What We Asked

The focus of the study was on how successful organizations responded to changes in the marketplace through strategies centered around sales technology, organizational structure, sales channels, sales management development, new sales skills requirements, and sales culture. Our overarching questions related not only to how marketplace trends impacted a sales organization’s ability to compete, but more importantly, what strategies they were developing to win sales in this new environment. More specifically, we investigated the following areas and sought answers to the following questions:

• Changes in customer behavior. What is different about customers today compared with five years ago, and what will be different in the future? What challenges do changes in customer behavior present to the sales organization?

• Adoption and usage of sales technology. How advanced are the company’s use of CRM/SFA systems? What challenges have they posed for the organization? What are the next generation going to look like, and what lessons were learned for future implementations?

• Sales organization structures. What channels to market are utilized today and why? What kinds of sales resources are utilized (sales teams, account managers, etc.) and how are they deployed?

• Selling processes and practices. What is the common selling approach of each organization participating in the study and how is this similar or different from their competitors? Are selling practices based on any particular philosophy and, if so, what is that philosophy? How might this change in the future?

• Sales management. How are managers selected? What are their key responsibilities and skill sets, and how has that changed over time? How are they trained and prepared in each organization?

• Sales skills requirements. What types of sales skills are necessary to achieve the benefits of the strategies being implemented to win sales? Are there new sales skills required and are there old ones that are still valid? Where are the common skill gaps?

• Sales culture. What role does the sales culture play in implementing strategies that win sales? What makes for a strong sales culture and what are the challenges to maintaining an influential sales culture?

In addition to our qualitative interviews and analyses of sales organizations, we thought it was important to better understand customer behavior and the challenges it presents to sales organizations by hearing from customers themselves. In a joint study with Schaaf (2004), we surveyed more than 500 customers of information technology from midsized organizations to compare what customers want and value in their salesperson and their buying experience with what sales organizations think customers want and value. This part of our study provides interesting insight into what customers really expect from their vendors and their salesperson and what they say influences their decision to buy or not to buy.