A sales culture comprises the unwritten values, rules and habits of a sales organisation. It has a significant impact on its performance and the success of initiatives to develop the sales system.
In fact, a very strong culture enhances sales performance even when team members' processes and skills are not exceptional.
Years of experience have taught us that the outcome of any initiative to improve sales effectiveness depends on whether such initiatives fit the sales culture in question. Chief Sales Officers (CSOs) often underestimate this dependency when initiating development programmes.
To avoid this trap, we suggest using the so-called 4C model. It categorises corporate cultures according to their degree of market orientation (vs. internal orientation) and degree of formalism (vs. entrepreneurship and freedom of action). This model contributes to a better understanding of sales culture.
Sometimes a sales culture needs to be changed. There are six levers that can be used to achieve this. These include creating a sense of urgency, co-creation of future cultural elements by leaders, influencing opinion leaders, continuous work on behaviour and attitude according to the intended culture.
As a sales leader, if you want to avoid culture eating your strategy for breakfast (thanks, Peter Drucker), you need to analyse and purposefully change your sales culture. This white paper is designed to give you insight and the tools you need to work on this successfully.
You can find it here for free download.
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