Ecommerce Shopping Cart - Search Engine Marketing Software

Achieving High Performance by Transforming Sales Operations

The drive to achieve high performance through sustained top-line growth is dominating the strategic agenda of most global companies today, and that has placed an even more intense focus on the productivity of sales organizations. Many corporate leaders have been trying to meet the challenge to generate growth and improve sales effectiveness by focusing on process improvements, cost reductions, sales tools and training however for most, sales results are not paying back the investment in improvement initiatives.

Our research and experience points to the fact that many companies are devoting inadequate attention and resources to their sales operations ? the processes, infrastructure and administrative support that underpin everything a sales organization and its people do. If they are to achieve and sustain high performance, companies must focus their sales effectiveness programs more pointedly at the transformation of their sales operations.

Why is the operational dimension so critical to achieving high performance through sales effectiveness? Operations serves as the vital two-way conduit between the customer and the rest of the organization. It?s the essential layer that enables activities such as placing the order and working with finance, accounting and legal. It?s directly responsible for managing the enterprise through the sales person to the customer, as well as from the customer to the sales person and back into the enterprise.

Unfortunately, back-office cost reductions have left sales organizations gasping for air from an operational perspective: Not enough hours in the day to meet sales quotas; too much time spent on administrative tasks and not enough time spent actually selling. The cost-reduction squeeze on the sales organization and/or back office functions has simply inflated the amount of administrative time spent by the sales force, leaving less breathing room for sales discussions with customers.

Accenture believes that a transformation initiative with the goal of driving high performance through reengineered sales operations should proceed according to the following general steps:

? Diagnose current sales and operations spending and capabilities ? Companies often have inadequate visibility into how much they are spending on sales operations because the various related activities are splintered across other functions such as finance, IT and supply chain. Executives see the budget numbers at the aggregate level, but may not adequately understand where spending is redundant or broken at the process level.

? Consider ?core? vs. ?context? processes ? A critical step in getting a handle on the operations needed to support a sales team is to consider what we call ?core? sales operations activities versus those more appropriately considered as ?context?. Core functions such as the sales advisory role, customer solution support, contract initiation and reporting should be retained. Context activities such as quotes, credit approvals, contract development and order management can be done effectively and at less cost by pulling them out into a shared service center.

? Tailoring a set of sales operations transformational programs to strategic goals and existing capabilities ?companies can then design a transformational program right for them. Whether or not a company chooses a shared services or outsourcing solution as part of sales operations transformation, companies will still reap the benefits of standardized, modularized and consistent processes.

? Achieving high performance in a complex selling environment ? high performance businesses know how to transform simultaneously along two dimensions: They can improve their company?s ability to meet short-term quarterly expectations, even as they are re-engineering on the fly to support future plans.

Transforming sales operations can result in improved sales performance and increased margin optimization. Companies can realize comprehensive benefits by improving sales operations: reduced expenses, an increased rate of sales, more repeat sales and improved margin optimization.

Accenture's Electronics & High-tech industry group offers management consulting, technology-strategy and implementation services to all segments of this exceptionally dynamic industry. Read the full article on Achieving High Performance by Transforming Sales Operations . Send an email to Patty Crawford if you would like one of our pricing specialists to meet with you.

Shopping Cart Uses Top Google Keywords to Maximize Revenue
Ecommerce shopping cart hosting uses search engine marketing software to sell products online. Use top paying Google keywords and PPC campaigns to maximize revenue and boost your income stream. Get a merchant account for credit card processing and make money on the internet with merchandise sales.

MORE ARTICLES:

Robots.txt, An Online Marketers Friend Or Foe?
robots.txt is possibly the most miss understood file that a website can contain.

Tempe Marketing Agency Hits Revenue Milestone
Mindspace Reaches Mid-Size Status

Mandossian Announces $2.7 Million Dollar Giveaway to Benefit Online Business Owners
SmartStart Giving co-founder Alex Mandossian rewrites the book on Internet Marketing and Online Business Management Training with new support program for entrepreneurs

Slimming products that work
There is a huge choice of slimming products "that work" online. The majority of them "work" miracles, promise incredible weight loss in a week and a new and a happy life in 2 weeks. My advice is to stay away from these pills which create and sort everything for nothing, well, for some material investment. Remember that with no effort and work achieve something is impossible.

White Paper: Successful Marketing Executive Onboarding
Successful onboarding is about creating an environment in which everyone wins: the company, the new marketing executive and the shareholder. The unfortunate truth is that most organizations are not adept at integrating new marketing executives. Only recently have companies begun to recognize and address this weakness, that without a comprehensive onboarding program, they risk the financial health of their organizations.

Using the Cart Before You Own a Horse, On the Internet
How to build a great website with a fabulous online store full of products, in reverse!

Banana Republic Makes Coupon Shack 2000 Merchants-Strong For Online Deals
Coupon Shack announces an exclusive partnership with the accessible luxury brand Banana Republic, bringing their cadre of merchants offering online coupons and promotional codes to 2000 vendors.

Practical Tips For Email Marketing Sign Up
Read These Tips Before Creating Your Email Marketing Sign Up

MANSION Poker Online Qualifiers Triumph in WSOP: 2007 MANSION Team PokerNews players pocket over $600,000 in Main Event prize money
MANSION Team PokerNews online qualifiers shine at the 2007 WSOP, with an impressive seven of them cashing in the Main Event, including Denmark's Mikkel Madsen, who steered his course through a field of 6358 runners to finish in 20th spot and $333,490 richer.

Tips For Shopping Online For Home Health Care Products
There are a multitude of home health care products that can be purchased online. However, the very availability of these products means we need to be particularly careful about what we buy and for what reason. We also need to be aware of the variability in quality, ingredients and manufacturing conditions that may not be of the same standard as those in our own country. Home health care products can include pharmaceuticals, natural remedies, and other products and equipment that support healing and wellness.

How to Get Unlimited Free Advertising
The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your own objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them.

NextMark Unveils Its Directory of Marketing Service Providers
NextMark, Inc., a leading provider of direct marketing tools and resources, today unveiled a new directory of marketing service providers on its website at http://directory.nextmark.com

Basic Online Business Techniques...
When someone starts an online business, and many do, they tend to think that they know what they are doing. In other words, they don't have a clue. Everyone keeps telling them that they need a nice looking website, throw some affiliate programs on it, advertise at free classifieds pages, and watch the money roll in. Easy money, right? That's what they think.

Affiliate Program Management: How to Motivate Your Affiliates To Make More Sales
Becoming an affiliate manager is easy, but boosting your sales through your affiliates isn't a walk in the park. What if you could increase your profits and motivate your affiliates while becoming more personable with them? Keep reading to discover simple but effective ways to become proficient in affiliate program management.

Free Kenbushi Pro Home Server Software Brings Entertainment To Your Livingroom
Lava Software is now shipping Kenbushi Pro v7.3, free home server software containing a powerful media entertainment center (like AppleTV), file sharing and data backup functions. New features in this version include a complete Internet TV (video podcast) management system, 30 new Internet TV channels, additional methods to sort and filter Internet TV programs, an expanded setup wizard, stability improvements and a range of bug fixes. Versions are available for Windows and MacOS X.