Winning in Turbulence

Turbocharge Sales

When business conditions are harsh, you need every dollar of revenue you can find. Unfortunately, so do your competitors—who seem willing to do anything for a buck. You don’t want to buy business indiscriminately at discount rates. But you also aren’t willing to sacrifice market share to more-aggressive competitors. So how is it possible to gain share without giving away the store?

One powerful way to shore up sales and margin in a downturn is to make your salesforce more effective. A few years ago, GE Commercial Finance added $300 million of profitable new business in twelve months by restructuring and refocusing its sales organization. Those improvements have helped GE Commercial Finance weather the storm better than many ...