Target
Sales, Marketing, And
Executive Staff

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Sales Skills Assessment
Assessment Topics Score
Territory Planning 5.1
Account Planning 2.6
Pre-call Planning 5.3
Prospecting 2.9
Conducting a First Call 4.9
Consultative Dialogue 3.6
Competitive Selling 4.5
Accessing Decision-Makers 5.5
Controlling the Buying Process 3.8
Giving Presentations 5.8
Value and Differentiation 4.1
Negotiating 2.5
Executive Level Selling 3.6
Strategic Opportunity Selling 4.5
Green
Yellow
Red
:4.3 and Up
:3.6 – 4.2
:3.5 and Below

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Sample Communication

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Sample Interview Guide
Topic Focus Specific Questions
Purpose
Let seller know the reason for the interview
session.
General Background Of Interviewee and role in
organization
Understand the seller’s role and personal and
professional background.
If a manger, role in organization?
Products
Determine what products the seller (or manager) is
involved in selling
Discuss the sellers role in each product line;
Sales Process
Have the seller discuss the typical sales process
from lead inception to close. Also, discuss
variations.
Take typical opportunity. Discuss of inception
(planning) to close. Who is called on? Face to face
or on phone? Access to power an issue?
Presentations given? Other resources involved?
Are proposals written? Are RFP’s part of the
world?
Non-Sales Activities
Discuss what, if any, non-sales activities the seller
is involved with.
Customer service? Administrative?
Automation Tools What, if any, automation tools are used? CRM?
Relationship With Manager
In general, how does the seller interface with his
or her manager?
Sales Training Experience And Sales Skill
What, if any, exposure has the seller had to sales
training methodologies? Are there specific skills
that the seller feels needs to be addressed?
What do sellers in general do well? What skills
could sellers improve upon?
Wage and Compensation
How is the seller compensated? (Base,
commission, etc.) Does the seller feel the
compensation plan incents proper behavior?
Performance Measurement
How is the performance of the seller measured?
Are there metrics in addition to achievement of
revenue goals?
Activity metrics?
Competition
Who does the seller compete against most often?
What strategies does the seller use to position
against competition?
Differentiators?
Marketing
What marketing activities or campaigns does or
the company use to support seller activities?

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Sample Assessment Heat Map
Strategy and
Marketing
Sales Support
Systems and
Tools
Sales Process
Seller Skills
and Behavior
• Solution Orientation
• Differentiators
• Go To Market Strategy
• Brand Marketing
• Product Marketing
• Lead Generation
• Automation Tools
• Sales Tools
• Social Media
• Organization Structure
• Performance
Management
• Recruiting and On-
Boarding
• Compensation and
Rewards
• Sales Process
• Sales Management
Process
• Planning Process
• Sales Culture
• Forecasting and
Financial Plans
• Selling Skills- Tactical
• Selling Skills- Strategic
• Seller Time Utilization
• Manager Skills
• Manager Time
Utilization
High Low
Score
Required Focus
Red – Address
Yellow – Monitor
Green – Model

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Findings And Recommendations
Upon completion of the Sales and Marketing Assessment, Lawson Associates will provide you
with a detailed report that outlines your strengths as an organization and highlights your
opportunities for improvement. Report recommendations will be prioritized and time lined so
you achieve maximum benefit in the shortest time possible.
In addition to the Sales and Marketing Assessment, Lawson Associates provides sales
consulting services in many areas. These services include but are not limited to:
Sales process creation and implementation
Go To Market strategies
Seller and management training
New hire profiling
Sales and Marketing alignment
Automation tool training and implementation
Productivity and efficiency strategy
Wage and compensation plans

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Sample Findings
Sales Support
Systems and Tools
Automation Tools - Findings
 Salesforce.com (SFDC) in use by inside and
outside sales teams
 Should consider migration to enterprise
version to enable easier app configuration
 Quality of data in SFDC could be improved.
Review of 35 opportunity records revealed
improper stage coding on 15 records
 May benefit from some SFDC add-ons such
as ‘Inside View’
 SFDC forecasting should segregate ‘booked
business’ from projected revenue
attainment. Project revenue attainment
should be projected over at least six
quarters in SFDC
s Process
• Automation Tools
• Sales Tools
• Social Media Usage
• Organization Structure
• Performance Management
• Recruiting and On-Boarding
• Compensation and Rewards

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Sample Recommendations
Recommendation Specific Actions
1. Develop a formal hiring process for
new sales staff
 Define competencies for each sales position
 Consider hiring a recruiter to help fill staff positions
 Develop more formal processes for resume screening and interviewing
 Develop a formal talent assessment process for potential new hires
 Develop a formal on-boarding and training process
2. Develop a formal sales process and
define methods for improving time from
contract to revenue and cross selling
 Identify selling strategies – small trial/pilot versus exclusive contract
 Identify add-on sales strategy and process
 Develop Customer buying process
 Develop more formal ACME Sales Process
 Align existing 10 steps into 5 to 6 steps
 For each step, identify activities, sales tools, verifiable outcomes, and yield probabilities
 Align SFDC with the new sales process
 Adopt the new language of the sales process in weekly account and opportunity reviews
3. Formalize the opportunity planning
process
 Define what a key opportunity is in the ACME world (i.e. revenues > X, strategic, etc.)
 Develop formal (but simple) opportunity planning process. Process should have
templates to analyze players in the opportunity, competitive strategies, and a formal win
plan
 Develop a cadence for opportunity planning and communicate to the sales force
4. Better define and incent the role of the
Client Services in the sales process
 Define sales and account growth expectations for Client services managers
 Improve CSM sales skills
 Modify CSM wage and compensation plan
 Measure improvement in time to revenue and sale of tech docs and prosecution services

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Sample Project Schedule
TASK 1 2 3 4 5 6
Project Planning And Kick Off
Conduct Interviews
Conduct Ride Alongs
Conduct Customer Interviews
Conduct On-Line Assessments
Analyze Data And Build Report
Final Report Out
Week Number
*Timeline will vary depending on size of the organization

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Get the most out of your sales department. We want to help you create a more efficient and
disciplined sales force.
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