“CloserQ, I am Sales VP of a consulting company that specializes in Oracle. We have 5 geographical sales territories in the US. The majority of the sales execs are based in our corporate offices. With the economic slowdown, our President has been discussing, switching the territories to see if new blood in the territory can generate new business.” Anonymous
Anonymous, before I ask my qualifying questions, my immediate response is be careful, be very careful with messing with your sales team. Let me ask my qualifying questions first, then I will tell you why to be cautious. Do your 5 sales people sell both new and current clients? You mention new business, do you have separate sales team for inside sales? What percentage of your sales come from new business? Do you have additional sales people that sell specific solutions (DBAs, Oracle Financials, Outsourcing) or to specific industries (healthcare, government, finance)? Do the 5 sales people report directly to you? How are your results YTD? How is your relationship with the President? Do you know why the President wants to make this major re-org (read an article, a fellow CEO was successful doing this re-org, a board member recommended, you are behind in sales and he needs to show he is addressing, your high maintenance sales guy who feels his territory is running dry recommended the switch, other)? What is the average length of service for sales rep? Do you have high turnover? How do you generate leads for your sales team? Do you have your response to your President and you are looking for 3rd party support from CloserQ?
Making major changes to your sales organization is very risky. There is a case study from Xerox in 2000, where they reorganized sales from Industry to Geographical, and had a major downturn in sales, combined with billing and accounts receivable problems, that sent the stock from $64 to $8 in a year in a half. Unless your company is in major pain and requires revolutionary change, I personally recommend evolutional changes to your sales team.
My first recommendation is to sit down with your President and listen to the details on why he or she is recommending. If you are making your numbers or you have a strong relationship with the President, I recommend after you understand the why, propose a less radical solution. It is going to be hard to make your numbers in this economy with a quality sales team, ‘firing on all cylinders’, never mind one that has all new territories and the excuses of a new territory and the economy.
My second recommendations is can you find middle ground and switch territories for the bottom two or three sales reps? If you believe your top guy has run out of leads, can you switch their territory with a territory you believe is underutilized? With only 5 territories, I assume you are by state, can you do a pilot and switch a couple of states with each rep?
At the end of the day, if the President mandates the changes, go with it, do your best, motivate your sales team, and prove me wrong.
Good Re-Orging. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Anonymous’ additional information and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ.
Anonymous, before I ask my qualifying questions, my immediate response is be careful, be very careful with messing with your sales team. Let me ask my qualifying questions first, then I will tell you why to be cautious. Do your 5 sales people sell both new and current clients? You mention new business, do you have separate sales team for inside sales? What percentage of your sales come from new business? Do you have additional sales people that sell specific solutions (DBAs, Oracle Financials, Outsourcing) or to specific industries (healthcare, government, finance)? Do the 5 sales people report directly to you? How are your results YTD? How is your relationship with the President? Do you know why the President wants to make this major re-org (read an article, a fellow CEO was successful doing this re-org, a board member recommended, you are behind in sales and he needs to show he is addressing, your high maintenance sales guy who feels his territory is running dry recommended the switch, other)? What is the average length of service for sales rep? Do you have high turnover? How do you generate leads for your sales team? Do you have your response to your President and you are looking for 3rd party support from CloserQ?
Making major changes to your sales organization is very risky. There is a case study from Xerox in 2000, where they reorganized sales from Industry to Geographical, and had a major downturn in sales, combined with billing and accounts receivable problems, that sent the stock from $64 to $8 in a year in a half. Unless your company is in major pain and requires revolutionary change, I personally recommend evolutional changes to your sales team.
My first recommendation is to sit down with your President and listen to the details on why he or she is recommending. If you are making your numbers or you have a strong relationship with the President, I recommend after you understand the why, propose a less radical solution. It is going to be hard to make your numbers in this economy with a quality sales team, ‘firing on all cylinders’, never mind one that has all new territories and the excuses of a new territory and the economy.
My second recommendations is can you find middle ground and switch territories for the bottom two or three sales reps? If you believe your top guy has run out of leads, can you switch their territory with a territory you believe is underutilized? With only 5 territories, I assume you are by state, can you do a pilot and switch a couple of states with each rep?
At the end of the day, if the President mandates the changes, go with it, do your best, motivate your sales team, and prove me wrong.
Good Re-Orging. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Anonymous’ additional information and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ.
Comments
* How long is the average sales cycle? [New blood will be faced with the same timeframe and new business will come at the end of the cycle]
* Based on that – how long has each rep been in territory working their deals?
* What does the qualified pipeline look like for each rep?
Jason