The CEO and Board of Directors craft the revenue generation strategy. Everyone else in the company is charged with executing that strategy.

The marketing department provides crucial demographic and psychographic customer information the sales department uses to formulate industry and account strategies. Marketing should also provide qualified leads for the sales team.

Other departments such as customer service, legal, finance and manufacturing facilitate or constrain the revenue-generation process, each in their own peculiar way. 

The sales organization's influence in enterprise revenue generation is concentrated in the sales pipeline. Identifying bona fide sales opportunities, managing opportunities through the sales pipeline until they produce revenue, and managing customer relationships are the primary responsibilities of the sales team. Rarely, if ever, does the sales organization control the resources of other departments.

We have never observed a situation where the sales organization is in disarray while all other business segments are humming along. In those cases where the underperformance of an enterprise's revenue generation process lies within the sales organization, the appropriate sales executives, managers and sales professionals should be held accountable and face the consequences. But, before CEO's shoot their sales teams, they might want to take a critical look at how each business segment contributes to or detracts from revenue generation.

What can you do to more accurately assess sales performance and ensure sales organization agility?  Not only can you measure the past (e.g. booked revenue); you can also measure the future.  In any business there are activities which can be measured that lead to predictable future performance. There are no formulas for which activities to measure or what values to expect; they vary by business. Thinking about your strategic goals and objectives, processes and marketplace help you decide which leading indicators to measure. Some areas to consider for measurement are: 

Personnel Potential-- Do you have the right people in the right jobs using the right tools to meet your future business needs?

Marketing Campaigns -- Are your marketing campaigns bringing in the right leads? 

Processes -- Do you have management processes and templates to manage and adjust sales activities? 

Funnel Management -- Do you have a sales funnel process with clear rules and metrics for moving sales accurately through your sales funnel? 

Corporate Sales Culture -- Does every department in your business help close sales in a measurable way?    

Measuring these areas can improve the likelihood of meeting revenue goals. There are many others. Deciding which ones and what values to measure must be done carefully; it is a challenge for any company.

Nine years from now, when most Baby Boomers have retired, today's thirteen year-olds will become your employees.  In 2016, when you look at your new hires, you will see a generation that grew up wired - connected at the hip to their parents, to each other, and to the notion of their uniqueness.

Don't be surprised if you'll need to construct a helipad on the office roof to accommodate the personal aircraft of your new employees.  At least some of them will arrive with their  helicopter parents - parents who "hover" 24/7 over their offspring, encouraging them, cuddling them and protecting them from a cruel world.

Our thirteen year-olds today are the true "Me" generation.  They are growing up in an atmosphere where parents and teachers promote winning and eschew losing.  At home and at school, everyone is a winner - there are no losers.  That's why, even today, employers must reward their youngest employees not for superior performance, but just for showing up!

Young teens spend an inordinate amount of time staying connected with each other and promoting themselves.  They IM and text message each other, and their parents, even when attending class, watching TV, and hanging out with their friends.  They connect to You Tube where they can broadcast "MYSELF" and share all about "ME" with their friends and with people they've never met!  Not only are they the message, they are the media!

Despite your deadlines and emergencies, your new employees nine years from now will  want their lives to have meaning beyond the rewards of 9 to 5 performance.  They will want to script their lives, and allowing them the connections they have nurtured since birth will improve your chances of succeeding with them as employers.

 
Thought-provoking, sometimes irreverant articles on sales, sales management, sales negotiations, sales talent management and business acumen.