Article from T+D Vault Assesses Sales' Readiness for Change

Read the Complete Article: http://www.astd.org/Publications/Newsletters/ASTD-Links/ASTD-Links-Articles/2009/09/Assessing-Readiness-for-Change-in-the-Sales-Organization.aspx

Featured Article: Assessing Readiness for Change in the Sales Organization

By Brain Lambert

Within the sales word, managers strive for balance between the ever-changing approaches to sales markets and organizational goals. Brian Lambert in Assessing Readiness for Change in the Sales Organization (T+D, 2009) has not only identified this problem, but proposed a solution. Lambert explains how ASTD’s sales effectiveness levels, which are sales science, sales process, sales relationships, sales technology, and sales competence, are vital in order to achieve this balance between, “capacity and competence to achieve desired results.”

Excerpt taken directly from Assessing Readiness for Change in the Sales Organization by Brian Lambert

Level I: Sales science

It all starts with sales science: what you are doing. Your organization has probably spent a great deal of time defining its approaches, methodologies, and processes for selling. Your team has probably worked hard at finding out what buyers want. You have tried to teach salespeople how to sell by making a sales presentation, utilizing negotiation techniques, or leaving a compelling voice mail. To be effective, you had to stay focused on the transaction itself. By isolating the transaction as a specific moment in time, and building the "science" necessary to control as many variables as possible, you could tell new salespeople and sales managers what happened during the sale, why it happened, and how to avoid any missteps in the future. No matter how simple the product or complex the solution, your sales team needs to explain, teach, and influence.

Read the Complete Article: http://www.astd.org/Publications/Newsletters/ASTD-Links/ASTD-Links-Articles/2009/09/Assessing-Readiness-for-Change-in-the-Sales-Organization.aspx