MASTERING THE ART AND SCIENCE OF SALES

Accelerate the Journey toward High Performance


Through Customer Relationship Management



Organizations of all kinds face numerous
performance challenges today:

understand
and respond to changing customer needs,
support growth, improve profitability.


Leading organizations address these
challenges by transforming the performance
of their sales teams through a combination
of art and science.



High Performance Sales


Introduction



The debate over science versus art in
sales has been running for decades.
In Accenture’s experience, healthy
doses of each are needed for a truly
optimized sales force. When blended and
configured correctly, this fusion results
in a business architecture that can foster
world-class selling.


The science side enables sales through
the development and application of
step-by-step operational processes
that are monitored and measured.
These processes help organizations
to track outcomes and influence the
probability of success at each stage of
the sales lifecycle. Scientific approaches
include rigorous application of standard
processes and tools, fact-based
approaches to identifying areas needing
change and use of technology tools to
deliver insight.
The art includes softer skills, such as
how individuals apply processes and
tools, how various elements interconnect
and influence customer decisions,
and how actions are orchestrated
across the enterprise. Additional
“soft” capabilities include relationship
development, political savvy, adaptability,
trustworthiness, active listening and
guiding and influencing decisions—all of
which are vital to superior selling.
Enhancing both art and science is not
easy. But in an era in which globalization
and expansion into new markets have
made it critical to build sales capabilities
that can be leveraged and scaled on
a global basis, a sales organization
that excels in both art and science is a
strong competitive differentiator and
contributor to high performance.



Optimizing the Science



When setting out to optimize the science
aspect of sales, a company should start
with its sales process: one of the most
fundamental elements of a world-class
sales organization and frequently viewed
as a “playbook” of required steps and
actions for the sales function. This
playbook highlights activities required at
each stage of the selling process—from
account segmentation and territory
definition; to account profiling, planning,
engagement and solution definition;
and finally to opportunity management,
negotiating and closing.


It is equally important to apply the
science of selling towards creating a
distinct set of processes and rules for
sales managers. Optimizing the science
of sales requires defining manager
activities—such as coaching sales teams,
observing and correcting suboptimal
behaviors—and instilling best practices
across the team. In addition, identifying
key performance indicators and tracking
performance against them using
technology tools increases rigor and
Optimizing the Science
helps improve process adoption. Most
sales effectiveness programs rely on
sales force automation to complement
the development of these processes and
help generate the intended benefits.
Critical to the success of this approach
is ensuring that business people “drive
the tool” versus allowing IT to lead the
definition.


Accenture’s client experience provides
several concrete examples of the
challenges inherent in optimizing the
sales process. For example: facing
revenue and profitability pressures
common to many companies, one large
North America retailer we work with
decided to expand its presence in the
small and medium-sized business market,
which offered substantial revenue
opportunity and which the company had
left largely untapped.


However, the small and medium-sized
business market was very different from
the company’s traditional consumer
market: It featured the practice of
buying products via purchase orders and
invoices, the desire for volume pricing
and the need for products ready for
commercial use. Unfortunately, the
organization’s retail salespeople were
not trained or equipped to address these
unique small and medium-sized business
needs. While the retailer did have a
field sales force trained to manage large
accounts, its cost structure did not
always align favorably with the size and
profitability of small and medium-sized
business transactions.


To complicate matters further,
small and medium-sized business
customers often visited retail locations
to make purchases, in contrast
to larger customers who shopped
primarily through their dedicated
sales representatives. The company
recognized that if it were to be
successful in its growth strategy, its
sales force would need not only new
skills and capabilities, but also a better
process for serving small and mediumsized
business customers.




The retailer turned to Accenture for
help. Accenture began by developing an
understanding of the profitability of our
client’s different channels and customer
types. This analysis revealed that the
greatest overall profits would be attained
by handling simple transactions in the
store, routing smaller business customers
to an inside sales channel, and reserving
the highly skilled field sales force for
the largest opportunities and customers.
This would require ensuring that store
operations were capable of handling the
simple small and medium-sized business
transactions, that in-store personnel
were trained properly and, most
importantly, that everyone knew how to
route different customers properly and
was incented to do so.


