Radically Improve Sales Results With a Sales Management Operating System

Hey, Enablers, Happy Friday. Mike Kunkle here. Welcome to this week’s edition of Sales Enablement Straight Talk!

Today, I want to share how you can radically improve your sales results by implementing a Sales Management Operating System (smOS). The smOS is an integral part of the larger Sales Management System (SMS), mentioned in my book and course on The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement. I'll share the other parts of the system, but we'll focus mostly on the smOS.

Both the smOS and the full SMS can have a radical impact on sales effectiveness and overall sales performance.

Let's dig in.

VIDEO

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Download the deck from the video here ! (ungated PDF)

NEWSLETTER

The Sales Management System & The smOS

So many sales organizations operate with frontline sales managers “doing their own thing.”

We often accept this as “the way we do things around here” (my simple definition of organizational culture). Managers each have their own personalities, their own approaches, and know what they should be doing, right? If they turn their (relatively) accurate forecast in (relatively) on time, and they are (somewhat close to) hitting their team quota, we’re doing okay, aren’t we?

I think the better question is, “Is this the best we can do?”

Think about the state of the sales profession as a whole.

• Quota attainment has been trending downward for years.
• In multiple B2B buying studies over the past few years, buyers report higher-than-ever dissatisfaction with seller behavior.
• We know that coaching is one of the most powerful levers for improving performance, yet in coaching surveys, managers say that they coach far more often than reps report receiving coaching.
• And we all know how dreadfully inaccurate many forecasts are.

We can do better.

Here’s a pro tip: the best-performing sales management teams work cohesively as an aligned, well-oiled machine. Yes, of course, everyone has their distinct style and flair. But the best get into an aligned operating rhythm of activities and meetings and execute using agreed-upon best practices. This is why I guide clients to adopt a sales management operating system.

First, here is the full Sales Management System:

The Sales Management Operating System (smOS) includes all the boxes to the right of the smOS box on the left.

Understanding the Sales Management Operating System (smOS)

The Sales Management Operating System, or smOS, is a (majority) subset of the fuller Sales Management System. The smOS is a series of proven-effective management practices that will help your managers:

• Master the sales process and supporting sales methodology that apply to your customer lifecycle
• Ensure the appropriate management activities are in place, executed with best practices, and repeated in the proper cadences
• Ensure the appropriate meetings are in place (team and individual), executed with best practices, and repeated in the proper cadences
• Master sales analytics and diagnostic methods to identify areas to focus and determine root causes
• Understand how to determine the best solution for a performance issue (both the solution type, such as field training, feedback, coaching, or something else) and the solution content (the mindsets and skill sets that will address the issue and improve performance)
• Implement practical field training and sales coaching models (with the right skills training to deliver them)
• Get into a rhythm for sales performance management that fosters a growth mindset, creates a culture of coaching, and cultivates ongoing performance improvement

So, the smOS is part of the more extensive Sales Management System, but is definitely the system’s heartbeat. It is the cadence of effective activities and practices that produce repeatable, replicable, scalable, and predictable results.

Master Sales Process & Methodology Inside Your Customer Lifecycle

Mapping your Customer Lifecycle and aligning your Sales Process and Sales Methodology to it (including the embedded Buying Process), is all an outgrowth of Buyer Acumen.

This graphic is meant as just an example of a consultative process mapped to one possible custer lifecycle, with the methodology overlay.

If sales managers don't understand all of this, how will they ever manage it effectively? Yet, I see many managers who do not. As enablers, we must address this and support our front-line sales managers with this.

Activities

The Activities (on the right, from Account Assignments down through Account Management) are the things that managers do to execute the smOS. Each activity requires specific expertise to do well, and most are done in recurring meetings (referred to as a cadence or rhythm) with their team or individual team members.

The exact management activities and meetings vary based on your industry, company, products, business models, and go-to-market plans. The activities and meetings shown in the diagram are merely examples and not suggested to be suitable for your organization. These are things that should be determined by your senior leadership team, especially including your most senior sales/revenue/commercial leader.

The ones listed in the graphic as a starting point include:?

• Account Assignments?
• Territory Optimization?
• Quota and Goal Setting?
• Lead Management?
• Opportunity Qualification?
• Opportunity Management?
• Pipeline Management?
• Forecast Management?
• Account Management?

