Friction between sales management and the field sales force isn’t uncommon but when the entire small business division of a major telecom company was underperforming, swift action was required. A lack of trust, low morale, and a sales comp plan perceived as unfair needed to be addressed. If they weren’t, management knew that sales targets would be missed and next year’s business plans would not be reliable.
We first diagnosed the problem by conducting focus groups and one-on-one interviews and analyzing business planning and forecasting processes. With an objective perspective the primary problem was clear: there really wasn’t a quota-setting process -- a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees. From there the next steps were clear:
- Quickly developed an inexpensive Excel-based tool that facilitated a top-down and bottom-up quota setting process.
- Set initial sales goals by relying on historical sales data, and territory analysis, instead of opinions.
- Facilitated a six-week process with sales management and the field sales force to set aggressive but attainable sales goals and agree on a process for quota adjustments.
- Increased sales forecasting accuracy, which helped management run the business better.
- Reduced time and effort for making quota adjustments from months to weeks.
- Improved the performance of the 200 sales representatives because they could focus on customers, not internal arguments about sales quotas.