The world of employment is ever-changing and the attitudes and approaches of 50 years ago no longer apply to a significant proportion of the employed workforce. The days of working for one employer from leaving school until retirement for most are long gone. Those receiving a nice gold watch are few and far between and, for most people, a career change means company change not a skills rethink; that is unless market forces dictate.
At the other end of the spectrum we have the gig economy. People working for multiple employers simultaneously or moving from one project to another and taking their skills and experience with them. Typically, we think of these roles in terms of specific skill sets around technology delivery, project management and rare skills that the company does not posses in house, or we think of them as zero-hours and unskilled labour contracts.
What is often less well considered is the need for executive placement on a fixed term contract, non-full time or short-term engagement. However, this is now becoming more well recognised and the values it brings also more well recognised.
Sales Management as a Service
A good Sales Director will possess years of experience in building high-performing teams, often from the ground up. A good grasp of technology and processes by a Fractional Manager will give new light to failings in both and provide ideas for development and improvement. Fresh thinking also ensures that new thought is given to the product and the marketplace and to the competitive threat. Taking ideas from different sectors can also bring new meaning to old ideas and new insight too.
A Fractional Sales Director is not just about applying experience readily it is also about getting results quicker and delivering directly where it is needed. Directly engaging with the sales team and the wider business to aid progress rather than reports for senior management to work out what to do next. It could even be that the Fractional Sales Director stays as a permanent team member working consistently to deliver step by step growth as the company pushes on to even greater performance.
Rapid growth or new markets can pose a challenge; as can a change in direction. These too require a new kind of thinking and an approach from outside that delivers results quickly and efficiently. A new insight to address head on the challenges faced and to take with him the sales team and the company.
By engaging a Fractional Sales Director, the Board gets to work directly with the sales leadership team and the sales team get directly involved in moving the company forward. Linking the top of the organisation to those driving sales ‘at the coal-face’ is a uniquely different approach and one that delivers results, not reports.
Sales Management as a Service may be a new phrase to many but is fast becoming the norm for some organisations needing help at key stages of their growth or at times of significant challenge. For other companies it is a practical solution to a simple problem.
If you’re still not sure what Fractional Sales Management will deliver then consider this:
Experience of building sales teams and promoting sales teams to better performance
Coaching and leading the better manage the sales funnel, use tools and systems already in place more effectively
Aligning the sales team and the company to work together to deliver better results
Working with marketing to take a customer-needs-first approach to sales development
Coaching and training
Performance scoring and behaviour metrics. Cultural and individual styles and needs
Networking and leadership
Execution discipline through focus delivery and process
Fractional Sales Leadership is not a one-size fits all approach, nor is it a consulting led approach. It is a results-focused approach led by the needs of the customer and the current and future challenges both internally and externally.