Using Multi-Factor Analysis to Maximize Sales Performance Improvement

In this article, I want to talk about using multi-factor analysis to maximize your sales performance improvement.

In plain English, this is a way to look at a whole situation in context – the root cause of the problem and possible solutions – and to come at the problem from different directions at the same time.

The reason you’d do this is because there is rarely one right answer, or one performance lever to pull, that will deliver the maximum performance improvement with a sales force. Just as with a complex sales opportunity, the real-world is rarely that single-threaded.

Hence, the topic of “Using Multi-Factor Analysis to Maximize Sales Performance Improvement.”

Let’s dig in, with a simulated scenario.

The Scenario

Your employer, AirCo Solutions, sells high-quality air filtration systems commercially.

AirCo Solutions logo, from Modern Sales Foundations

Note: AirCo Solutions is a completely fictional company that we created for our Modern Sales Foundations training program at my employer, SPARXiQ. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), companies, places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

The AirCo Solutions Team from Modern Sales Foundations

You can skim through the below initial facts on industry and products/services. I’m just providing that for context. Focus most on the Current State Situation below that, and the subsequent analysis.

Vertical Industries and Target Buyers

  • Airports: Facility Managers, Operations Directors
  • Hospitals: Healthcare Administrators, Facilities Managers
  • Museums: Curators, Facilities Directors, Operations Managers
  • Commercial Buildings: Property Managers, Building Owners, Facilities Directors, Sustainability Managers
  • Real Estate Developers: Development Directors, Project Managers
  • Manufacturing Facilities: Plant Managers, Health & Safety Managers
  • Hotels and Hospitality: General Managers, Facilities Directors
  • Shopping Malls: Property Managers, Operations Directors
  • Educational Institutions: Facility Managers, Heads of Operations
  • Corporate Offices: Facilities Directors, Office Managers
  • Government Buildings: Government Facilities Managers, Operations Directors
  • Restaurants: Restaurant Owners, Operations Managers
  • Data Centers: Data Center Managers, Facilities Engineers
  • Fitness and Recreation: Gym Owners, Operations Managers
  • Transportation Hubs: Terminal Managers, Logistics Directors
  • Entertainment Venues: Venue Managers, Operations Directors
  • Agricultural & Food: Farm Managers, Food Processing Plant Managers
  • Processing Industries: Pharmaceutical & Facilities Managers, Laboratory Directors
  • Biotechnology Companies: Clean Rooms & Clean Room Managers, Laboratory Managers
  • Residential High-Rise: Property Managers, Building Owners

Products and Services

Products:

  1. Air Filtration Systems: High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filters, Activated Carbon Filters, Electrostatic Precipitators, UV-C Germicidal Lamps, Multi-Stage Filtration Systems
  2. Customized Filtration Solutions: Tailored systems designed for specific environments and industries, ensuring optimal air quality.
  3. HVAC Air Filters: Pleated Panel Filters, Bag Filters, V-Bank Filters, Pocket Filters
  4. Air Purifiers and Cleaners: Standalone Units for smaller spaces, Industrial-Sized Units for larger facilities
  5. Ventilation Systems: Energy-efficient solutions for optimal airflow and ventilation control.
  6. Ductwork and Filtration Accessories: Ducting components, filter frames, gaskets, and other accessories.

Services:

  1. Consultation and Site Assessment: Expert assessment of the customer’s space to determine specific air quality needs and recommend appropriate solutions.
  2. Custom System Design: Engineering tailored filtration systems to meet the unique requirements of each client.
  3. Installation and Commissioning: Professional installation of filtration systems to ensure they function optimally.
  4. Maintenance and Filter Replacement: Scheduled maintenance plans and filter replacement services to keep systems running at peak efficiency.
  5. Air Quality Testing and Monitoring: Comprehensive testing and monitoring services to verify and maintain indoor air quality standards.
  6. Training and Education: Training programs for staff on system operation, maintenance, and best practices for air quality management.
  7. Emergency Repairs and Support: 24/7 support for urgent situations to ensure uninterrupted air quality control.
  8. Compliance and Regulatory Support: Assistance in meeting and adhering to industry-specific air quality regulations and standards.

The Current State Situation

Historically, due to being in a mature vertical where you have serviced many customers for many years, with upgrades, maintenance, services, and expansions, you have focused on territory management and account management and experienced reasonable growth in your industry. A very good product line and solid product-market fit has certainly fueled that, along with a great service orientation, a strong engineering and maintenance staff, and a customer-centric culture.

