The Customer-Selected World Class Sales Excellence
Ten Year Research Report

Executive Summary (excerpt)

What The Customer Wants

Customers are seeing their marketplaces change, driven by rapidly advancing technology, global competition, shifting demographics, and the consequences of mature markets. To address these changes, they are seeking support from their suppliers as never before:

Three themes continue to be evident as customers define their major needs and expectations of suppliers.

• Customers wish to focus on their core competencies and outsource the balance of their business needs.

• Suppliers are sought that understand the customer's business well enough to provide solutions in addition to the products and services they sell.

• Suppliers must substantiate the presence of the added value they provide.

In addition to these major themes, there are some not so subtle twists; customers have raised both the level of expectations and the speed at which these desires are met. To find evidence of customers' rising expectations one need look no further than the fact that 13 sales organizations were cited as World Class in 1994, while that figure dwindled to ten in 2002. Only two companies, IBM and Boise Cascade Office Products were repeat World Class performers.

When comparing 1994 and 2002 customer surveys, there are several other trends emerging that are worthy of note. Customers seeking vendors that "add value" or "provide total solutions" coupled with the downsizing of customer organizations are driving line and technical executives into action, increasing the likelihood of their involvement in purchasing decisions. Driven by the need for rapid response to problem resolution or need satisfaction, the customer management will contact supplier management directly if the salesperson lacks the authority to make critical decisions. To ensure their expectations are consistently met, customers are bringing formality to the measurement of suppliers' performance. Two significant customer issues have emerged and deserve supplier top management attention:

• Salesperson effectiveness was cited as more important to the customer’s business than the features and quality of the products purchased. 

• The salesperson's failure to understand the customer's business continues to be a major criticism.

Customers asked to evaluate their needs of the sales forces that call on them identified ten criteria. These are ranked in descending order of the frequency of mention by the respondents:

1. Responsive to needs, problems; provides service

2. Knowledge of products and customer applications

3. Customer advocacy; partnership development

4. Ability to keep customer up-to-date

5. Provides a quality product/service

6. Offers technical support

7. Offers local or easily accessible representation

8. Ability to provide a total solution

9. Understanding of customer's business

10. Competitive price

Suppliers who could meet these qualifications were well on their way to meeting or exceeding customer expectations. Despite rising customer expectations, there is evidence that many sales organizations are responding well -- some in World Class fashion.

How The Sellers Are Responding

Sellers, meeting rising customer expectations while still meeting their own objectives, face complexity beyond merely changing the role of the sales force. This World Class sales excellence research identified eight "best practice" areas applied by the World Class sales organizations. While the five companies benchmarked admit they are not expert in all areas, they continually apply improvement techniques to these eight practices, striving to be better tomorrow than they are today. 

The eight best practices identified are:

1. Establishing a Customer-Driven Culture

2. Market Segmentation

3. Market Adaptability

4. Information Technology

5. Customer Feedback and Measuring Customer Satisfaction

6. Sales, Service, and Technical Support Systems

7. Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople

8. Training and Development

All eight of the best practices are detailed with case examples in a section of this report. 

However, there are additional issues worthy of highlight. The traditional market segmentation approaches, e.g., geographical, industry, etc., are further enhanced by a consideration of what the customer needs and is looking for in supplier interface. Market adaptability is improved by the utilization of various electronic platforms to speed the communication processes. Recruiting and selecting experienced salespeople is becoming a common thread, as is positioning the sales manager as the "trainer and coach" to the sales force.

The presenting issues of what customers want, how sellers are responding, and the eight best practices are founded on hard quantifiable data, thus providing a technology to follow for those organizations pursuing or embarking on a journey of continuous improvement with the goal of achieving World Class sales excellence.

The complete report, including individual case studies of World Class sales forces, is available by email delivery (126 pages, PDF format) within one business day for USD $2,500.00. 

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