Why Sales Results Aren’t Improving

Why aren’t sales results improving?

Is it because we don’t really know how to improve sales results? Is it because buying behaviors have changed and sales organizations and their salespeople have not responded? Is it because we don’t know how to create value for our clients inside their process, or that our processes and methodologies have not kept time?

The truth is, none of these potential causes are to blame for sales results not improving.

• There are not a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to knowing how to improve sales results. There are plenty of companies and people who are very good at producing that very outcome. The truth about execution is that it is persistence and accountability that create the change.
• The act of buying has changed. Certainly, there is more information available to buyers, and there are also more options available to them, with markets getting ever more crowded. The process of buying is now so complex as to require greater guidance from salespeople. All this being true, sales organizations and salespeople have changed, many evolving faster than their buyers. The fact that some sales organizations and some salespeople are unaware or unwilling to change is not evidence of a lack of available knowledge.
• There aren’t too many sales organizations that are unaware of how to serve their clients, uncover their challenges, and create an opportunity. The fact that opportunities are not being created doesn’t mean that sales organizations and salespeople don’t know how to create those opportunities. You have to look somewhere else to see what is missing.

If you want to know why sales results aren’t improving, you have to look to leadership, execution, and accountability. You have to look to training, development, coaching, and personal and professional growth. To find what is missing, you have to look deeper than the presenting problem; you have to look at the root cause of the illness. And there, you will find the answer, even if it is painful to look at.