Research Highlights

Take a glimpse into the trends and best practices we've found common among World-Class Sales Organizations across the globe. The featured datapoint, which sheds light on specific differentiators that make top-performing organizations consistently stand out from the pack, can support your benchmarking initiatives to understand how you compare to your peers and how you can better identify areas for improvement.

A New Approach is Necessary

Because the intangible nature of business services differs from product sales, many external pressures that other industries face have not affected business services in the past. According to industry experts Jason Reed, sales vice president at Miller Heiman in Reno, NV and Ian Irving of Ian Irving Limited in London, England, all of that is being turned on its head.

"For years this industry hasn't had to operate like others, but today their clients are becoming increasingly informed, due in part to using the Web to price shop," says Miller Heiman sales vice president Jason Reed. As a result, adds Ian Irving of Ian Irving Limited in London, England, the industry is now seeing power shift increasingly toward the economic buyer who requires a different approach than these salespeople are accustomed to using.

In order to adapt to an environment that increasingly resembles what other industries are facing, the business services industry is under pressure to develop the same systemic approach to their sales process. Jerone Jackson, of the James Paul Group in Alexander City, Alabama, says that these organizations understand the need for formal process across the board, "but the discipline behind the process is ad-hoc." He also says that these organizations need to understand the nature of larger deals. "For instance, some of these companies' whole focus is on doing a presentation as if it's going to seal the deal, but by the time you present you should be in a strong position to win or have left earlier."

Reed also notes, "The problem isn't that these organizations wouldn't benefit from more formal processes but because they are selling less tangible products, they have found it harder to implement. It is definitely becoming more necessary."

You can download the executive summary of Miller Heiman's 2009 Sales Best Practices Study here. To discuss how your organization can apply the best practices revealed in the 2009 Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study call 877.678.3380 or click here to contact us by email.