Michael MaozThankfully, one of the flights I was on last week was mercifully short; otherwise the negative yammering of the two sales executives behind me would have possibly sent me over the edge. Each gentleman (I must be kind) was a regional sales manager for an engineering firm. One was going on and on about an underling who was failing to meet customer requirements on a project. To listen to the manager was to hear a litany of complaints about the man he was going to fire. Well, maybe fire.
There were a few things I did not hear discussed. One was any mention of a sales force automation tool. They weren’t looking at any commitments explicit or implied in the sale of the project that was sitting in a system of record. They weren’t following the narrative of the project from first pre-sale through to post-sale implementation. The second omission was any use of facts or metrics. What, exactly, was the client upset about? What was the reason the account manager was not responding as the manager would like? What exactly did the manager want from his subordinate?
If it sounds like this is a hierarchy with only one way communication, it is because that is how it sounded. The subordinate executes and the manager dictates and sits back. There were few metrics, and little that was documented, and nothing to show that there was open and frank (fact-based) conversation with the manager, customer, and account manager. This was the Old School that we hope will one day burn down.
We all know this, but sales force automation tools are not the answer to any business problem. Like a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon, they can assist the right person following the right process. But for many organizations, they are just sharp objects unskillfully handled and yielding little benefit.
Hey: and keep it down in Row 17 A/B!
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Category: CRM Innovation and Customer Experience SFA Sales Force Automation Tags:
