Sales Transformation Strategy Consulting

Sales Transformation Strategy Consulting and Implementation
A brief narration of this deep shift (Rana Lahiri May 2016,
rlahiri550@gmail.com)
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A brief narration of this deep shift……Rana Lahiri, May 2016

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Topics covered:
Sales Transformation – An introduction
How would you know that an organization needs Sales
Transformation
Factors which aid in achieving Sales transformation
Broad methodology for achieving Sales transformation
Expected outcomes
Related Videos
Sales Transformation – An introduction
This is a change management discipline that enables organizations to improve sales
performance by creating and implementing corporate strategy, product strategy, marketing
strategy, sales strategy and talent strategy.
Sales Transformation can be defined as “How sales capabilities and competences need to be
managed and developed to reach strategic targets of the company and meet changes in the
industry”. One needs to address the following aspects:
 Which are the target markets
 What are the right offerings and value proposition for these markets
and
 How should we manage our customer relationships and sales to win in these markets
Sales transformation should cover everything from sales strategy & planning, sales management &
sales process, people & skills and technology & tools. All major stakeholders from business units,
operations team and support functions and top management should be actively involved in this
initiative in order to develop those much needed capabilities and enablers for transforming sales.

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Still the question remains “why” perform sales transformation? Today’s dynamic markets are
forcing organisations to revisit their sales capabilities regularly in order to stay competitive.
Typical triggers for sales transformation in companies include the commoditization of the core
business, emergence of new competitors, decreasing market performance as well as disruptive
developments in the market.
Sales transformation will also bring a shift from sales 1.0 to sales 2.0 where sales people use
Web 2.0 tools and social media to sell more effectively.
The underlying drivers can be both external and internal changes, such as:
• Increased information availability leading to highly informed customers
• Globalization and consolidation of customers leading to increasing power of procurement
Internal drivers include:
• Entering into new markets arenas and segments in search of growth
• Moving forward in the value chain and focusing on end-users
• Transformation to service businesses and to large scope solutions with new earnings logics
• Focus on customer experience and long-term relationships
• Disruptive innovation, new communication channels and data analytics
Markets now move at the speed of technology. We live in exponential times and the pace of
change is accelerating. Adaptation requires radical transformation of the business model and
innovations of products/services. All of these are forcing organisations to consider the status of
their sales capabilities and competencies across functions and geographies.

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How would you know that an organization needs Sales
Transformation
Following are the clear indications that the organization requires Sales transformation -
 Organization makes very limited use of web 2.0 tools and still relies more on sales 1.0
techniques
 Products or services does not meet customer’s expectations
 High sales cost
 Lengthy sales cycle – high lead to order period
 Lack of formal or ineffective sales process
 High Sales employee turnover rate
 Inadequate business resources and technology to support the sales force
 Slow post-sales tasks such as order processing and invoicing , which in turn delay revenue
recognition
 Inability to establish and measure overall sales performance and costs
 Over complicated sales rules
 Lack of sales training
 Products or services challenged by Disruptive innovations……
Factors which aid in achieving Sales transformation
 The right mind-set by successful implementation of various strategies. Sales employees
should move away from old model of feature, advantage and benefit to the new model of
solving customer’s issues/ challenges with the help of their offerings
 Competencies to become more buyer-focused
 Tools which will enable the organization to serve its buyers/channel partners better and
also make it easier for the buyers and channel partners to do business with this
transformed organization

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Following category of strategy frameworks can be used for Health check as well as for
formulating effective Strategy and processes - Core Strategy tools , Competitive
advantage tools, Strategic option, Organisational design, Strategic
prioritization, Executing strategy tools , Marketing strategy , Learnings
engagement and leadership style tool
A very wide variety of tools/frameworks are available in each of the above categories which
can be effectively used, few worth mentioning are Mission, vision and value, NPI, SWAT
and TOWS Analysis, RED Ocean and Blue Ocean (to deal with disruptive innovations
and to find new market), 7s, BCG, MESE (Profitability framework is an example), ADL
Matrix, 70-20-10 Rule and Six Emotional Leadership Styles…….
Broad methodology for achieving Sales transformation
STEP 1 Business health check - Validating the need for sales transformation,
diagnosis of the challenges and to what extent the functional alignment exists between:
Corporate strategy, product strategy, marketing strategy, sales strategy and talent strategy
and deep analysis of gaps in functional alignments.
STEP 2 Strategy and Processes formulation involves planning
resources and tools to bridge the gap between existing state and desired state. Strategy
formulation refers to the process of choosing the most appropriate course of action for the
realization of organizational goals and objectives and thereby achieving the
organizational vision. Formulation of following strategies are mandatory:
Formulation of Corporate Strategy, Product Strategy, Sales Strategy,
Marketing Strategy and Talent Strategy by using the above mentioned strategy
frameworks.

