Over-engineering Your Sales Process

Sales organizations have reaped the benefits of adopting formal processes. Improving consistency in performance, increasing predictability of results, as well as more efficient use of limited resources are all benefits that can be realized by sales leaders. In the 2015 CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Study, respondents who used their sales methodology more than 90% of the time had a win rate of 59%. This win rate is 16% more than those using their methodology less than 90% of the time. A great sales process can deliver both effectiveness (win more) and efficiency (with less) to sales leaders. But is it possible to have too much of a good thing?  Is it possible to create so much process that the sales professionals begin to serve the process itself and not the results that the process serves? 

When is enough, enough?

In the context of this discussion, over-engineering occurs when the volume, complexity and effort to execute a process exceeds the actual value of the process itself. In fact, the most common feedback you will hear is “I don’t know why we are doing this, it makes no sense!”

 Right-sizing your processes is of particular concern to sales leaders. CSO Insights 2015 data indicates that sales professionals only spend 35% of their time selling. This means there is a huge opportunity for sales leaders to increase customer facing selling time.

 For example, a common part of a sales process is to develop a plan (e.g., blue sheet) for a sales opportunity. This step seems reasonable and, in fact, necessary. If the process indicates that every opportunity requires a plan, the reality is that things can get a bit busy. A sales professional with three opportunities in each of 14 accounts  must develop and maintain 42 plans. And a frontline sales manager with six salespeople like this will be weighed down with more than 250 opportunity plans to be reviewed. Looked at individually, the process appears reasonable. Looked at holistically, this planning process might be considered overbearing and be a major distraction from selling time. Often it is not the process (account plans) itself that is the issue; it is how the process is implemented (every opportunity) that causes issues.

 Analyze your processes to determine if your processes are over-engineered. The following are a few things to look for to determine if your processes are over-engineered:

• Can you identify the reason each step in the process is necessary?
• If so, is the reason for this step still necessary?
• Is the step serving the objective of the process?
• Do sales professionals use the process as designed?
• If you eliminated steps in the process would anyone notice?
• When you look at the process holistically and in practice, does it add more value than it takes to execute?

 If you answered “No” to any of these questions, your process might be over-engineered.

 Note on over-engineering: Sometimes process over-engineering is a good thing. When an organization needs to manage major risk factors or assure a high level of quality, over-engineered processes contain necessary checks and balances to achieve those aims.

 This blog post was initially published @ CSO Insights.

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 About author and company:

My name is Tom Chamberlain. I serve as Research Director for CSO Insights, a division of MHI Global.  I help companies to build sustainable operational performance through uncapping the full potential of sales operations.  CSO Insights is providing the research, data and expertise on sales performance and productivity in B2B sales that sales leaders respect and trust globally.