To achieve these goals, Accenture
first created business rules and
processes to help ensure that larger
business customers—those with the
most need for expertise and service
and with the most revenue and profit
potential—would be routed efficiently
to the field sales force for follow-up
and engagement as appropriate. Next,
Accenture implemented new technology
and business processes to manage
compensation and rewards in a way
that incented all members of the sales
organization to provide a seamless,
multi-channel customer experience for
small and medium-sized businesses.


In addition to the revised compensation
structure, Accenture leveraged its deep
technology experience to implement
TrueChoice, a predictive selling tool, and
integrate it with the company’s existing
customer relationship management
system. TrueChoice gives each sales
person access to vital customer
insights such as purchase likelihood,
decision drivers, willingness to pay,
key arguments, deal breakers and
solution component preferences. Using
TrueChoice, sales people can integrate
these pieces of data into an overall
“deal score” that helps them prioritize
leads. Finally, Accenture developed a
metrics dashboard for key executives
to easily check and manage the sales
organization’s performance and sales
pipeline. This vital, real-time information
supports more effective business
planning and performance management,
enabling the company to adjust its
processes and business rules continually,
for optimal results.


This project’s focus on the “science
of sales” generated encouraging early
results. For example, the TrueChoice tool
paid for itself in just a few months by
driving increased revenue. In addition
to increasing revenue, the project
has boosted margins. By switching
responsibility for handling small and
medium-sized business customers to instore
retail sales people from more costly
field sales representatives, and providing
retail sales people with time-saving
tools such as TrueChoice, our client has
substantially reduced its costs to serve
the segment.




Enabling the Art



Indeed, the science of selling is vitally
important as the foundation for the sales
organization. On its own, however, it is
insufficient to achieve the full potential
of sales effectiveness. The art of sales—a
sales person’s talent, competence
and personal strengths throughout
the process—provides the ultimate
differentiator. While some salespeople are
natural artists and already understand
the “how,” others must be taught many
of the foundational skills. Fortunately,
many foundational skills can be taught,
including effective communication,
guided discovery, developing business
solutions, interpreting account profiles,
reading a power map and building
networks.


Accenture has determined that the art
includes more than individual skills,
and that successful companies give
equal importance to the capabilities of
supporting roles. Perhaps most important
is the art of the sales manager. Once
again, while scientific management
processes may dictate steps for assessing,
guiding and coaching sales teams, the
“how” of sales management is what truly
differentiates performance.


For example, many new sales managers
struggle between “coaching” and “doing.”
As a difficult client situation arises, some
of these managers tend to take over
instead of observing outcomes. They
may talk more than listen, and assume
the individual they are developing is
motivated by the same factors driving
the manager. The sales manager who
has mastered the art can “read” a
salesperson’s behavior, ask the right
questions to determine motivation, assess
in real-time the mistakes a sales person
might be making that are acceptable
versus those that are detrimental to
the particular pursuit (and to stand by
or jump in as a result), and to continue
coaching well beyond the event.


Another company we have worked
with illustrates the value that can be
created by investing in the art of sales.
After learning that its sales training
program was not enabling the desired
performance results, the company asked
us to recast the program. First, a team
of experts researched the competencies
and behaviors that have been shown
scientifically to be predictors of highperformance
selling. We assessed the
company’s current sales force against
these factors, and by applying our
High Performance Sales Force Asset,
we identified their competency and
behavioral gaps by sales role.


This analysis enabled us to redefine
both the training program and sales
role definitions, and select sales talent
management processes accordingly. As
a result of this program, the company
has been able to focus its training dollars
on programs designed to improve the
most critical competencies of specific
people in specific roles. They are also
creating a long-term plan to continue
the assessment process yearly, as part
of their ongoing effort to improve skills
development, coaching , competency
modeling and training program
management.


Such focused training—delivered over
a sustained period—is a key success
factor for building a successful sales
organization. Indeed, while some
managers and salespeople are natural
artists, the majority achieve their full
potential over time. Effective listening,
recognizing social styles and modifying
communication to connect with different
team members are artistic talents
that can be cultivated and improved.
Developing these skills and transforming
the manager from a member of the
team to its leader develops a rhythm
that unites and motivates, and can yield
highly positive outcomes.




Competing in today’s market requires
building superior capabilities in both
the “science” and “art” of selling.