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Formulation of Digital transformation strategy based on analysis of the Block
Strategy, the Milk Strategy, Invest in Disruption Strategy, Exit Strategy…..
Evaluation of various disruptive business models – The Subscription Model, the Freemium
Model, the free Model, the marketplace model, the access-over-ownership model, the
on-demand model ……
Choosing the required sales automation, sales analytics, sales
transformation and learning management systems tools
Choosing an appropriate mobile enablement solution which should include
mobile device management (MDM), mobile applications management (MAM), mobile
content management (MCM), a secure enterprise workspace, user self-service and
real-time compliance reporting. This should also include security options such as secure
remote access, identity and access management (IAM), encryption and policy
management, data loss protection (DLP) and remote wipe. A complete end-to-end
mobile enablement solution should possess the flexibility to be incorporated into the
existing IT infrastructure over time. IT managers are wary of introducing yet another
solution that they will need to figure out how to incorporate, support, train on, etc.
Development of buyer personas is consistently required at the forefront of strategy
planning. Buyer persona should help in developing the content marketing, various types of
sales conversations that the sales team should be capable of having with target customers.
Buyer personas can be developed by following actions:
1. Identifying the target buyers
2. Goals of these target buyers
3. The kind of behaviors these target buyers are exhibiting during the buying process
4. The kind of interaction taking place among executives in customer organization, in
other words, knowing the full story of how people and team members interact in the
buying process
5. What’s the narrative of the story that’s going on internally within the customer
organization
6. The most important point – “Why is the buyer taking that purchase decision” , “what
are the emotional aspects attached to that decision”

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One of the ways to develop buyer personas is by interviewing customers (without an
agenda) who has made purchase decisions that the organization would like to influence.
This will help the organization to understand the entire purchase decision making process
which in turn will help the organization to identify the buyer persona.

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Adele Revella (CEO, Buyer Persona Institute, Author of “Buyer Personas” (Wiley, 2015),
Keynote Speaker) shared her insights on Buyer Personas ––
“There is so much to say on this topic, but I would emphasize the fact that sales people
need to understand how, when and why a potential buyer chooses their solution rather
than a competitor's or the status quo. When the company has real insight (not obvious
data about the buyer, but real insight into how buyers make the decision they want to
influence), they can prepare the sales team to emphasize the positives that matter most to
buyers. Even more critically, they can tell salespeople which objections different buyers
will have and prepare them to overcome these objections. In my book: Buyer Personas:
How to Understand Your Customer's Expectations, Align Your Marketing Strategies, and
Win More Business (Wiley, 2015) I wrote one chapter about sales enablement. The book
is available in most online bookstores and also for e-readers. You will get many more
ideas if you look at Chapter 10. Thanks again for your interest in buyer personas!”
Recommended reading: Buyer Personas by Adele Revella

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Once required buyer personas are developed the marketing department should work with
those buyer personas for creating future content
STEP 3 Strategy and Processes implementation
Strategy implementation is the translation of chosen strategy into organizational action so
as to achieve strategic goals and objectives. Strategy implementation is also defined as
the manner in which an organization should develop, utilize, and amalgamate
organizational structure, control systems, and culture to follow strategies that lead to
competitive advantage and a better performance.
Processes and tools must include the following:
1. Shift from Sales 1.0 (traditional mode of selling with maximum usage of face to
face interaction with social meeting on Golf or conference) to Sales 2.0 apps - As
we move from a sales-pitch-based economy to a conversation economy in which
the brands are a reflection of rich social-media information streams, salespeople
need to become better storytellers and learn how to initiate and lead customer
conversations that are focused on value. Organisations must be technologically
well equipped to get maximum mileage out of digital media sharing , SaaS
(software as a solution), blogs, wikis, cloud, group messaging, use of sales
intelligence apps combined with social media and company info with search filters
to discover business insights. Sales 2.0 makes optimum utilizations of web 2.0
tools – please refer the below chart :