Yet, only two divisions in the company have performed far above average at new business development – Bill Money’s team, and George’s team, which recently graduated from Modern Sales Foundations and won the last year’s sales contest. But both of these teams are small and are not representative of other AirCo divisions.

You had a significant surge of business during the pandemic, given the understandable concerns for indoor air quality, which you staffed up to handle. But now…

  • Sales are flat, having leveled off to slightly below pre-pandemic levels, with slightly higher services revenue (due to the influx of new customers during the pandemic surge).
  • Operating income and EBIDTA are declining.
  • Inventory levels are still high.
  • Sales is discounting again, significantly, further reducing profit margins.
  • The company’s cash reserve position remains strong at this time, but cash flow has significantly decreased, and cash reserves are slowly declining.

Your previous CEO retired during the pandemic and your new CEO and the CRO he brought in, have aspirations to grow through acquisition (M&A) and new business development (which has not been a primary focus for at least 15 years).

Acquisition hopes are currently hampered by the above cash concerns – not that it’s unavailable, but because of the risk of using it for acquisition and wishing later that the reserves were still high.

To offset this risk, and capitalize on the new business development strategy, you have been charged by the CRO in supporting the creation of a team of hunters that the CRO is referring to as “Big Game Hunters.” The CEO did not want to disrupt Bill or George’s teams, so this new team of hunters was hand-picked and assembled from other divisions.

Your CRO, Revenue Operations leader, and you (in Sales Enablement) have been working on this initiative now for 4 months. However, it’s become increasingly clear that the transition is fraught with challenges.

Here is a summary:

  • Skill Gaps: One of the most prominent hurdles is the significant skill gaps within the newly formed “Big Game Hunters” team. The team that was chosen, though talented past performers, were accustomed to a different approach. Long-standing account managers, who were expert at managing existing relationships, are now tasked with cultivating entirely new ones and building awareness, interest and relationships/trust from ground zero. This shift from account management to proactive hunting for new business requires a fundamentally different skill set (and possibly a different make-up or Sales DNA). The art of identifying, engaging, and persuading potential clients demands a level of assertiveness, resilience, strategic thinking, and new skills that many team members are still working to develop. This shift was met with varying degrees of comfort and resistance, highlighting the need for training and mentorship to bridge this gap.
  • Buying Behavior Changes: Furthermore, the buying landscape has evolved. The pandemic-fostered urgency that once drove buyers to swiftly implement air quality solutions had dissipated. Now, customers are demanding more. There are more decision makers in the committee, and they are seeking detailed information, case studies, ROI analyses, and robust decision support. This is a new world for AirCo, which had excelled in rapid response but now finds itself having to pivot towards a more content and information-driven approach.
  • Content Needs: The gap in content and information is glaring. While AirCo had mastered the technical aspects of air filtration systems, it now needed to translate this expertise into accessible and persuasive content. Buyer engagement content such as whitepapers, case studies, videos, educational materials, and other decision support appear essential in demonstrating the company’s thought leadership and providing customers with the information they now seek before making decisions.
  • Market & Commercial Insights: Additionally, there is a need for market research and analysis to identify potential acquisition targets. The “Big Game Hunters” were adept at forging deeper connections with known accounts, but a thorough understanding of the competitive landscape and potential synergies with acquisition targets is now paramount. The ability to assess market trends, evaluate competitors, and project future industry developments is crucial for making informed decisions about potential acquisitions. Commercial insights are also required to help buyers recognize problems they may not yet see coming. It’s clear that a different level of business and industry acumen is required.

At this juncture, it is evident that the transition requires a strategic recalibration. The ambitious vision remains valid, but readiness must be reassessed, and the execution adjusted. It is a time for the company to leverage its cross-functional expertise, harness the potential of its newly formed team, and invest in the development of skills, content, process, methodology, systems, and tools necessary to thrive in this new endeavor.

[Insert dramatic pause here]

But, what should we do, and how should we prioritize it?

Analysis

It would be easy, in this situation, for a leader to pick something to fix that’s in their comfort zone and wheelhouse, and charge headfirst right into it. Perhaps thinking that AirCo just needs to:

  1. Find people with the right job-fit, and/or
  2. Train the news skills needed.

But in reality, this is a multifaceted issue, and requires a multithreaded solution.

Root Causes (Multi-Factors)

Let’s look at some factors.

