I’m fond of low hanging fruit. If there is a quick win that delivers benefit now, without negatively impacting the longer-term opportunity, then it seems why wait.
That’s why, when, as I was doing research for one of my latest books, I was delighted to find so many data driven insights coming from the correlation and cross analysis of the results of the Buyer / Seller Value Index (2016) and Business Performance Benchmark (2017) studies. (140,000 data elements combined!). There are four actionable insights that are so striking, the correlation of action and result so compelling, and the path to resolution of challenges so clear, it was worth putting it into its own little book: Thriving in the Whirlwind: Four Insights to Grow Revenue Now.
The core of the book is devoted to 4 key insights – low hanging fruit that will allow you to quickly and dramatically improve your sales performance.
- Effective customer engagement can drive up to 68 percent increase in revenue; but only if you work at it
- People and process: gaining access to the right people can increase performance by 62 percent
- Increase your performance by 54 percent by aligning sales and marketing and putting the customer at the center
- Do you qualify to win? There is a 45 percent revenue uplift available if you qualify effectively
The context is the veritable whirlwind of change in which we now live, which has become almost (and I stress the word almost) accepted as the ‘new normal.’ Consider what happened last year: Britain votes to leave the European Union; Donald Trump wins the US Presidency; Brazil and South Korea impeach their presidents; Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city becomes notorious for all the wrong reasons – one the worst humanitarian affronts in our time; Terrorists launched major attacks in locations around the world including France, UK, Belgium, Pakistan and Orlando; On the 1st of August 2016, the top five most valuable public companies are technology companies: Apple, Alphabet (formerly Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook; Despite the uncertainty, global economic activity is picking up according to the IMF and the global economy is growing.
At the same time, according to the 2017 Benchmark Study:
Customer Retention is #1 strategic imperative: The Business Performance Benchmark Study reports that Customer Retention is the #1 Strategic Imperative for 2017 for global corporations. This increased focus on Customer Retention is all good news for the customer. The selling organization needs to maintain a customer-centric focus throughout the lifetime of their relationship with the customer and continue to deliver value after the sale.
Digital Transformation is #1 disruptive force: In the Business Performance Benchmark Study the winner – if that’s the right term for a disruption – was very clearly Digital Transformation – transforming business models and shifting how brands, enterprises, people, and machines will engage – rocketing to the top of everyone’s list of issues to address in 2017. At customers utilize Digital Transformation to change and accelerate their business practices, sellers need to be in lock step.
What a world! How can you survive and then thrive?
If your purpose is to generate or support the generation of revenue for your company you must start with an assessment of how you can help your customers to change. You have a responsibility to use whatever expertise you have to adopt a customer-first mentality and help your customers to respond to the whirlwind. You can help them thrive.
As you do this honestly and wholeheartedly, they will recognize that you are here to help. They will open their minds to the alternatives that you present. They will understand that the price of doing the same old things the same old way is far higher than the price of change, particularly if they have a trusted partner to guide them on their change journey. If you are their agent of change you’re in a powerful position to deliver value for your customer and for your company.
It’s all here in Thriving in the Whirlwind.