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58
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MARCH 2017
|
GROW
O
ne topic that I rarely
see addressed in sales
literature is the one I’m taking on
this month: how to get yourself
off the dreaded sales plateau.
You know what that looks like,
right? Your salespeople are still
doing the things they were doing,
but suddenly the sales growth
is gone. All their effort goes to
maintaining the status quo, or
maybe “growing” the company at
five percent.
This is the point where many
sales managers will go off half-
cocked, make big changes and
suddenly that “plateau” becomes
a goal to get back to. Don’t be
that guy! Instead, diagnose the
problem correctly, make the right
adjustments, and that plateau
will be in the rearview mirror.
First, there are three questions
you should ask:
1
What’s your market share?
If your market share is
high—say, 70 percent or
more—you have a legitimate
reason for a plateau. In
this case, double digit
growth might require
radical changes, which I’ll
discuss below.
2
Are your salespeople really
doing the same things?
Call reports and stats
don’t tell the whole story.
The basic equation of sales
achievement is this: Quantity
of activity x quality of activity
= results. Even if your
salespeople are averaging the
same call quantities, you may
need to dig deeper. Are they
having the same quality of
conversations that they used
to? Is their prospecting mix
similar? Are they calling on
the same quality of contacts?
Any of these variables can
hide a reason for a plateau,
and they all involve deep
digging and getting out into
the field.
3
What’s changed outside
your doors?
The obvious suggestion
here is to examine the
competitive landscape
or the overall economic
condition in your market
(have customers closed their
doors, for instance?), but the
biggest change I’m seeing
right now is in customer
expectations. The internet has
likely caused that change so
the sales conversations that
met customer expectations a
few years ago now fall short of
Getting Off The
Sales Plateau
If your company
is not growing,
it’s shrinking.
Here’s how to start
moving again.
by
Troy Harrison