Human lives are carefully constructed around a hardwired inclination to avoid pain and suffering. If we’re lucky enough to have the resources, we stay indoors during tornados and we don’t drive during ice storms. We lock our doors when a madman is on the loose, and our countries build up national security. We earn paychecks and keep savings accounts. We visit doctors for regular checkups, buy food to eat, keep clean water to drink, and the list goes on.
Sales teams are naturally inclined to follow the same principle. Sales managers report team successes and minimize failures to higher-ups for fear of browbeating. Sales playbooks are built around what’s easily attainable so that sales reps feel comfortable pushing customers through the sales cycle. When sales and marketing teams don’t jive, they isolate from each other to avoid regular conflict.
Sales teams are used to exploring customer pain points, but they shy away from their own. Whereas avoiding pain in daily life can work for good by keeping us alive, taking the path of least resistance in sales ventures yields a stagnation that kills revenue.
Time and again, real sales enablement occurs when someone in an organization is willing to muster ambition, desire and gumption to override the natural impulse to avoid the pain of uncovering sales team failures. (Hint: the end result isn’t more pain, but real sales enablement success).
The initial exploration into the shortcomings of a sales team can be awkward and painful. Execs may start on a journey of team discovery with the intention of fixing the social rift between marketing and sales teams, and uncover another problem of habitually inconsistent and ineffective messaging. Unsavory discoveries like these are the first steps to sales enablement success.
The Skura platform serves as a loyal comrade during sales team overhauls. Are you heading into battle against sales stagnation?
