10 June 2009 | brian

Miller Heiman just recently released their 2009 Sales Growth Strategies for Australia and New Zealand. Like the general 2009 Best Practices Survey, this new report focuses on the actions and attitudes of the best performing, world-class sales organizations. The focus on Australia and New Zealand has allowed Miller Heiman to fine-tune the process and focus on areas that stand out for organizations in those countries.

Among the differences discovered in the survey is a reluctance to embrace technology as part of the sales process. While 82% of World-Class Sales Organizations felt that their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system greatly improved the effectiveness of their sales teams, only 20% of Australian respondents felt the same way. Part of this may have to do with a general lack of formalized planning and structured procedures. The survey found that only 19% of Australian respondents reported that they use comprehensive prospecting plans when targeting and engaging with a new prospect. Among World-Class Sales Organizations, this number is 70%.

According to Michael Light, regional vice president for Asia Pacific, Australian organisations have typically left prospecting and targeting efforts to the individual salespeople to do their own way. “That means sales managers do not really have good visibility into who their salespeople are targeting and what their salespeople are saying to prospects,” Light said. “This may not have mattered much when business was easier, but in today’s tough economic times, sales management needs to have strong, transparent prospecting plans.”

Where Australian sales organizations excel is in avoiding deep discounts. Only 7% of Australian sales organizations agreed with the statement, “on a regular basis, we much significantly discount in order to win,” as compared to 17% over all and 12% of the World-Class Sales Organizations. According to Light, salespeople in Australia are naturally reluctant to discount, unlike other cultures where it is endemic. “The implication of not discounting is that the value has been well demonstrated,” said Light.

Photo credits: Strange Ones, Robyn Gallagher.