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2. Implementation of Sales automation and sales analytics tools – CRM, integration of
CPQ & CRM, real time dashboards. There are quite a few Sales Analytics tools
with predictive analytics capabilities, forecasting tools, deep data analysis
displayed in gorgeous visualizations, some of them are as follows - Indicee ,
Spotfire, LiveHive, mSales, Dealmaker, Tableau……..
3. Implementation of Sales Enablement tools – Various companies are offering tools
which vary in functionality , some of the well-known organisatiosn/tools are as
follows - Lattice , Mindmatrix , Signals , Amacus, LogicBay , Velocify……
4. Digital transformation strategy implementation – it is usually found that less
digitally mature organizations tend to focus on individual technologies and have
strategies that are decidedly operational in focus. Digital strategies in the most
mature organizations are developed with an eye on transforming the business.
Also, digitally maturing organizations are more likely to provide employees with
needed skills than are organizations at lower ends of the spectrum.
5. Implementation of mobile enablement - Every sales team is crunched to sell more
and sell fast. The latest shortcut to this sales nirvana is considered to be mobile
sales enablement. According to a survey, 70% of sales organizations using tablets
are already realizing positive ROI. The top benefits for sales people using
tablets/mobile devices are:
i. Real-time access to assets and information
ii. Increasing productivity by streaming the sales process on the road
iii. Instant analytics insight
iv. Providing better customer experience through personalized content
Mobile eLearning can enable employees to train independently. Employees have a
full plate at work most days, with daily duties, client-facing time, corporate
meetings, and more. Instead of cramming learning and development into an eight-
hour work day, employees should be given an opportunity to access what they
need and when they need it.
6. Implementation of LMS - A learning management system (LMS) allows organization
to create, distribute and track training anywhere, on any device. Components of a
LMS are as follows – roasters, registration control, document management,
multiple device access, distributed instructor and student base, course calendars,
student engagement, assessment and testing, grading and Scoring. Use of
software would let the organization track how employees utilize the training

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content so that the organization knows whether it’s meeting those goals or need to
rethink the strategy. The right software can let the organization track multiple
metrics to see how the content is being utilized so that L&D department can
understand what’s working and what isn’t.
Top5 LMS software are as follows:
7. Measurement of competency gaps keeping in mind the goals, strategy and
required core competencies which will provide insights on required trainings
8. Building capacity and capability by developing competency through
implementation of an effective learning and developments mechanisms and other
employee engagements initiatives to bridge the competency gaps. Implementing
processes/mechanisms which would encourage an organization to transform to a
learning organization. Along with various sales and product trainings,
measurement of emotional quotient (EQ) for all sales employees, emotional
intelligence skill training, neuroscience based trainings, leadership training as well
as training on sales coaching should be considered.

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While forming the L&D strategy, L&D department must ensure that the curricula
are in sync with the organisation’s Goals, Strategy and Core Competencies.
Recommended reading – “Neuroscience for Organizational Change:
An Evidence-based Practical Guide to Managing Change” by Hilary Scarlett
(International speaker, consultant and author on change management and
neuroscience at Scarlett & Grey)

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Following aspects should be kept in mind to make the implementation successful
 Optimal usage of market research is vital for accomplishing a successful sales
transformation
 Product road map should be created based on extensive market research, current business
model and buyer personas
 Following 3 steps should be followed while executing strategy implementation :
i. Involving all important/relevant people across the organization to create the core
team responsible for creating and implementing the strategies
ii. Communicating the strategies and corresponding implementation initiatives clearly
across the organization
iii. Developing strategies and bringing the organization structure to support those
strategies
Continuous implementation - These activities need to be performed on a yearly
basis as an extension of strategy implementation:
Effective alignment of corporate strategy, product strategy, marketing strategy, sales strategy and
talent strategy which will ensure creation of
1. Sales organizational model
2. Channel strategy
3. Territory design
4. Quota setting
5. Compensation planning

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STEP 4 Post implementation evaluation
and
business functions to govern this transformation
and to take this forward
Repetition of various assessments done during step 1 i.e. health checks to measure the
improvements. This assessment should ideally be done when the organization has
operated for one full financial year under the new business model.
3 business functions will play a critical role for governing the transformation and for taking
this forward, mentioned below is a brief narration of these 3 functions.
Post sales transformation, Sales Enablement should be made responsible for
equipping the sales force (internal as well as channel partners) with tools, techniques, and
insights that will increase sales results. Sales enablement is a process that empowers the
sales force with the right messaging, the right assets, at the right place and the right time,
in the right format, for the right customer. Sales Enablement aligns marketing processes
and goals, and then arms sales with tools to improve sales execution. Following sales
enablement activities will ensure Sales, marketing and Product remain effective and well
aligned with the core strategies:
 Act as a liaison between Sales, Marketing, and Product teams
 Creation and distribution of sales assets - video, presentations , call scripts, demo
materials , best practices on sales techniques
 Planning and executing effective onboarding
 Effective usage of Sales enablement tools and LMS
 Ensuring ongoing engagements which will foster a culture of continuous learning
 Competency assessments in regular intervals and ensuring availability of trainings
and other engagement initiatives to bridge the competency gaps
 Ensure availability and effective usage of sales tools and collaterals by sales force
 Build , advocate and encourage the sales coaching culture within the organization
 Measuring the success of all sales , product and soft skill trainings
 Maintenance of records of all sales , product and soft skill trainings completed /to
be completed / WIP by sales employees which will enable the organization to
quickly identify resources having specific competencies and knowledge
 Effective communication of various initiatives as well as major wins
 Gathering regular feedback from sales teams to improve the enablement function

