Interim Sales Leadership
What is Interim Sales Leadership? A part-time executive with extensive experience who you contract for a specific engagement with a clear objective. Below is a sampling of challenges clients face that might lend itself to hiring an interim sales executive, and a list of possible areas to focus on:
Challenges
Strategy
- Not having a clear Business Plan and Customer Growth Strategies
- Little visibility into the pipeline, sales forecast timing or competitive insights
Growth
- Struggling to achieve financial goals
- Lead Generation consistency
Organization
- Sales Team Organization: Goals, Processes, Methods of Accountability
- Territory Alignment and Coverage
People
- Lack of consistency in Selling Skills and Selling Behaviors
- Selection process, hiring standards and expectations are not clear
Process
- Sales process is not documented or followed
- Selection process, hiring standards and expectations are not clear
- Inconsistent Sales Huddles, Sales Rituals, Pipeline Reviews
- No written and documented Sales Compensation plan
Possible Areas to Focus On
Here are some areas for you to consider:
Strategy and Messaging
- Define a Sales Growth Strategy
- Document the Sales Process
- Secure formal Voice of the Customer feedback
Accountability
- Design and implement a Territory Growth Playbook to focus on the right targets and help drive accountability
- Establish agreed upon metrics and KPIs
Infrastructure and Organization
- Study and evaluate the sales team and the use of Technology to determine gaps and opportunities for improvement
- Build the organization team structure: by territory, by vertical market, by geography and / or by named accounts
Sales Leadership
- Implement an effective sales management cadence: Weekly meetings, 1:1s, playbook, pipeline review, metrics, and standards
- Conduct weekly Coaching Sessions with the team or with the sales leader(s)
- Build or re-build and document a Compensation Plan to drive growth
Learning
- Educate on specific selling skills in support of your strategy and process