Ever have anyone ask what your favorite class was in college? Oddly enough, mine was business law. The reason is that the professor had a thing for drilling into us that you have to dig deep to find the real problem to issues, whereas it’s easy and cheap to just identify a symptom and try to fix it. We would spend hours and hours in groups with situations to dissect and identify the ‘real problem’. Weird, but I loved this, which is probably why I’ve spent most of my career in tech sales because, after all, isn’t sales supposed to be about fixing the customer’s problem? (Sidebit – my kids long ago dubbed me ‘daddy fix-it’, but that’s another story…)
If you’ve ever been in a sales leadership role, you’ll understand the connection between top-line revenue problems and problem solving itself.
We all know the ‘symptoms’…
- Revenue goals not being met
- Poor conversion of leads to active sales cycles
- Accounts stalling out in the pipeline, or going to no decision
- Customers demanding, and getting, steep discounts
- Unreliable forecast accuracy
We also know the go-to remedies:
- Replace sales management (of course!)
- Install new sales methodology
- ‘Put a lens on the pipeline’ – aka ‘dog the sales reps’
- Reorganize – territory alignment, key accounts, etc
- More sales training
- Create more ‘leads’ – new/more campaigns, free trials, do more demos
- New pricing, new terms, new bundles, new markets, new products, new partners…
And the lists goes on, and on, and on…
In reality, some of these things may need to be addressed, but more than likely you’re addressing symptoms, not the real problems. Hint – notice how all of the ‘remedies’ are execution focused as opposed to strategy focused?
Improving top-line performance starts with a commitment and mindset of market leadership strategy, and complete alignment with all facets of the organization, including of course marketing and sales. Without this commitment, you’re forever searching for the solution.