Your B2B Sales team sucks
If you’re in commercial B2B, you probably spend a lot of time and money trying to attract the best sales people. You give them a great salary, pay out big commissions, and give them access to all of the ping pong tables and free burritos their hearts could desire. You think you are doing all the right things and your business is growing. But somehow it's just not enough. Maybe you're not quite hitting the numbers the business wants. Or maybe you are hitting some of them but it's not consistent and always seems more like luck than anything else?
So what do you do?
You change the commission plan for next quarter assuming that this is the problem and a new incentive structure will fix the issues.
Or you restructure the sales team, moving people around or changing up the territories.
Perhaps you even take the extreme (and very expensive) step of managing out your ‘worst performers’ and bringing in new people. Because obviously the issue is that you just have the wrong people and if you get ‘better’ people then everything will sort itself out.
Whatever you do, you assume the issue lies with the sales team, because let’s face it, sales people are just lazy, self centered, and money focused, right? Yeah, your B2B sales team sucks….
But it’s not really their fault
Here is the thing; it’s true that sales has an image problem. Hubspot did some research a couple of years ago and they found that only 3% of people said that salespeople were trustworthy. But why is that? Sales is an integral part of our world economy and good sales engagement can be a hugely rewarding experience for both buyer and seller. So why does sales have an image problem?
I’ve spent more than 17 years working in technology sales roles for some of the fastest growing technology companies around the world. I’ve sold hardware, software (SaaS and traditional), network and security solutions, Managed IT Services, and even Cloud back before it was called Cloud. For my sins, I even did a couple of years in IT recruitment… And I’m here to tell you the reason that your B2B sales team is letting you down, is because of the sales culture we’ve created in the industry. To the sales leaders and business owners of the world, we are responsible for creating this problem and we are the ones who should lead the change.
We’ve created a landscape that encourages and rewards salespeople who are ruthless, and solely focused on their earnings. B2B sales, especially in the technology sector, has become more complex than ever before. Yet we continue to make salespeople's jobs more difficult. We put increasing demands on our sales teams, and then get frustrated when they don’t achieve results.
This culture is also causing salespeople to become disillusioned with their work. I’ve lost count of the number of salespeople I’ve spoken to who are deeply frustrated with their jobs. They feel like they’re working their asses off, but nothing they ever achieve is enough. “You are only as good as your last quarter!”
Most salespeople are aware that they have an image problem. They know that they’re seen as bonus-chasing mercenaries, but the reality is that this is the industry that we’ve created. Don’t get me wrong, financial gains can obviously be a major motivator and a smart incentive scheme is critical to a productive sales team, but the carrot on a stick method works better to drive short-term results than strategic, long-lasting ones. Not only that, but it turns the focus inwards, playing into the stereotype of the ruthless salesperson, instead of looking at the bigger picture.
So how do we fix it
We need to stop thinking of sales as a revenue generation function, and start thinking of it as ‘value creation’. In today’s world, buyers are informed and usually have multiple options on the table. The best salespeople today are those that add value to the sales engagement. This means the buyer walks away with new insights and information which can not only help them make a buying decision, but also improve their ability to deliver in their role. When sales is done right, it creates concrete value for the buyer, as well as value for the supplier in the form of well aligned and happy clients. Revenue generated from those clients is a (necessary) byproduct. When we consciously encourage our sales team to take a perspective shift and focus on actions that will create value, rather than revenue, then we end up with a system that creates both.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be diving into this topic further, detailing the ways that we can start to effect this shift as leaders. Pop your email in below and I’ll let you know when new articles are up. In the meantime, consider this: What does a valuable client look like to your company? How would you define this? Reach out to me on LinkedIn and let me know!