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Post-sales transformation, Sales Operations (Sales OPS) will be playing a very
critical role in providing the required sales support to the sales team or else it will become
extremely difficult for sales team to function at it’s optimum level. Sales ops is uniquely
positioned to leverage data and technology to support the sales organization, diagnose
issues and design solutions. In order for sales ops to be effective, sales ops should be
made responsible for following functions:
Sales data management, ownership and management of platforms and systems, reporting
and administration, pricing and contracting support, analytics , business insight and lead
management.
Sales OPS should be made responsible for the following activities:
 Ownership and governance of newly developed sales strategy, sales process,
pipeline management, lead management , order processing, sales automation tools
, sales analytics and sales rules
 Management of sales compensation plans
 Creation and maintenance of real time dashboards to :
 support quick / effective decision making by sales organization
 capturing / monitoring the transactions
 quota vis-à-vis achievement analysis
 Sales ops team should be well aligned with business priorities of all concerned, i.e.
with enterprise level, division level, line-of-business level and sales team level in
order to provide effective sales support
Marketing department should be made responsible for lead generation activities,
there is an increased recognition that ‘Lead to Revenue’ is much more than just a sales
function. It is a measurable set of results that begins with marketing. Needless to say that
marketing should also be made responsible for market research, product marketing,
content production and campaign execution by combining marketing strategies,
technologies (web 2.0 tools) and effective usage of social media in line with the buyer
personas critical for the organisation. Marketing department should also do periodic
measurement of the marketing KPIs and communicating the findings to all concerned.

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Expected outcomes
Quantitative improvements (below list is not exhaustive):
 Improvement in Net Promoter Score (NPS)
 Improvement in sales skills
 Improvement in top line
 Improvement in bottom line
 Shorten Sales Cycle
 Improvement in pipeline opportunity
 Improvement in lead to order conversion rate
 Minimise lead to order period
 Increase in revenue per account
 Increase in customer’s share of wallet
 Lowering sales cost
 Lower sales team’s response time
 Some of the marketing KPIs worth considering - Cost Per Lead, bounce rate , Customer
Value, Inbound Marketing ROI, Traffic-to-Lead Ratio, Lead-to-Customer Ratio, Social
Media Conversion Rate, Blog Post Visit
Qualitative improvements (below list is not exhaustive):
 Moving away from old model of feature , advantage and benefit to the new model of
solving customer’s issue/ challenges with the help of products , services and solutions
 Creation of best in the industry sales force
 Development of comprehensive sales processes
 Improvement of sales and account management capabilities
 Improvement in customer commitments
 Improvement in account penetration capabilities
 Better management of negotiation skills to reduce discounting as well as maintain perfect
customer relations

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 Improvement in customer relationship management capabilities
 Improvement in compensation and rewards mechanism
 Development of comprehensive sales processes
 Creation of simple , easy to use and remember sales rules
 Equipping mangers to coach and reinforce
 Creating a learning organization which will have less control and more flexibility, will
constantly give birth to creativity and will bring the required changes rather than use
problem solving approach as a methodology to bring change. Acquiring some of the
learning organization cultures such as - learning more rapidly that the competition to get
ahead and stay ahead, developing leadership behavior that fosters learning, creativity
and experimentation. Leaders should provide psychological safety to their team members
so that the team members are confident to ask questions, admit mistakes and share new
ideas …
Some of the quotes by Peter M. Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of
The Learning Organization
 “Learning organizations are possible because, deep down,
we are all learners. No one has to teach an infant to learn. In fact,
no one has to teach infants anything. They are intrinsically
inquisitive, masterful learners who learn to walk, speak, and pretty
much run their households all on their own.”
 “The only sustainable competitive advantage is an
organization’s ability to learn faster than the competition.”
 “Organizations learn only through individuals who learn.”
 “I believe that, the prevailing system of management is, at
its core, dedicated to mediocrity. It forces people to work harder
and harder to compensate for failing to tap the spirit and collective intelligence that
characterizes working together at their best. Deming saw this clearly,”
 “Taking in information is only distantly related to real learning. It would be nonsensical to
say, “I just read a great book about bicycle riding—I’ve now learned that.”

