I write a lot about self-empowerment and the impact of your attitude upon your results, and about accountability. If you've read my blogs for any length of time you know that I put much of the onus for success on the sale professionals themselves.
But the need for accountability doesn't stop there, in fact, it should begin much higher up in the organization. These nine deficiencies are key reasons for poor sales results:
1. Too little prospecting
One of the primary areas where sales organizations do too little is prospecting. They leave salespeople to their own devices, with no direction, no goals and no activity. Some of their salespeople no longer believe the phone is an effective tool, even while their competitors are dialing their prospects — and their existing clients. Prospecting is the lifeblood of a sales organization.
2. Too few opportunities
The natural, expected and certain outcome of too little prospecting is too few opportunities. A shallow pipeline or one full of non-opportunities is a recipe for failure. An opportunity-starved sales organization is a shrinking sales organization. Salespeople and sales organizations create opportunities.
3. Too few won deals
Too little prospecting and too few opportunities leads to too few won deals. You aren't going to grow or succeed without winning new deals. An organization that isn't good at prospecting or creating opportunities is one that also isn't very good at winning. They don't get to play enough to be good at the game. You must win deals.
4. Too few orders
Too few deals, too few orders. If you aren't selling, they aren't buying. You need clients to place orders.
5. Too little accountability
