Increasing sales productivity in business-to-business environments with complex sales cycles has been a never-ending pursuit. In his book 'Birth of a Salesman', Walter Friedman chronicles the 200 page playbook (later scaled down to 55 pages) that John Patterson, the founder of NCR, assembled in the late 19th century in his attempt to get his salepeople to systematically present and sell his cash registers.
Patterson was unusually focused on sales tools for his salesforce and was rewarded with one of the most successful companies in business history. But this level of focus on tools to scale sales is unusual and the problem of low sales productivity is still very much with us. CSO Insights documents in their annual survey of 1300 sales executives that only 52% of sales reps made their quotas in 2009.
This blog will pursue the conversation of B2B sales productivity, its role in scaling sales organizations and the critical role of sales tools in capturing sales best practices and driving sales growth.
Patterson was unusually focused on sales tools for his salesforce and was rewarded with one of the most successful companies in business history. But this level of focus on tools to scale sales is unusual and the problem of low sales productivity is still very much with us. CSO Insights documents in their annual survey of 1300 sales executives that only 52% of sales reps made their quotas in 2009.
This blog will pursue the conversation of B2B sales productivity, its role in scaling sales organizations and the critical role of sales tools in capturing sales best practices and driving sales growth.
Paul,
Great subject. I look forward to hearing your insights. As someone who blogs on Winning B2B Leadership, I see and have personally experienced the difficult challenge in scaling B2B sales and making a better, more effective business.