Cracking the Sales Management Code: The Secrets to Measuring and Managing Sales Performance

CHAPTER 6Building the Foundation for Control

THE BUILDING BLOCKS

We’ve made the point that sales processes are the building blocks of control over sales force performance. Since you can only truly manage your salespeople’s activities, you must achieve your Sales Objectives and Business Results by implementing formal processes that you can tactically direct and measure. With process rigor, you can manage the territories, accounts, opportunities, and calls that lead to successful sales outcomes. Without process rigor, you are asking for the outcomes but leaving the critical tactics to chance.

This latter state of affairs is what faced senior executives at the $400 million software company we discussed in the previous chapter. The company’s VP ...