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An organization at the end of the sales transformation should be able to clearly articulate the
following:
Customer experience:
1. What is the customer experience that we are trying to deliver
2. What are the emotions that we are trying to evoke in our customers
3. Are the customer experiences deliberate
AND
Business model:
1. Where do we compete
2. What unique values are we offering
3. How do we sustain those unique values
4. What is beyond our scope of current business model
In order to achieve a successful sales transformation the organization must be ready to experience
a deep shift in the mind set to support / accept changes in it’s structure, people's behavior, team
dynamics, tools, processes and stakeholder interactions.
Organization invest approx. 30% of their revenue on core strategic areas such as product, sales
and marketing. Successful sales transformation strategy consulting and implementation initiatives
will not only ensure protection of this investment but an improved ROI as well.

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The 25 most disruptive brands of 2015 (Source – Forbes)
1. Uber: 2015’s most highly valued start-up
2. Airbnb: The world’s biggest accommodation company
3. Facebook: The new face of mobile too
4. Red Bull: Taking content marketing to an extreme
5. Snapchat: 2 billion pictures and videos disappear daily
6. Alibaba: Helping consumers save, spend and be entertained
7. Netflix: 70 million subscribers and content muscle
8. Under Armour: Keeping Misty Copeland on her toes
9. Instagram: The mobile social networking
10.Apple: Creating magic in wearables too
11.CVS: Kicking the smoking habit
12.Taylor Swift: Saying no to low-royalty streaming services
13.Google: Another “Moon shot”, a self-driving car
14.Warby Parker: A Millenials’ favorite, taking on Luxottica
15.Chipotle: Healthy fast food
16.72andSunny: Sizzling hot ad agency
17.SoulCycle: Robust workout for the body and wallet
18.Rent the Runway: The Netflix of designer dresses
19.Houzz: The DIY interior design site
20.Waze: The largest community-based navigation app
21.DraftKings: One-day fantasy sports league
22.Coke: The real thing in name-based packaging
23.Eataly: Spacious food bazaar
24.Birchbox: Beauty gifts for a price
25.Virgin America: Perfecting customer experience

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Related Videos
1. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Transformation areas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4CNy7Ki5Kc
2. Sales Transformation: The True Meaning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIin0ov0gvo
3. The Five Competitive Forces - https://youtu.be/mYF2_FBCvXw
4. How to Spot Disruptive Innovation Opportunities - https://youtu.be/KGzXWO_anLI
5. Blue Ocean Strategy - https://youtu.be/7SQDGBSjty4
6. Five Forces Vs. Blue Ocean Strategy - https://youtu.be/62JBYA6m9Lg
7. NPS - https://youtu.be/_a6TMa9R8B4
8. Adele Revella Presents an Example Buyer Persona -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8zX6fV82Eg
9. Buyer Personas - https://youtu.be/y4RkuSrd4fw
10.Case Study: Cutting Your Risks During a Sales Transformation -
https://youtu.be/4H2jkTxI8jA
11.Debate on Corporate Strategy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPJpUE407-w
12.Sales organization models - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcX24hCxN7s
13.Digital Disruption & Transformation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRGhv3xj0uA
14.Mobile Sales Enablement - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwDuDYbkD0w
15.How The Digital Age is Disrupting the Marketing Framework -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nZiGIr8VQ
16.How Do You Structure a Sales Incentive Program to Ensure a Positive ROI -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmDIBoTM9ok
17.70:20:10 Rule - https://youtu.be/LFmPfbeDLBc
18.5 levels of Leadership - https://youtu.be/ATDbUDkFdZA
19.Neuroscience can make your business work better - https://youtu.be/iJS4blD2niY
20.How do you define a learning organization? https://youtu.be/vc2ruCErTok
21.The Importance of Learning in Organizations - https://youtu.be/lUP4WcfNyAA

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22.Coaching For Leaders - https://youtu.be/FYhws73vm0c
23.Social Intelligence and Leadership - https://youtu.be/7Qv0o1oh9f4Leadership
24.Emotional Intelligence - https://youtu.be/nyxnpHknKUU
25.The Role of Emotions in Business - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VkIVUoVWBA
26.Slightly offbeat , working hard does not help - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBYoZ-
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