Again, it’s important to note that these activities may vary, based on the company and context.

Meetings

In addition, there are a variety of Team and Individual Rep Meetings, such as:?

• A monthly or weekly team meeting.?
• Individual and team pipeline reviews and forecast meetings.?
• A recurring team meeting for sharing best practices (often biweekly or monthly – can be standalone or included in another monthly team meeting).?
• One-on-one observations (ride-alongs, call-alongs or reviews of call or video conference recordings).?
• Individual field training or coaching sessions.??

As you implement your smOS, your leadership team needs to discuss, align and decide which activities and meetings to include, and the regular cadence for them. Cadences can be daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly or quarterly. In some cases, meeting frequency may increase near the end of a month or quarter, and then return to the base cadence.???

Getting into a Cadence of Coaching

This is the framework I teach in Sales Coaching Excellence .

Inputs

It starts with a foundational knowledge of sales competencies (such as a sales methodology) and a review of available reports or sales competency survey results.??

People

Great sales managers encourage their reps to take responsibility for their growth, foster an environment of psychological safety, and act as a guide for their reps, along their development journey.??

COACHING PROCESS

Diagnose: With the inputs and people role/expectations clear, the data-driven process starts by exploring the inputs (through analysis, discussion and observation) to understand what the rep is currently doing and figure out what they should do differently.??ROAM is a root-cause analysis method meaning Results versus Objectives, Activity, plus Methodology. When results are less than the objectives, managers and reps explore the rep’s activity (what they’re doing, with whom, how much, and if applicable, when and where), and then the methodology, or the quality of the activities (how and how well they are performing them).??

Plan: As a results of this root-cause analysis, the team explores solutions.

• Solution Chart: This chart , adapted from the work of Ferdinand F. Fournies , helps managers determine the right solution (training, coaching or something else).??
• Outputs: The outputs of this stage include a personalized learning plan. This may include training and/or coaching, with feedback, and possibly other interventions – meaning that training, coaching and feedback alone will not address all root-cause performance problems. (Sometimes, knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do.)??

• Field Training: When the rep doesn’t know what, why, or how to do something, training is the right solution. I use a simple model of Tell, Show, Do, Review with Understanding Checks at each stage. With training, it’s okay to be directive since you’re teaching someone something they don’t already know (or don’t remember).??
• Sales Coaching: When the rep knows how to do something but needs to do it better, coaching is the right solution. I use a simple model of Engage, Practice, Do, Review, again with Understanding Checks at each stage. Coaching is facilitative, since you are guiding someone to improve something they already know how to do but haven’t yet achieved mastery.??
• Leading Individual Sessions: The framework, process, and models are procedural and logical, but don’t specifically address how to orchestrate and lead an effective session. This is the purpose of the SLED model, which is used throughout the process and when training or coaching. SLED is Set the Stage, Lead the Performance Analysis Discussion, Explore Solutions Options and Agree on the Best Solution, and Develop and Implement an Action Plan. Managers and reps will “sled through” each meeting, working through the process and applying the right models as they go.??
• How Feedback Fits In: Feedback is an opinion, evaluation or expectation of an adjustment to be made. In the Show and Practice stages of the training and coaching models, managers offer feedback, as needed. It should be offered freely during early-stage training (positive first, then constructive). During coaching, managers should first try to draw the answer out of the rep, and offer feedback only as necessary to guide and shape performance. During coaching sessions, I recommend asking permission to offer your feedback.??

Do: Now it’s time for the rep to implement their Action Plan and use their newly honed skills with prospects, buyers and customers.??

Review: With a few trials under the rep’s belt, the manager and rep should reexamine ROAM (to see if results are improving) and meet to evaluate progress and next steps.??

Results: The Do/Review cycle continues until the desired results are achieved.??

Cadence/Loop: When the results are achieved, it’s time to return to the beginning to reexamine performance, find something else to improve, and start the cycle again.??

Creating a Coaching Culture: This repetitive loop is what creates a cadence of continuous improvement and begins to foster a coaching culture.??

