The sales process is designed with sequential steps that, if followed, should lead to qualification of an opportunity either “in” or “out”. If qualified “in” the next steps should lead to the sale. The sales person should have multiple deals working at the same time each following the steps of the sales process. That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Sales people rely on the support of their entire organization to allow them to achieve the customer satisfaction that will ultimately result in the ’sale’. And, yes you guessed it, the ’sale’ will lead to the achievement of company revenue and profit targets.

If there are obstacles preventing the ’sale’, the true nature of the sales person will mean that s/he will try and fix the issue which in turn will take them away from spending time with the customer OR if the sales person is a top performer you will lose them if you make life too difficult for them.

Complectus was founded to help companies understand what these obstacles are and help them deploy the fixes. Complectus is Latin for ‘Embrace’… i.e. Embrace your sales organization and it will love you back. It’s not rocket science and it’s not just sales training.

There’s no point training your sales people in sales skills, product knowledge or how to get that appointment with the CXO if, when they leave the classroom and return to the field you’re not supporting them effectively. Maximum sales productivity is IMPOSSIBLE without internal alignment.

It’s like organizing the deck chairs on the Titanic or, my favorite, for those of you that know me….. it’s like putting lipstick on a pig! I think I have a pretty good idea what the common obstacles are which inhibit a sales person from selling. But I never cease to be amazed by some of the stories I hear. They come in all shapes and sizes:

· You know the deal is qualified, why is it a harder sell internally than to the customer?
· Why doesn’t my CRM system help to drive sales?
· Why is my technical support person great with Visio, but terrible in front of the customer?
· I thought you said we could deliver it 2 days?
· How can I be strategic when I have all this day-to-day BS to deal with?
· etc, etc, etc

My subsequent articles will be discussing how you can refocus your sales organization to help you drive revenue, profit and customer satisfaction. The answer to the question, why do sales people waste 63% of their time? Lack of internal alignment.

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