Fusing Science and Art




In the quest for better sales results,
companies often wonder which aspect of
sales they should emphasize: science or
art. In Accenture’s experience working
with companies that have successfully
transformed sales, the answer is both.
Science provides the rigor and discipline
to conduct consistently and efficiently
those activities that are common to all
sales organizations and, thus, are vital to
having a sales force that makes the best
use of its precious time and resources.
However, merely having efficient and
disciplined sales people will not result
in higher sales or stronger customer
relationships. That’s where the art comes
in, helping to build on the foundation
of science and providing the means
by which a company can differentiate
its sales capabilities from those of
competitors with the same foundational
tools and processes.


This notion that the best results come
from combining art and science was
validated by a research effort conducted
by CSO Insights and sponsored by
Accenture. CSO Insights analyzed sales
performance based on the strategies and
tactics companies used to engage their
clients. The findings indicated companies
that employed rigorous levels of sales
process enjoyed significantly greater
sales performance and predictability.
The researchers then conducted further
analysis on relationship-development
tactics to look at the impact on company
sales effectiveness.


They found that while developing
and nurturing relationships were
widely accepted to be more art than
science, companies that addressed
the full relationship spectrum—from
entry point as an approved vendor to
coveted trusted-partner status—enjoyed
the greatest levels of success. They
uncovered the most compelling evidence
for this conclusion upon evaluating the
business performance of $1 billion-plus
firms against a matrix of businessprocess
rigor (science) and level of client
relationships (art). This examination
showed that companies with formal and
dynamic processes, coupled with deep
and trusted client relationships, enjoyed
significantly stronger results in the areas
of opportunity wins, forecast accuracy
and reduced turnover in the sales force.
In other words, the study determined
that neither the science nor the art could
be optimized independently.


Similarly, Accenture’s work at a leading
Linux software provider is another good
example of striking a balance between
the art and science of sales. We initially
focused on instilling the company’s
sales capability with increased rigor and
process discipline. More specifically,
we helped the client better manage and
document customer activity plans, more
accurately define opportunities and
their probability for closure, forecast
with greater consistency, and run more
effective sales management calls. Next,
we focused on balancing their new-found
sales science with art, developing a sales
coaching program focused on when
and how sales managers coached their
teams, and working with the company
to optimize the capabilities and skill
sets of the sales force. The results were
dramatic: an improved pipeline, bigger
deals, shorter sales cycles, and much
better forecast accuracy.


In the preceding and other projects
Accenture has completed with clients,
we leveraged a number of proprietary
Accenture tools and assets (three of
which we discuss in the sidebar on
page 11). Using these tool and assets,
Accenture can help clients enhance both
the art and science aspects of their sales
organizations—and thus begin realizing
results—more quickly.




An optimal
balance of data,
technology,
process and
talent is the
foundation of a
high-performing
sales force.



Conclusion

As the global economy slowed in the
past year, companies’ lack of robust “sell
side” and operational processes became
exposed. Indeed, with strong growth
no longer masking sales inefficiencies
and ineffectiveness, companies
began increasing their focus on sales
effectiveness initiatives. Yet despite the
fact that companies spent billions on
sales force automation, comparatively
few realized significant gains.


In Accenture’s view, the preceding clearly
indicates there’s more to the equation
than tools that beef up the science side
of selling. Facing increasing pressure to
generate revenue and a greater return on
their sales force investment, companies
must spend just as much energy
bolstering the art side of selling to build
the critical relationship-building, listening
and negotiating skills that define sales
leaders.

Only when a company achieves the
optimal balance between art and science
will it fully leverage its sales capabilities
in support of the organization’s pursuit of
high performance.

Accenture

Authors

Richard Bakosh


Richard (Rick) Bakosh is managing
director of the Sales Transformation
practice at Accenture, where he leads a
global team of experts in sales strategy,
sales enablement, talent management
and sales operations. For more than two
decades, he has helped Fortune 500
companies improve business performance
by increasing revenues and improving
sales productivity.


Yusuf Tayob


Yusuf Tayob is a senior executive with
the Accenture Sales Transformation
team, with extensive experience in sales
strategy, methodologies, processes and
sales technologies. As global lead for this
group’s Sales Enablement offering, he and
his team help companies achieve sales
objectives by designing and implementing
process led on-premise and software as a
service-based solution architectures.
Only when a company achieves the
optimal balance between art and science
will it fully leverage its sales capabilities
in support of the organization’s pursuit of
high performance.
01/12/2010