Sequoia Capital recently advised their portfolio companies on what to do in response to the meltdown in capital markets. Sequoia’s presentation to their investee CEOs highlights that the months ahead aren’t going to be like anything companies have recently seen. In response, on business development, they reportedly recommended a focus on sales productivity.
This poses a bit of a problem.
Long before the market melted, CEOs identified sales productivity as their top issue for 2008. So, now the biggest challenge for the year is also one of the keys to surviving the year. In such turbulent times, doing more of what’s yielded sales productivity as a top business concern is unlikely to now suddently improve it.
In our view, new conditions require new approaches. Fresh conditions require fresh thinking. Pressures for more sales productivity require proof of how productivity is being affected by the things being tried day-to-day. Unless this happens, expect to see declines in sales productivity at the very time when improvements in it are most called for.
Parenthetically, one client called me last week to say that they’d seen a market turndown in the past five days that, if sustained in the coming weeks, will reduce their 12 month sales forecast by 60%.
They’ve begun testing new tactics. Real-time evidence of sales productivity is a competitive advantage, esp. in turbulent times.
For reference, Sequoia’s presentation is available here:
