May 15, 2008
Will Sales Metrics Technology Ever Become a Need Based Sale?
Posted by Paul McCord under Sales Metrics Technology, sales, selling | Tags: paul mccord, sales, Sales Metrics Technology, sales technology, selling |Will salespeople and managers ever demand their company acquire a sales metrics system or will the sale always be a ‘need’ created by the technology companies themselves? Currently, there is little or no demand by the sales force for the company to acquire the technology. The sale of sales metrics technology is driven not by demand from the field, but rather by the push of the technology companies to create the need in senior management.
If you examine the literature and discussions on the subject, you find that virtually everything written—from the articles to the blogs to the commentary on the blogs is written by those with a vested interest in the sale of the product—developers and tech consultants. Seldom do you run across anything, including interviews, by the product’s users or those who would be users.
The question, then, is this an indication that the technology is so new that its existence hasn’t been recognized by the end user—or is it an indication that the product isn’t viewed by the end user as having any real value for them?
The answer to that question will ultimately determine the success or failure of the technology. CRM has been a top down decision with senior management determining it to be of value and then finding resistance at the user level because the user hasn’t found personal value in the technology.
Is sales metrics technology headed in the same direction? Unless the industry can create awareness and demand at the salesperson and front-line manager level it may well be that the technology will end up with the same reputation with salespeople as CRM—accepted and welcomed by a few, resented and misunderstood by the majority.
Investing time and energy to get independent voices—from salespeople to managers to trainers and coaches acquainted with the technology and ‘on-board’ with its value is going to be necessary if the industry wants to turn the product from a created ‘need’ to a demand from the sales team for the company to invest in the product.
The alternative is to slowly build the industry through a top down sale, hoping eventually enough product will be on the market and enough salespeople will find value in the product that other salespeople will begin demanding the technology be implemented in their company. With dozens upon dozens of companies in the marketplace and more entering all the time, do product developers have the time to take a long-term approach?
If technology developers in fact have products that will help salespeople identify their specific skill and behavioral needs so they can address them and increase their sales, they need to be aggressively seeking to bring salespeople and managers on-board as enthusiastic supporters of their products. In addition, they should be seeking to develop the interest, support and enthusiasm of the sales trainers and coaches who work with and influence salespeople and front-line sales mangers. Convince the sales team of the product’s value and the company will follow; sell the executives without selling the user and the process will be a long tough pull.
May 17, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Paul,
You’ve hit the nail on the head. It is being pushed by the technology companies, or perhaps more accurately, vendors with a vested interest. In fact, my firm is pushing hard on sales training companies to be accountable for the investment their clients make in their products and services. (Disclosure: We license our sales performance measurement methodology and tools to vendors and end-user companies for a fee. We also certify vendors on their ability to successfully implement their or our sales performance measurement processes.)
Now that I confessed that, let me state something else. We have found that many sales leaders and first line managers as well as sales people themselves aren’t at all interested in being measured any more than they already are–via their performance against quota (or budget).
A minority of sales leaders are interested in strategic sales performance improvement initiatives. The sorry state of affairs is many only want quick fixes that will help them through the quarter. This isn’t my opinion. It’s a fact that has been validated by CEOs of many firms that provide other categories of sales performance improvement products and services apart from sales performance measurement technology.
Selling sales performance metrics technology (in ESR’s case, methodology) to the CFO, COO, CEO and Board has proven to be a better investment from the vendor point of view. We often avoid the VP of Sales, unless they have a proven record of taking strategic approaches in other areas.
I suggest your readers listen to the podcast I did with Greg Alexander, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index. It’s accessible from my blog (davesteinsblog.wordpress.com) under the “Podcasts” tab at the top of the page. In this complimentary podcast Greg talks about how he sells his firm’s services. You’ll be quite amazed at his approach.