Sales Turnaround in 30 Days

My previous article addressed corporate leadership climate, and specific attitudes that may now be prevalent in our turbulent economy. Much of this appears to be a focus on protecting assets, a reluctance to take risks, and limiting expenditures to only those that generate short term income.

Over the last several months, I have intensively analyzed this topic, conducting research, interviewing executives, & writing articles, some of which have been published. Later this month, on the 22nd, I have been asked to lead a discussion on it at the Independent Business Association of Wisconsin(IBA Wisconsin)Roundtable.

My interest has been driven by a need to discover what kind of assistance my clients want in this environment. Perhaps I have been slow to "get it", or maybe, since I own a consulting firm, a part of me doesn't experience the same dynamics. At any rate, my immersion has served to forge an understanding and a clarity which is not only wanted, but needed.

Simply put, results must be improved, and they must be improved NOW. Let's not look down the road too far; most of us are hemorrhaging too badly. If we're going to act on something, especially when requiring funds, let's get a very timely return. We cannot afford to invest in the long term when we are so busy just trying to survive. It's not that I agree with all of this (I'd like to see a bigger emphasis on taking care of our people), but it's what I see most often.

Now that's been settled, how and what do we turn around? Well, sales of course. Most executives have already cut costs, eliminated non-essential spending, and streamlined the work force. The flip side of reducing costs is to increase revenue: increase sales. If we take this at face value, and in light of the above, the question becomes, how can we revitalize sales quickly without spending a lot of time & money? And how can we do so carefully monitoring results so that the time frame is reasonable, and wasting precious cash is prevented?

How about a Sales Turnaround in 30 Days? If . . . IF this could be accomplished in a structured fashion, it would meet the above criteria: short term, relatively small cash outlay, defined time frame, specific goals, and measured results. Sounds good you might say, but what can be done in that short period of time?

Here's how I am accomplishing it: I will go on site with the ckient for a total of five days in the month, not including time spent off site with phone & e-mail. During the 5 days, I will interview members of sales management, the sales force, customer service, & operations. Customers, with approval, are interviewed via phone & e-mail. The sales force and selected management, customer service, & operations folks will be asked to complete a 10 minute personality profile.

With sales management, I will need access to marketing plans, previous & current sales goals & performance, previous & current sales remuneration plans, gross profit & value added performance, turnover, training plans, and other appropriate reports as needed.

At the end of the month I meet with top management to discuss improvement opportunities. Such things will be included, but not limited to: hiring effectively, aligning sales remuneration with corporate goals, increasing time in front of the prospect/customer, reducing turnover, improving training to reduce time in developing senior sales people, increasing sales $/sales person, facilitating sales management development, increasing incoming gross profit & value added, profitably providing customers exactly what they want, & facilitating a cooperative spirit between sales, customer service, and operations.

The client's investment is limited to only my 5 billing days + expenses. With my 35 years in the business, the upside far surpasses the downside. If the choice is to do nothing with it (difficult to imagine), we all still learn much, which serves us well in the future. Much more likely, if the choice is to take action on some or many of the recommendations, the sky's the limit as to what can be accomplished.

The client can choose to facilitate implementation, or I can help them with some or all of it as they move forward. Even in this economy, there is so very much to gain, and so very little to lose.

When can WE begin?