Home   About   Services   Client Testimonials   Contact   Blog  
 
Sunday, January 13, 2008


I think one of the most critical parts of any sales consulting project is defining the output... or "what success looks like".

Without a clear idea of how the sales consulting project will be a success, before you start it, it's almost impossible to judge what value has been delivered.

Unlike selling, which is always measured by one metric - revenue - a consulting project is too short in duration to deliver immediate revenue results. Being clear about what else would be a success for the project is essential before undertaking an sales consulting assignment.

Here are two examples, one good, one bad from our experience.

Poorly defined - we undertook a sales consulting engagement with a start-up that had just secured it's first round of funding. As with many start-ups, the goal is always changing, but in this particular situation we started our project just prior to a key member of the management team arriving. Needless to say, as soon as she started the new Director had her own ideas and the scope of work changed instantly resulting in a new project hurriedly outlined. Since we were already hired for the gig, we continued but the results were not to our satisfaction. With hindsight, we should have resigned the account immediately. However, when the project was completed we declined an offer for further work.

Well defined - at the other end of the spectrum (and I'm pleased to say we have more examples in this camp) we were hired to research and profile UK resellers for a large international company. The brief was clearly outlined and, with our client, we defined the metrics necessary for success. In this case, our main deliverable was to map the reseller landscape for competitor and complimentary vendors and score them to identify companies that our client's Business Development team should approach. We executed the consulting project on time, to spec and delivered the report as defined.

Taking the time to clearly define the output for any sales consulting project is an essential step. Success can always be described in many ways other than revenue.

And whatever the definition of success is, having it agreed from the outset will always make it more likely to be achieved.

Labels: ,

Posted by: David Regler @ 6:52 pm |  0 comments  | Links to this post  

Bookmark and Share



Key challenges for today's Entrepreneurs

Is LinkedIn rolling out social spam now?

Re-thinking the B2B sales model

Is social media now just a blur?

Sales Trends for 2012

So, who's doing "sales"?

Where's the hidden revenue in your business?

Does your business have an austerity plan for growth?

Outbound marketing is evil and useless

B2B lead generation survey on tactics and trends


November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
March 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
May 2011
July 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012

Current Posts

Powered by Blogger





2003.
All content © Maine Associates Ltd 2010 All rights reserved. Read our privacy policy