IDC First Line Sales Manager Best Practices

Best Practices in Sales Productivity Improvement: The First Line Sales Manager Lee Levitt Director, Sales Advisory Practice March 2009 www.SalesAdvisoryPractice.com

“ The first line sales manager is the single most important person in the organization ”

Agenda

Sales Rep Performance

Organizational Changes

The Role of the First Line Sales Manager

Best Practices

IDC Executive Guidance

Sales Rep Performance Source: IDC Enterprise Panel, January 2009 Thinking of your initial meeting with each rep, what percent of reps were:

Sales Rep Performance What percent of reps did not win your business primarily due to: Source: IDC Enterprise Panel, January 2009

Sales Rep Performance Have you switched vendors during the past year in significant part due to a poor relationship with your sales rep and related teams? Source: IDC Enterprise Panel, January 2009

Sales Rep Performance Source: IDC Enterprise Panel, January 2009 Which one of the following areas do sales reps need to know better to improve the value of your relationship?

Sales Rep Performance Source: IDC Enterprise Panel, January 2009 Which of the following is the number one thing a sales rep can do to improve the value of your relationship?

Organizational Changes in 2009

Sales Headcount Shifts to the Inside Percentage Decreasing vs. Percentage Increasing Q: In what sales areas will you be changing headcount (in your organization) in calendar year 2009? Source: IDC Tech Sales Barometer, 2009

Optimizing the Organization Q: How will your overall sales investments in the following functional areas change in calendar year 2009 compared to calendar year 2008? Percentage Decreasing vs. Percentage Increasing Source: IDC Tech Sales Barometer, 2009

Optimizing the Organization Percentage of Respondents Q: Please identify the sales program investment areas that have received the most increase in funding for calendar year 2009: Source: IDC Tech Sales Barometer, 2009

Sales Management Sales Enablement Customer Intelligence Sales Methodology Talent Management Source: IDC 2009

Staff Planning

Recruit

Hiring

On-boarding

Training & Development

Retention, Repurposing & Replacement

FLSM & Coaching

Strategy & Planning

Performance Management

Quality Improvement & Change Management/ Governance

Account Planning

Channel Strategy & Optimization

Coverage Model

Content Creation

Customer Intelligence

Product Content

Vertical Marketing Content

Solution Content

Content Management

Content Governance

Content Delivery

Role Based

The IDC Sales Productivity Framework

Purchase & Relationship History

Share of Wallet

Role-based Intelligence

Company-based Intelligence

Industry/Vertical Intelligence

Sales Productivity

FLSM Focus & Impact Laggards Questionables Hopefuls Leaders

Sales Management – FLSM Framework

Business Management

Business Acumen

Organizational Awareness

Relationship Management

Financial Management

Resource Planning

People Management

Recruiting

Hiring

Onboarding

Training

Coaching

Retention

Leadership

Selling Management

Opportunity Planning

Territory Planning

Quota Management

Customer Engagement

Pipeline Management

Forecasting

Source: IDC 2009

FLSM Key Findings

Key Findings

Role not well understood

Time allocation

Sourcing/Supporting/Measuring

Consistency across individuals within organizations

Span of control

FLSMs buried in administrivia – pipeline management

Skill mix – selling versus managerial?

Relationship versus technical management

FLSM Critical Success Factors Skills & Competencies Source: IDC 2009 Impact and Influence Cross Boundary Collaboration Resource Management Hiring and Staffing Technical Knowledge Market Awareness Problem Solving Positioning and Presenting Development of Direct Reports Pipeline Review Business Acumen Negotiating and Closing Account/Territory Planning Opportunity Planning Customer Engagement Opportunity Qualification Results Orientation Planning & Organizing Business Management Influencing and Negotiating Decision Making Personal Drive Business Ethics Organizational Awareness Coaching Building Relationships Communication

FLSM Critical Success Factors

Critical Success Factors:

Involved in hiring process

Pivotal to training

Managing information flow to FLSM

Key Responsibilities:

Personnel Development

Sales methodology as coaching framework

Win/loss review

Bottom performer management

Skills versus competencies

Community of Peers

Performance Management

FLSM Next Steps

To Improve Your FLSM Performance:

Determine sales force needs

Identify current skills & competencies

Assess time allocation

Benchmark against IDC framework

Select critical success factors for improvement & related metrics

Look for quantitative & qualitative improvement

The Sales Advisory Practice Team Lee Levitt Program Director Sales Advisory Practice Phone: 508-988-7974 Michael Gerard Research Vice President Executive Advisor Group Phone: 508-988-6758