Patrick Stakenas
Research Director
1 year at Gartner
14 years IT industry
Patrick Stakenas is a research director at Gartner Research. His primary focus is on sales performance management (SPM) and mobile. Mr. Stakenas has extensive expertise in SPM, CRM, SaaS and cloud computing models. He has application expertise in SPM, incentive compensation, sales force automation (SFA) ...Read Full Bio
by Patrick Stakenas | October 23, 2012 | Comments Off
It seems that the days of sales organizations using purely Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) are drawing to an end as best of breed vendors build out their product suites to include elements of training management, behavioral management and coaching systems. In a recent research by Gartner top best of breed vendors cited most ICM deals are accompanied by sales coaching and other SPM tools..
The marketplace is asking for more… and it is clear that sales performance management (SPM) now represents a broader set of functionality, one that has operational and analytical capabilities for automating and integrating the processes and functions for managing salespeople and making them more effective and efficient is what is wanted and needed by sales leaders. A wider, more feature-rich SPM software/software as a service (SaaS) market has emerged from the sales incentive compensation management (ICM) vendor community in response to IT leaders’ demands for improved optimization of sales processes, targeted expectations, market coverage and compensation to support revenue growth and influence critical behaviors.
Once you have a chance to read the Marketscope for SPM research note from Gartner, let me know your thoughts.
Category: Chief Sales Officer Customer Relationship management Head of Sales Sales Performance Management Vice President of Sales Tags: behaivorial, CRM, customer rel, ICM, sales coaching, sales performanc, SPM
by Patrick Stakenas | October 3, 2012 | 6 Comments
I have been meaning to write about an HBR article the was published last August on “The End of Solution Selling” and the referenced material in the comments that followed on line related to “The Challenger Sale” The sales methodology or concept of “Challenger” has certainly stirred debate within the sales world and the interest of those swimming in the social pool of media that are carrying around the haunted nature of sales forces spiraling out of control, crashing and burning only to have the next sales leader come along to douse the fire with the latest craze of sales training, methodology or technology. Every new concept sounds tasty to sales leaders who are looking for the “silver bullet” or the fresh way to drive more revenue.
At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong answer. Sales people must have the capability, competency and overall skill to sell. And sales management must coach and teach them, marketing must make sure the message is clear and of course there must be a need for what you are selling. Ok, if you are selling a product to purchasing and all they are buying is price… a widget is a widget so to speak.. then a different skill may be needed than one selling complex consulting solutions or technology. But either way, salespeople must understand their products, their company’s message, what problem or issues they solve and why they are better than the competition.
Customers want solutions to problems and answers to issues, and the advice that goes along with it. Salespeople must be engaged and prepared with the knowledge and the capability to offer this insight when needed. There is no silver bullet, no one type of sales person that will be successful in all instances, different sales environments require different approaches, however the underpinning for all sales people is “adding value”, “having the capability” to add that value and the “competency” to deliver the message.
What are you seeing, breathing, living? Is this a “Silver Bullet”? Or is it really just a repackaging or spin on what successful leaders already know to be true.. Thoughts?
Category: Uncategorized Tags:
by Patrick Stakenas | August 31, 2012 | Comments Off
Analytics, Analytics, Analytics… take note if you are not building a model and leveraging “Actionable Data” that you are behind the eight ball. Sales management will respond to emerging developments and drive change in the sales process strategy by using the sales analytic frameworks. Sales leadership generally has the ultimate responsibility of increasing revenue and managing the sales productivity and effectiveness of the sales force. By utilizing directional sales analytics, sales leadership can track and better manage the many aspects involved to increase sales revenue and provide more predictable revenue and profitability outcomes. Through sales analytic frameworks, sales management will have the tools they need to better respond to emerging developments in the sales process, market and product changes and have the ability to drive change in the sales process strategy.
Utilizing directional sales analytics can increase sales revenue and provide predicted outcomes.
What are you doing to make this happen?
See Gartner note: Apply Directional Sales Analytics to Drive Success: Business Intelligence for CRM and Sales Leaders http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=256&mode=2&PageID=2350940&ref=g_emalert&refVal=4652010&resId=2141716
Category: Uncategorized Tags:
by Patrick Stakenas | July 18, 2012 | 2 Comments
The VP of Sales, Head of Sales, Chief Sales Officer… (pick your title) role continues to evolve and change as technology, processes and legislation continue to evolve. 10 years ago the sales organziation was run on spreadsheets and “Big Data” wasnt a term. Mobile accessability was very limited, virtual offices were less prevelant and almost all training was done in a classroom.
- What will happen in the next 10 years?
- What new knowledge, skills or expertise will be required?
- What technolgoy or tools will be required to run a sales operation?
- What skills will be deemed useless that we have learned to do the job?
What is your take on what the VP of Sales role will look like in 2023?
Category: Chief Sales Officer Customer Relationship management Head of Sales Sales Performance Management Vice President of Sales Tags: chief sales officer, CRM, Customer Relationship Management, head of sales, ICM, Incentive compensation, sales coaching, sales performance management, SPM, VP of Sales
by Patrick Stakenas | May 6, 2012 | 3 Comments
Preparing for the keynote on Monday morning and reviewing notes for the Callidus C3 conference tomorrow. It really is all about the individual sales person. Yes strategy is key, but at the end of the day it is the collective efforts of the direct, tele, contact center and customer service person who will make or break the number. Every firm large and small must have people who are engaged with the business, have more than the necessary skill set, must know the products, the market, the competition… sounds basic… but perhaps we are back to the basics
Category: Uncategorized Tags: #caldc3
by Patrick Stakenas | March 24, 2012 | 3 Comments
I had numerous conversations this week that support how SPM is breaking away from what has traditionally been considered CRM. There is no doubt having an SPM strategy and using supporting technologies can effectively and measurably improve sales revenue.
http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=256&mode=2&PageID=2350940&ref=g_emalert&refVal=4488714&resId=1961617
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by Patrick Stakenas | March 15, 2012 | 3 Comments
Over the past few days (at the Gartner Customer 360 Event in Orlando) I have heard from numerous IT leaders and business executives (both enterprise and vendors) on Sales Performance Management (SPM)…
Their views and approach to SPM continue to lend overwhelming support to viewing SPM as an enterprise strategy – not specifically standalone technology.
In a recent Research Note I published: 5 March 2012 ID:G00229906, Gartner outlines how to Strengthen Your Sales Force.. through adopting building blocks around SPM.
Stayed tuned for much more on SPM and follow me @patrickstakenas twitter
Category: Uncategorized Tags: ICM, sales performance management, SPM
