A framework to drive sales team performance

Change is rampant in today’s marketplace. Buyer expectations and behaviours, competitive activity, product complexity, and entry into new markets are just some of these changes – and you cannot turn a blind eye to them. The SRP Matrix can provide the basis for determining what, when, and how to prepare for market evolution.

One of the challenges facing sales as a profession is a lack of common or standard terminology. Absent clear definitions, everyone is left to his or her own interpretation, limited in large part to each person’s own experience. Common terms such as “close rate” are not concrete. Does close rate mean the percentage of all sales accepted or generated leads that ultimately wind up as business? Or is it the percentage of proposals your firm submits that ultimately close? Or the percentage of proposals that made the cut that then successfully resulted in a signed contract? When we asked an audience of Chief Sales Officers (CSOs) to define close rate, the answer that emerged was “It depends when you start counting.” True enough. So answer this: what is the definition of “when you start counting” that is consistently applied across your sales force? Typically, even this is up for interpretation or variation in how, or even whether, this metric is calculated. In an effort to apply some rigor and assist firms in more consistently identifying where they are (current state) and where they believe they need to get to (desired end state), this paper presents definitions for each cell along the SRP Matrix axes, and then lists escalating characteristics for each Level of Relationship.

It is also worth considering which dimension affords the easiest, fastest, and most economical path. The question then becomes, do you truly believe higher levels of sales process implementation will translate into higher levels of sales performance?

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