Why financial returns are deceiving

3. Why financial returns are deceiving Short-term financial gains from an improvement initiative are great. But beware… • There may have been an uptick in productivity of the sales force because they sense danger due to attention on them from this sales-directed initiative. • The financial gains may not be related to the improvement, but to other factors> ensure you find the cause of gains. • If the initiative was announced to the market, there may have been in initial spike of interest that converted to deals.

4. Should you bail on an initiative? On in-flight initiatives, it’s better to stop it early (before design begins) if things don’t look good. • Use this Doomed Project Predictor to see if you can expect more than just objectives being met. If not, call it quits. • Determine if the initiative is heavily tied to some political battle – if so, it may not be the best for your company or for your own credibility. • Are there other initiatives that are or will be in-flight with this one? Will the other initiative keep needed attention and resources from this initiative? Probably a good idea to postpone this one.

5. One simple value-proving exercise Sales needs HR’s help, but doesn’t always see the value of HR. Try this exercise: • Calculate the cost of a sales mis-hire. Use this calculator. • Show the Sales Leadership how much a bad hire costs. • Get the Sales Leader’s commitment to fix this problem. • Contact SBI for help.