The document outlines five proven strategies for sales growth based on interviews with 120 sales leaders. The strategies are: 1) Find growth opportunities before competitors through analyzing data on markets and customers. 2) Sell through multiple channels tailored to different customer needs. 3) Use sales operations and technology to optimize the sales process and support the sales team. 4) Focus on developing sales talent and culture. 5) Provide leadership to drive organizational commitment to sales growth. Implementing these strategies can help companies significantly outperform their peers in revenue and profit growth.

1. Any use of this material without specific permission of McKinsey & Company is strictly prohibited
McKinsey on Marketing & Sales – Slideshare Brief
July 23, 2012
Sales Growth
Five Proven Strategies
from the World’s Sales Leaders

2. McKinsey & Company | 1
Customers say that sales is low in importance…
SOURCE: McKinsey
Product/service features
100%
Overall sales experience
Reliability
Service/support
Price
Stated
importance
8
28
19
21
24
Percent average importance, U.S. and Western Europe

3. McKinsey & Company | 2
… however, sales experience makes a big difference in buying behavior
Derived
importance
28
19
19
12
21
10
24
34
100%
Overall sales experience
Reliability
Service/support
Price
Product/service features
Actual
importance
25
Stated
importance
8
SOURCE: McKinsey
Percent average importance, U.S. and Western Europe

4. McKinsey & Company | 3
Over the past two years, we interviewed 120 sales leaders and conducted
over 700 studies in Sales & Channel management
High-tech
Industrial
Telecom
Healthcare/
pharma
Financial
services
Other
leaders
SOURCE: McKinsey
Companies averaging:
▪ $31 billion revenues
▪ $47 billion market cap.
▪ 86,000 employees
Consumer
products
Basic
materials

5. McKinsey & Company | 4
The companies we interviewed significantly
outperformed their peers
100
148
Revenue growth
2005-2010 (index)
100
180
EBITDA growth
2005-2010 (index)
Industry peers
Companies interviewed
+48% +80%

6. McKinsey & Company | 5
Lead sales growth
Find growth before
your competitors do
Soup up your
sales engine
Focus on
your people
Sell the way your
customers want
3
4
5
2
1
The interviews highlighted five strategies to drive sales growth
Gain commitment from the
organization, and implement
difficult change to beat the market
Get to growth opportunities before
competitors – be it through capturing
trends, finding pockets of growth in
existing markets, or drilling into big data
Use multiple channels to serve customers
of different sizes, in different markets, and
with different needs – and optimize direct,
indirect, and digital channels
Use sales operations and technology
as true engines for growth
Balance the drive for near-term growth
with building long-term capabilities

7. McKinsey & Company | 6
A. Find growth before your competitors
SOURCE: McKinsey
▪ Collect data from multiple sources
▪ Get personal in selling
▪ Put big data at the heart of sales
▪ Break down the market into discreet units,
often in the hundreds
▪ Analyze growth and penetration potential
▪ Group like-markets together
▪ Adjust resources depending on market needs
▪ Align other functions
Mine growth
beneath the
surface
2
Find big
growth in
big data
3
▪ Monitor mega trends
▪ Invest 2-4% of sales budget
▪ Make “10 quarters ahead” a way of life
Look 10
quarters
ahead
1

8. McKinsey & Company | 7
B. Sell the way your customers want (1/2)
SOURCE: McKinsey
▪ Bring together different routes to market
▪ Align inside and outside sales
▪ Integrate online/ offline
▪ Convert service to sales
▪ Optimize fanatically, and often
▪ Get social to drive growth
▪ Integrate digital in a great multichannel
experience
▪ Use unconventional ways to identify needs
▪ Utilize experts
▪ Adopt new ways to hunt
Master
multichannel
sales
Power growth
through digital
sales
Innovate
direct
sales
4
5
6

9. McKinsey & Company | 8
B. Sell the way your customers want (2/2)
SOURCE: McKinsey
▪ Balance economics and coverage
▪ Treat indirect channels as partners
▪ Manage channel conflict
▪ Get on the ground to understand local nuances
▪ Overinvest in finding the right partners
▪ Take a long-term view of sales capacity
Invest in
partners
for mutual
profit
Sell like a
local in
emerging
markets
7
8

10. McKinsey & Company | 9
C. Soup up your sales engine
SOURCE: McKinsey
▪ Leverage back office resources to free up
front-line capacity
▪ Use sales operations as a competitive weapon
▪ Arm your sales team with real time insights
▪ Enable channel partners by providing them with
right collaboration tools
▪ Gear up for analytics
Tune sales
operations
for growth
Build a
technological
advantage in
sales
9
10

11. McKinsey & Company | 10
D. Focus on your people
SOURCE: McKinsey
▪ Coach rookies into rainmakers
▪ Set the tempo for reporting and intervention
▪ Tap into deeper motivations beyond money
▪ Build capabilities and a winning culture
▪ Make middle managers the center of change
▪ Put together the A-team
Manage
performance
for growth
Build sales
DNA
11
12

12. McKinsey & Company | 11
E. Lead sales growth
SOURCE: McKinsey
▪ Start a dialogue about change
▪ Implement the vision, carefully sequencing the
introduction of any new sales program
▪ Challenge the status quo
▪ Galvanize your team
▪ Be the role model for change
▪ Demand results
Make it
happen
Drive growth
from the very
top
14
13

13. McKinsey & Company | 12
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