The big takeaway here is this: Instead of just telling reps what to do, world-class sales managers act as guides to help reps uncover the best strategies and acquire the necessary skills to achieve their goals. This creates a developmental partnership and is a journey the rep and manager go through together.??

Here’s the entire sales coaching system, as described above.??

Clarity on Sales Performance Management

The term “Performance Management” typically refers to the periodic appraisal of employee performance with feedback, goals and objectives, and often, employment development plans and career pathing. “Sales Performance Management” (SPM), however, is much broader.

SPM is variable in this system, since it’s meant as a catch-all bucket for what you haven’t already included in other areas of the Sales Management System (such as the Activities section of the smOS or the Sales Coaching Framework), but often includes the activities shown in the above diagram.

Where there is overlap, I think if it this way: if it is primarily an activity for the front-line sales manager and should be done in a regular cadence, I default first to including it in the Activities section. If not, I keep it in the SPM bucket.

I understand that the variability creates some level of complexity, but the Sales Management System and smOS is something that really needs to be customized based on your context.

• What that doesn't mean is that the inmates run the asylum and don't do things that they don't want to do, because they don't want to change how they work.
• What is does mean, is that Activities, Meetings, and what remains in the SPM bucket should be based on how you want your sales management team operating, in alignment, in the same cadence.

Some Parting Thoughts on the smOS

I make no claims for being psychic, but I have implemented multiple sales management systems with the smOS, and I know what questions eventually usually surface. I’m often asked whether this can be overdone, and sometimes, I’ve been challenged about whether I’m trying to create an "army of robots," all doing the same things the same way. Allow me to address both of these questions proactively.

Can This be Overdone?

Yes, of course, it can. Almost anything taken to the extreme can be detrimental. Indeed, don’t try to avoid disciplined execution, or allow managers to blow off your system, but you also don’t need to be locked into things mindlessly, either. Use good business judgment.

Am I Trying to Create an Army of Robots?

For this, my answer is, “No, and…”

• No: I especially don’t want to create an army of mindless robots. I don’t want to overdo it, as mentioned. I don’t want to suspend good judgment, and I certainly don’t want to remove managers’ experience or personality from the equation.
• And: At the same time, I want sales leaders – and hopefully their organizations – to create a repeatable, replicable, scalable path to success (aka predictable results) for both the front-line sales managers and their sales teams. A well-designed, well-implemented operating system will do that. Working randomly and ad hoc, will not.

Closing Thoughts

Does this System Produce Great Results?

"Pit a great performer against a bad system, and the system will win almost every time." ~ Geary Rummler

If we know ineffective systems can derail good performers, we need to get great systems in place. We need talented managers operating in similar ways, in similar patterns or cadences, using proven-effective practices to get the best results possible. The genuine critical question is, “Does this produce great results?” And that answer is an unequivocal, “Yes! It does!”

RESOURCES

• Slide Deck: Download the deck from the video here ! (ungated PDF)
• Blog Post: How a Sales Management Operating System Can Transform Your Results (Mike Kunkle on Distribution Strategy Group )
• Blog Post: How Sales Enablement & Sales Managers Can Partner to Drive Results (Mike Kunkle on SPARXiQ )
• PDF/Slides: The Sales Management System Walk-Through (Ungated, Mike Kunkle)
• Book: The Cadence of Excellence: Key Habits of Effective Sales Managers (by Matt McDarby )
• Book: Building a Winning Sales Management Team: The Force Behind the Sales Force (by ZS Associates)
• Book: Sales Manager Survival Guide: Lessons from Sales' Front Lines (by David Brock )
• Book: The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness: 10 Essential Strategies for Leading Your Team to the Top (by Kevin F. Davis )
• Book: Sales Management.Simplified (by Mike Weinberg )

Well, that's it for this week, Enablers! Did you learn something new reading/watching this newsletter? If you did, or if it just made you think (and maybe chuckle from time to time - bonus points if you snorted), share it with your favorite enablement colleague, subscribe right here on LinkedIn, and check out The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning Experience . Felix Krueger and Mike Kunkle are both Building Blocks Mentors, and we hope to see you there! For other courses and content from Mike, see: https://linktr.ee/mikekunkle

Until next time, stay the course, Enablers, and #MakeAnImpact With #Enablement!