  1. Possible talent selection issues: Good people can learn and stretch, but not everyone is well-suited for every job. There is a difference between doing something that’s a stretch – such as delivering a speech when it’s not something you’re particularly comfortable with, or doing something you’re not as suited for that’s 5% or 10% of your job responsibility – and doing a full-time job that is well outside of your comfort zone, non-stop. Analogy: When a heavy-duty rubber band is stretched too far for too long, it’s not good for the rubber band, nor the person who is holding it, when it finally snaps. By all means, invest in the development of those who have the right mindsets, beliefs, and “Sales DNA” to be hunters. Often, even people with the right foundations just haven’t had the training, coaching, and tools to be successful at prospecting. But don’t try to turn people into something they’re not. Even basketball legend, Michael Jordan, didn’t succeed as a professional baseball player.
  2. Buyer acumen gaps: Go scroll through the above list of vertical industries and target buyers. Do you know their roles and goals? How about their COIN-OP (Challenges, Opportunities, Impacts, Needs, Outcomes, and Priorities)? Who they typically work with to buy solutions like yours? And what is their typical buying process (and exit criteria per stage)? Prioritizing which ICP to target (where will you likely have the greatest success?) and then laying a foundation of buyer acumen for those markets and buyers, will help any new business development effort.
  3. Industry and business acumen gaps: These tie closely to buyer acumen but are broader. Knowing vertical industries and the specific air quality challenges and why they matter, or how to best address them, tie your solutions to the specific world your buyers live in. Buyers want to work with sellers who understand their industry, issues, positions, COIN-OP (although they won’t say it that way) and can speak their language. It gives them confidence.
  4. Buyer engagement content gaps: This is also an extension of buyer acumen. You need to know the questions most buyers have at each stage of their journey (tied to decision criteria and their buying process exit criteria by persona per stage). This allows you to create content to aid buying decisions. It might be customer POS stories (Problem, Outcome, Solution), case studies, white papers, third-party research, testimonials, product explainer videos or fact sheets, ROI analysis tools or calculators, or whatever will best address the questions you need to answer for your buyers to increase knowledge, reduce friction, reduce risk, increase confidence, and facilitate a smooth buying decision.
  5. Skill and competency gaps: Let’s face it, prospecting is not the same as growing accounts and customers who already buy from you. Researching, preparing, creating value stories, assembling insights and content that will create AIR (awareness, interest, and relationship), crafting approaches that have the best chance of working and adapting them to your target personas, ensuring you have a sensible omnichannel outbound strategy, are not the same activities or skills sets. Not to mention the importance of preparing to navigate the disinterest you’ll likely encounter and preparing to resolve the likely concerns you will hear.
  6. Sales manager readiness: Oh, you thought the above was just about the sellers? Well, if AirCo hasn’t been into heavy-duty new business development in about 15 years, and other than a recent flurry of pandemic-fueled sales, have focused on territory management and account management, what exactly do you think the front-line sales managers have been supporting? That’s right – it’s likely that many of them may not be prepared to support (field train, coach, guide, provide feedback, counsel, and generally lead and manage) those “Big Game Hunters,” as AirCo calls them. Ensuring front-line sales manager readiness is going to be as important as readying and supporting the front-line sellers.

Closing Thoughts

In the oversimplified but realistic scenario above, with six major factors identified, how well do you think it will work if you address just one, or maybe even two?

You know the answer to that. But I see it happen, all the time.

In this article on multi-factor analysis, I won’t segue deeply into multi-factor solution design (the answers are embedded in the analysis itself), but I trust you get the point that a one-trick pony is not going to move the needle in this scenario.

And this is how using Multi-Factor Analysis will allow to maximize your sales performance improvement potential.

NEED SUPPORT?

If you, your department, or executive team would benefit from advisory services or coaching on this or similar concepts in 2024, download this document to see packages and options, or complete the form on the bottom of this page, to explore options together.

RESOURCES

Here are some other resources I hope you’ll find helpful.

If you have questions, issues, or just want to share successes, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and let me know.

Thanks for reading, be safe out there, and by all means… let’s continue to elevate our sales profession and #MakeAnImpact With #Enablement! 

Mike

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About Mike

Mike Kunkle is a recognized expert on sales training, sales effectiveness, and sales enablement. He’s spent over 30 years helping companies drive dramatic revenue growth through best-in-class training strategies and proven-effective sales transformation systems – and he’s delivered impressive results for both employers and clients. Mike is the founder of Transforming Sales Results, LLC and works as the Vice President of Sales Effectiveness Services for SPARXiQ, where he designs sales training, delivers workshops, and helps clients improve sales results through a variety of sales effectiveness services. Mike collaborated with Doug Wyatt to develop SPARXiQ’s Modern Sales Foundations™ curriculum and also authored the SPARXiQ’s Sales Coaching Excellence™ course. His book, The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement, is available on Amazon and The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning Experience is available through FFWD.

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Mike Kunkle