Executive conversations from Alexander Group’s May and June 2011 Chief Sales Executive Summit events show how sales leaders are making smart moves to support their transformation to a customer motivated sales culture. In this time of doing more with less, these executives are using smart investments to bolster their value selling strategies in 2011 without breaking the bank.
Highlights of these conversations included wisdom on:
- Where to stop wasting money: From getting aggressive with sub-par reps, to finding alternative coverage solutions for under-performing territories, to innovative solutions to help sales talent make the best use of their selling time, all these executives had great ideas for cutting waste from sales budgets.
- Where to re-invest the money you save: When it’s time to re-invest, these leaders also shared their tactics for finding low cost ways to discover value by mining the field for insight from their best sellers, teaming executives with the top-gun talent and really listening to what their customers really want. They also advocate more significant investment in sellers with vision and talent, technology to help these sellers perform more efficiently, invest in coaching and provide tools to build high-impact proposals to C-Suite buyers.
Sales organizations that believe in sales value vigilance, where everyone connected with the customer looks for opportunity to add value, and sales leaders with the courage to drive change will continue to grow. Neither of these characteristics represents much out of pocket cost on the income statement, yet each is central to finding and implementing ways to add value to customers. Squeeze the discount mentality out of your culture. Make value selling a central component of your sales strategy. You don’t have to spend a lot to make a big difference.
Download the full report here.
For access to more of these conversations, insights and opportunity to network with hundreds of other sales leaders, don’t miss Alexander Group’s 2011 Chief Sales Executive Forum, November 2 – 4.
Learn more about Alexander Group’s current Chief Sales Executive Forum.
About the Author
Gary Tubridy is a senior vice president of the Alexander Group and the general manager in charge of the firm’s management consulting business. Gary’s consulting work is focused on increasing marketing and sales effectiveness with particular emphasis in technology and medical products industries. Gary has deep expertise in diagnosing sales management issues and helping clients execute action plans to improve results. His research is focused on best practices of leading sales organizations in North America with particular emphasis on sales force transformation and the role of sales leadership. He leads the Alexander Group executive events series and hosts the Operations and Executive Forums. He is one of three founding stockholders of the Alexander Group.
Gary has been with the Alexander Group for over 35 years. Prior to that, Gary was in sales with the IBM Corporation. Gary holds a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University.