10 Ways to Create a Best-in-Class Sales Structure

Now that I’ve discussed how planning and leadership can increase the value of your business, I want to show you how SALES affect the value of your organization. In the next few articles, I’ll walk you through the sales structure, processes, procedures, team members, and departments. To begin this mini-series, though, let’s start with how to create a best-in-class sales structure. 

Podcast Time Index for “What is a Best-in-Class Sales Structure?”

01:04 – What is Best in Class Sales?
01:14 – What is Sales?
01:59 – Do you have a Sales Process?
05:03 – Approach #1
06:38 – Approach #2
10:00 – What does it mean to have a Best in Class Sales Process?
10:49 – Be clear, concise and reasonable
12:32 – Achievable
13:28 – Well Articulated
13:58 – Sales & Marketing
16:06 – Win big at little cost
17:09 – Maintain the Prospects Pipeline
18:14 – Provide predictable revenue
18:45 – Low turnover rates
19:00 – Minimum customer attrition
19:18 – Work as a Team
20:39 – Summary

Having the ideal sales department or sales structure is different than simple order taking. Anyone can fulfill customers’ orders. Yet, it takes a special sales team to greet, engage, and custom-market to every customer that contacts your business. It takes a trained and action-thinking sales team to close ongoing sales.

10 Ways to Create a Best-in-Class Sales Structure

So then, what does it mean to have a best in class structure? What can you or your business leaders do to close more sales than your competitors? Although there are hundreds of things you can do, here are my top 10 ways to create a strong sales structure.

1. Create clear and concise sales goals. – Don’t ramble on or make your goals too hard to understand.
2. Make reasonable sales goals that your team can achieve on a regular basis. – You shouldn’t be able to hit your sales goals every time. If you do, then your goals are too low. However, if you fail to meet your goals regularly, then your goals are too high.
3. Play up your company’s competitive advantage. Every team member should be able to articulate your company’s competitive advantage.
4. Have your sales team provide regular feedback to the marketing department. – If planted seeds aren’t growing (sales aren’t closing), the farmer (the marketing department) needs to know why.
5. Win big deals without reducing your profit margins. – Don’t cut your price to win big deals. Learn to win them without haggling so you can keep your profit margins high.
6. Maintain a robust pipeline of prospects. – Know who your target market is and where they live. Then, follow up with prospects if they don’t buy your product or use your service the first time they meet you.
7. Use your pipeline to forecast your revenue. – You should be able to look at your sales funnel or pipeline and predict how much revenue your company will receive over x amount of time.
8. Keep employee turnover low. – With clear, achievable goals and achievement incentives, you can keep more of your salespeople. That prevents you from having to train new hires constantly. It also gives your sales team members time to perfect their skills.
9. Keep customer retention high. – Just as you want to keep employees, you need to keep customers. Having repetitive customers makes your revenue more predictable and your sales goals more achievable.
10. Work as a team instead of individuals. – Finally, prevent cut-throat sales practices by encouraging teamwork amongst your sales team.

So there are 10 key ways I think you can create a strong sales structure which will push your company toward top-level sales. Do you practice these aspects, or do you take orders? It is a question you need to address as soon as possible.

Join me for my next article where I’ll be talking about changing from a traditional to a modern sales process!