We all want to have strong sales leadership coaching, land key accounts, and close more sales. But what path is your company and sales team taking to achieve these goals — are you driven by motion, or by movement? They sound similar, however knowing the difference between these two strategies can unlock more efficient work and make big sale hunting all the easier. See below for a distinction between these two; harness this knowledge, and watch your sales and teams flourish in this new era of selling!
Motion
“Motion” is a term that we use to describe all of the sales activities that occur in getting people together, having conversations, and exchanging information within a given sales stage. Whether it takes one call or three, one meeting or five, one document or twenty, it doesn’t matter. All of that is motion inside a system, but is the motion helping move the sale forward?
Motion is important, but it is only the lead-up: you are laying down the blueprints before you break ground. The more confident, direct, and transparent you are in these stages, the easier it will be to land a sale. Conversely, sloppy work, missed calls, or lackluster presentations won’t lead toward any movement.
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Movement
“Movement” is a term we use to denote completion of one stage and progression to the next. In a stage-gate process, this means that all the items in one stage have been completed, so the gate opens to the next stage. Movement along a sales process indicates that you are approaching either a close or the elimination of a prospect.
Movement is where the money is, but it’s not without the lead-up. Still, they say in baseball when you swing a bat you need follow-through; you don’t stop swinging halfway through, and we want home runs as sales — not bunts! Together, smart motion and efficient movement can help you land complex sales.
How to Harness Motion and Movement to Move Forward
When it comes to measuring performance, spend less time worrying about the number of motions being made, and more time focusing on progressing forward through “movement.” You want to get to the next stage to seal the deal.
To encourage movement over motion, consider giving a value of “one” to every movement from one stage to the next in the sales process. That’s right. Whether your sales reps close a deal, move a deal off of the dashboard because they lost it, or add a deal to the dashboard, it doesn’t matter. Each one of these progressions has a value of one. By giving each movement a value of one, you are better able to set expectations for your sales force and measure movements through the sales cycle.
If there is a lot of sales activity, but very little progression in your sales force, your company is likely at risk of going extinct in this new era of selling. Contact us to see how Hunt Big Sales can help your company better harness the key differences between motion and movement to increase sales progression.
