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

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IDC First Line Sales Manager Best Practices

by Lee Levitt

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