06 April 2009 | brian

“The only constant,” said Heraclitus, “is change.” Many things have changed since his day, but the wisdom of his words endures.  This is especially true of business and keeping on top of the ebb and flow is one of the daily challenges all organizations face.  Decision makers need to keep a sharp eye and a clear head, avoiding both panic and unwarranted optimism.

Unfortunately, shifting economic conditions can complicate this.  As circumstances change, so does the profile of the optimum customer, and while your goals are changing, so are the goals of your customers.  This requires constant awareness of what is happening in your market.  Utilizing research resources like Hoovers can be vital.  Like an advance scout, they let you know how the terrain is changing and what others are doing so you can adjust your plans accordingly and create the right sort of opportunities for your business.

It’s not enough to simply store this information in your CRM system.  Add on modules exist for popular CRM programs such as Salesforce.com, and such data mining tools help funnel the best opportunities to the appropriate members of your sales team.  Marketing and selling must be focused on optimal customers for today’s market, which means they have to shift focus and resources in tandem.  A disconnect between sales and marketing can actually be a critical weakness.  If either team gets a cycle behind, you will waste resources that you can’t spare.  According to Sam Reese, president and CEO of Miller Heiman:

“The gap between sales and marketing continues to be an issue for many organizations.  Solving this disconnect is high on many sales leaders’ priority lists right now as they look for ways to drive top-line sales more effectively.”

Directors of Sales are critical in making sure newly installed sales processes are followed up on, and that such adherence to the new sales methodologies are rewarded for both the account managers and inside sales teams.   Working in accord, marketing can identify the sorts of customers your organization can best serve and sales can land the accounts, but only when management takes the time to make sure everyone is on the same page.  Automated tools such those offered by Genius.com can help bridge the gap between sales and marketing. Having both teams physically sit down at the same table is vital to ensuring that everyone agrees on how to assess and manage leads, and how the needs of current clients are changing.

At times it can seem like leads are scarce, and the reflex will be to pursue as many as possible.  You can never afford to waste resources on clients that are a bad fit.  Quality, not quantity, must be your priority.

For more on creating opportunities over the next year, see the 2009 Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study Executive Summary.  Be sure also to check out the Sales Team Makeover for the chance to receive a $100,000 sales performance package made up of many of the resources discussed here.

Photo credits: cpt.spock, Paul Keleher