Interim Sales Leadership

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