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 SALES & MARKETING

Common Issues ... click on link for possible solutions.

1. Sales rep turnover is too high.
2. Training is too expensive and ineffective.
3. Our sales reps are selling the wrong mix of products.
4. Our margins have eroded or aren't where they should be.
5. Our sales force is over-relying on discounting.
6. Revenue per sales rep is too low.
7. I'm not sure how our sales force compares to our competitors.
8. Sales Forecasts are a joke. We can't seem to reliably predict when things will close.
9. Sales numbers vary wildly between regions.
10. We lose sales most often to "no decision" rather than a competitve proposal.
11. Our sales managers spend too much time handholding poorly performing reps or recruiting new ones.
12. We lose ground in a territory when a sales rep leaves.
13. Our prospect data is scattered around and often is only in our rep's Outlook file and PDA.
14. Sales reports and meetings are ineffective.
15. Sales and Marketing point fingers at each other.

Sales rep turnover is too high.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Wasted resources, lost sales opportunities, lower revenue, lower profit, lower growth. Loss of market share. Sales manager productivity increases, more time spent with productive sales reps, higher revenue per sales rep, recruiting costs fall. How We Can Help ... Alternate Futures' Sales Effectiveness Audit™ can review your sales reps' performance and your sales policies and practices and sales management to confirm or evaluate any misalignments between those practices and your strategic goals.

Training is too expensive and ineffective.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Taking sales reps out of the field for training reduces selling time. Dubious sales training compounds the losses. Effective training is money well spent. Motivates sales force, ensures they are telling your customers a consistent message across each region. How We Can Help ... Alternate Futures is prepared to conduct sales training for new hires or experienced reps based on over 25 years of sales experience with tangibles and intangibles, with companies large (Eastman Kodak and General Electric) and small.

Our sales reps are selling the wrong mix of products.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... The wrong mix of products wreaks havoc on manufacturing, supply chain, margins and logistics. Fails to maximize profits. Manufacturing and your supply and distribution chains can reduce costs. Profit margins are maximized. How We Can Help ... Part of the Sales Effectiveness Audit™ entails a review of your sales complensation plan to find any misalignments between your targeted product mix and what the comp plan is telling your sales force to sell.

Our margins have eroded or aren't where they should be.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Poor margins means missed financial goals, erosion of market share and health of the enterprise. Angry and impatient shareholders. Properly trained and compensated sales forces do NOT lead with discounting. Solving this issue will increase revenues and PROFITS with little or no additional expense. How We Can Help ... Alternate Futures' sales training emphasizes selling on value, not price. It works every time it's tried.

Our sales force is over-relying on discounting.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Often the cause of margin erosion, indicates flaws in your selling process. Money left on the table can spiral into a pattern that locks you into a financial  predicament that is hard to dig out of. Properly trained and compensated sales forces do NOT lead with discounting. Solving this issue will increase revenues and PROFITS with little or no additional expense. How We Can Help ... The Sales Effectiveness Audit will identify what aspects of your sales organization's structure is causing this.

Revenue per sales rep is too low.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Increased sales force expenses means lower profits. Getting your revenue per sales rep up means getting more done with fewer heads, or more revenue from the same number. Optimizing this ratio means maximizing sales revenue per period. How We Can Help ... Our Sales Effectiveness Audit and our Sales Effectiveness Training programs are designed to help your organization sales revenue per period.

I'm not sure how our sales force compares to our competitors.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Lack of a benchmark means not having a starting place for improvement. Lack of optimization impacts revenue, profits, market position. In a hyper-competitve world, effective companies MUST know how they stack up against the competiton, not just in product features, but in selling process, fulfilment, distribution channel. Knowing how you compare in this area is as important (or even more important) than knowing how your product compares. How We Can Help ... Another aspect of the Sales Effectiveness Audit is a benchmark analysis of your sales force with others in your industry. In order to develop productive solutions, you must know where you are starting….this is how.

