The million-dollar question for every business usually revolves around time. Can my current sales team generate enough sales pipeline to meet our growth goals this year? If not, how long will it take me to diagnose and fix the problems hindering their success?
It’s usually this challenge that drives small and mid-sized business owners to look for help because they don’t have the time or experience in-house to repair or rebuild their sales organization. Utilizing a Fractional Sales Leader is a great fit in these circumstances.
Once a top executive understands the workings of my fractional model, the question I get most often is “How much of my time is needed if I hire you?”.
It’s a practical question considering most senior leaders are already fully allocated. They are surprised, and often relieved, when I explain how I can dramatically improve their sales results with very little involvement from them.
This article will walk you through how I leverage my broad experience base to uncover, diagnose, and correct sales roadblocks while freeing up the executive sponsor who brings me in.
How Often Do We Meet?
No matter the scope of my involvement, I follow a consistent approach that typically results in my client contact investing 1-hour per week meeting with me throughout our engagement, sometimes less depending on the scope of what we’re working through.
This minimal time commitment is the result of my experience rebuilding sales organizations and knowing how to leverage the client’s domain knowledge to guide my efforts.
Early in the relationship I encourage the client sponsor to invest additional time by sitting in on staff meetings I lead, participate in discovery sessions I facilitate, etc.
I’ve found this extra involvement up front helps us expedite forming a productive working relationship and also helps the top executive acclimate more quickly to the new concepts being introduced.
Throughout the sales organization rebuild or refinement journey, the top exec and I stay in lockstep by focusing on high-level activities during routine check-in meetings.
Here is a sampling of common agenda items that we cover:
· Gaining alignment on what needs to be fixed and in what order.
· Reviewing the work products I produce and refining them as needed before roll-out.
· Partnering on sales culture transition objectives.
· Checking in on milestone progress and establishing the next set of goals.
What Do You Take Ownership of?
Most often there are three phases during my involvement as a Fractional Sales Leader:
· Discovery & Assessment
· Design & Implement
· Operationalize with Adoption
After completing the Discovery & Assessment phase, I develop an action plan to serve as our guide. I oversee the steps and actions necessary to create the change you brought me in implement. With this plan defined, I’ll take full ownership of designing the agreed upon work products and implementing them.
I involve key employees during the design process to glean insights from their subject matter knowledge while also gaining their buy-in before new solutions are deployed.
During this heavy lifting phase, the executive sponsor remains at a high level, yet aware of the changes taking place by gaining updates during our routine check-in meetings.
The common design areas I focus on are within the following 4 sales categories that the majority of small and mid-sized business struggle with - as reflected in the survey results shown.
Depending on the client’s needs, another area I commonly take ownership of is operationalizing the new sales system and seeing deployment through to sales adoption.
Taking on this role involves me becoming the client's interim Sales Leader where I have a hands-on role with their salespeople and other customer facing employees.
In cases where I fulfill this expanded role, the executive sponsor's time involvement remains unaffected by us continuing with the same weekly meeting cadence.
Just as before, our dialog remain at a high level to keep the exec aware of the initiatives underway in the sales department, while not burdening them with tactical execution details.
How Do We Work Together?
While I am in the trenches in my Fractional Leader capacity throughout the three phases I described, I am acting on owner's behalf to ensure the proper changes are made and adopted.
This is most effective when we develop a strong bond of trust, honor one another’s authority areas, and are committed to see changes through.
I have seen owners panic when the sales pipeline isn’t fixed within 90-days. They grow impatient and feel drawn to undo the work we just implemented.
To avoid ending up back at square one, it’s critical to leave the new processes and systems in place to gain the desired outcomes.
It may take longer to fix certain root issues causing your sales problems, but it is the lasting approach.
To help set expectations on the timeframe for transforming a sales organization, click the banner below that features a previous article I wrote that provides more detail on each of the phases we’d work through together.
The Best Outcome: Getting Extra Time Back
My colleagues and I enter literally hundreds of small and mid-sized business every year. What we’ve found is that most business owners who are struggling to reach their revenue goals are the same ones who are personally overseeing their sales departments.
Usually that means late nights going over sales projections and pouring through lost deals trying to figure out what went wrong. This often leads to a lack of focus, crunched windows of time, and a never-ending project load.
Imagine the time you’ll immediately get back by hiring a Fractional Sales Leader! Not to mention how it will grow once your sales problems are fixed for the long-term.
This freedom affords the owner or top executive the ability to work “on” the
business, creating a greater sense of impact and personal fulfillment.
You can actually take a vacation and not spend the entire time fretting about the bad quarter you just had. No more sleepless nights filled with stress.
You can enjoy time away knowing your business is going in the right direction to achieve the growth you’ve always dreamed of.
By partnering with a Fractional Sales Leader, you are gaining a partner with the skills to create immediate impact while only investing a fraction of your time.
If you’d like to discuss the improvement you’re looking for in your business, contact me at (713) 907-6310 or mprive@salesxceleration.com, or schedule a call.
I am part of a national group of Senior Sales Leaders who collaborate to share insights like the examples shown in this article. We formed because of our shared passion to help business leaders exponentially grow their revenue.
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