Is Your Company Selling the Way Customers Want to Buy?

When Eric Berridge (Cofounder and CEO of Bluewolf) presented at the Sales 2.0 Conference on March 7 in San Francisco, he asked the audience the following question: “How many of you in this room have a formal sales process?” And only about 20 percent of the crowd – which represented about 450 companies total – raised their hands. That is truly amazing, because it means that so many companies out there are not selling the way the customer wants to buy. They lack a formal process, and instead their salespeople are making it up as they go. That leads to inconsistencies and inefficiencies. Here is the sad part: companies that consciously fail to pay attention to their sales process are unconsciously preparing for the failure of their business.

Successful companies are run by leaders who continually transform their business model by staying in synch with their customers. Over the past 10 years, Bluewolf has helped companies transform their business through an innovative process called agile consulting. The result: greater operational efficiency and higher customer satisfaction.

Last week I was invited to present my views of the attributes that make companies consistently successful to a group of 150 Bluewolf consultants on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Fairmont Orchid. If you take a look at classic American companies that are still around many years after they were founded, you’ll find that each has a defining quality that has helped them stand the test of time. Consider this list:

Tiffany’s – founded on value
National Cash Register – founded on innovation
Mary Kay Cosmetics – founded on enthusiasm
Prudential – founded on trust
New York Times – founded on integrity

These companies have one more quality in common: the capacity to create a culture where employees continually adapt and co-create with their customers.

Mary Kay Ash famously said that if you get up three times a week at 5 a.m., you gain an extra day a week. Today during my presentation I called on an inside-sales team leader and asked her: “What time did you get up this morning?” She said, “I got up at 5:20 a.m. because I had to make calls to the east coast and help run the workshop today." This level of professional dedication is one of the attributes that make Bluewolf a powerful leader in this growing industry.

An interesting example of what drives Bluewolf’s success culture is their vacation policy: they don’t have one. You are free to take vacations whenever you want, for as many days as you want – as long as your job gets done and you reach your goals and milestones. It’s really extraordinary, because it shows how much they trust the people they’ve hired to get the job done. It creates a great sense of freedom and independence, and that creates a culture of agility across all departments.

While Bluewolf consultants help their clients through an agile consulting process, the culture of Bluewolf shows the same mental agility you’d find at a Mensa meeting. Instead of hiring consultants from their somewhat stodgy competitors, they are recruiting smart-as-a-whip 20-somethings. These employees are allowed to choose their own titles when facing their customers and their only boundary is their own capabilities. Bluewolf recognizes that it is the value of their work counts more than a title on a business card.

Case in point: when I called on a young women to have her explain her contribution to the company she said, “I’m 22 and I’m in charge of recruiting new talent.” She has been on the job for only six months and according to her account, she has recruited heavy hitter sales consultants who have already produced several million dollars in revenue. Hello! Here is a wakeup call for old-school consulting companies. The world is changing so rapidly that an agile, ambitious and dedicated younger person will outperform that old school consultant that holds a degree in a field of knowledge that expired 20 years ago.

We all need to wake up to the fact that the way customers buy today is changing faster than the way companies sell. Customers want to buy differently, and companies need take the right steps to keep up. I challenge you to ask yourself: what is my company doing to adapt our processes, enhance our technology footprint and transform our business model in more effective ways, in a shorter period of time and at less cost?

Sales success has never before been so elusive for the clueless and never so close for those who learn to stay agile. Aloha!

Join me at my next speaking engagement at the Sales 2.0 Conference in Boston, on June 20, 2011.

Comments

[Ken Jondahl]

It is always refreshing to see a focus on process improvements which include sales and marketing. Unfortunately too many of the business world appear to consider one of their most expensive business processes, (revenue generation), not to be a process after all.

The numbers speak for themselves, only ~20% of the audience in the talk above had a standard sales process/method in place.

[V Zabiyaka]

Thank you for this post. For me it was like a gulp of fresh air - so many inspiring ideas.
Let me put my two cents. First of all, about consultants with knowledge that expired 20 years ago. I think contemporary world revolves at greater pace,
hence business ideas that may be considered as mind-blowing today, will become ubiquitous 2 years later :)

Second, I would really appreciate, if somebody shares his/her vision on Business Process Management solutions. Since we're talking a lot about dealing with ever-changing market, I'd like to know your opinion of using professional tools for handling this issue.

[Wim @ Sales Sells]

Value, innovation, enthusiasm, trust and integrity. Thanks for reminding us of the keywords for the future of sales.

[Merchant Services]

The world changed not only recently but it has always been changing and will continue to change. Companies just need to be aware with the changes in market behavior and cope with them. Marketers should know that. :)

~ Stef

[Jonathan London]

This is a tremendous example of innovation, using openness, trust and freedom. In itself, it is edgier and differentiated. So, I would also ask what is your differentiation and how is it being messaged?