Sales Forecasts are a joke. We can't seem to reliably predict when things will close.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Poor quality forecasts mean poor quality earnings estimates, which mean missed revenue targets, which means negative perception among stockholders, customers, senior management. Improving the quality and reliability of sales forecasts means more reliable and consistent meeting of stated goals, happier senior management, stakeholders, financial markets. Improvement here means less stress on your whole organization. How We Can Help ... A reliable sales process with effective checks and balances will solve this problem. Alternate Futures' Effective Sales Process will make the process of forecasting less painful and more reliable. Freed of regular "creative writing" assignments all concerned gain more hours to actually sell and service customers.

Sales numbers vary wildly between regions.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... An inconsistent sales process means lower revenues, higher costs of sales and poorer overall corporate performance. A consistent sales process means consistent results and removes an important variable in understanding which regions need management attention. How We Can Help ... A reliable sales process with effective checks and balances will solve this problem. Alternate Futures' Effective Sales Process will make the process of forecasting less painful and more reliable. Freed of regular "creative writing" assignments all concerned gain more hours to actually sell and service customers.

We lose sales most often to "no decision" rather than a competitve proposal.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... The worst scenario is to invest heavily in a sale that goes nowhere. Huge drain on resources and profits. Knowing when to invest in a selling opportunity and when to abandon means your sales resources are deployed where they have the greatest chance of success. You are not measured on how many proposals you write, but on how many orders. How We Can Help ... All 3 Alternate Futures sales programs, Sales Effectiveness Audit, Sales Effectiveness Training and Effective Sales Process can help eliminate this huge waste of your teams most important resource--time.

Our sales managers spend too much time handholding poorly performing reps or recruiting new ones.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Sometimes a necessary evil, this can distract sales managers from their primary task of directing the most effective parts of the sales foce. Some "hands-on" is part of a manager's job, but excessive rehabilitation takes time away from the rest of the sales team. Outsourcing this task lets sales managers maximize their time and selling efforts. How We Can Help ... The Alternate Futures Sales Mentoring Program is designed for those rookie and "journeyman" sales reps that need a little more one-on-one than an individual sales manager has time for. Save the investment made thus far and avoid recruiting costs and territory down time.

We lose ground in a territory when a sales rep leaves.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Starting from scratch in a territory whenever there is turnover costs you revenue, profit and marketshare. You must take ownership of your territory information. Solving this issue means no appreciable drop when field turnover happens. Sales opportunities continue on their trajectory without falling through the cracks. How We Can Help ... The right sales process includes information systems designed to capture, retain and measure the data collected by your field force. Alternate Futures can provide these systems or enhance your current ones.

Our prospect data is scattered around and often is only in our rep's Outlook file and PDA.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Lack of access to aggregate data means poorer decision making, lost opportunities and strategic and tactical errors. You must take ownership of your territory information. Solving this issue means no appreciable drop when field turnover happens. Sales opportunities continue on their trajectory without falling through the cracks. How We Can Help ... The right sales process includes information systems designed to capture, retain and measure the data collected by your field force. Alternate Futures can provide these systems or enhance your current ones.

Sales reports and meetings are ineffective.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Wasted resources, lost sales opportunities, lower revenue, lower profit, lower growth. Loss of market share. The more time in the field actually speaking to prospects means more revenue, achieved quotas, less heartburn for all concerned. Ineffective meetings and "creative" sales reports are time wasters and money losers. Effective meetings and reliable, easy to generate sales reports means identifying points for management intervention, more awareness of market realities and saved money. How We Can Help ... Alternate Futures' Sales Management Process includes the option of optimized sales information systems that are easy to implement, can be specifically designed for your unique organization and will result in fewer hours of non-productive time for each participant.

Sales and Marketing point fingers at each other.

Negative impact ... Solution benefits ... Lack of alignment here causes waste of time, money, energy and reputation. It confuses customers, opens doors for competitors and drains energy from the organization. A Marketing organization in alignment with the Sales organization means more impact for fewer dollars invested. Time spent bickering is time spent not selling. How We Can Help ... Our Sales Process Audit will identify any misalignment or "turf battles" and work with you to clearly deliniate your strategy and tactics to achieve your goals--and propose whatever corrective action is required to assure that all are focused on common goals.