Most companies find it hard to correct an underperforming sales department. A different angle helps. It starts at the beginning, by diagnosing what is actually wrong.
Sales are the lifeblood of every company, so sales department optimisation matters more than most leaders admit. That sounds like a truism, but it holds true. A business can have the best value proposition and loyal customers, yet it will still wither without enough new business.
As Philip Kotler puts it: “The sales department isn’t the whole company, but the whole company better be the sales department.”
So when sales teams stop producing the new business needed for profitable growth, companies struggle to get them back on track. The usual fix is sales training. Nine times out of 10, it does not work. The reason is simple: nobody has worked out what the real problem is. Sales training is not a bad thing, but on its own it rarely solves the issue.
If the question is wrong, the answer will be too
This is not an easy problem to solve, but companies must solve it. The answer, I believe, is to start with a proper diagnosis of what is wrong, because that defines an effective solution. This approach is built on the experience of my own company, LRMG.
LRMG is a performance optimisation company. Everything it does is built around delivering results for clients. Yet some five years ago, after 19 years in business, our sales pipeline had clearly thinned. The problem was not what we delivered to customers. Those clients tended to stay with us. We were simply failing to sign new business. Something was wrong with our sales function.
Look at sales as a process, not a department
Kotler is right: an ineffective sales function compromises the whole company. So we resisted the obvious temptation to throw training at the problem. Instead, we examined the entire sales process and, crucially, how it connected to the rest of the business.
Viewing the company through a process lens showed exactly how the sales function depended on other processes. It became clear that sales performance rests on eight levers: sales leadership and management, engagement, sales culture, sales strategy, process, people capability, performance management and digital enablement. These levers do not work in isolation. They interlink in complex ways, forming an ecosystem that runs across the whole company. You can see the same thinking in our broader Sales Excellence approach.
Diagnose the root cause, then fix it
Once we understood how the sales process worked inside the company, we could pinpoint where the real issues sat and what drove them. Then we addressed the root causes of our team’s underperformance. The turnaround was dramatic. One example stands out: our Kenya office grew new client acquisition by 800 percent within the year. We employed no new sales staff to do it. We simply made the existing team more effective.
That last point matters, because it sits at the heart of this approach. The existing sales team does not have to be cut, with the loss of institutional memory and morale that brings. Nor does it have to be expanded, adding to overhead. It is fine-tuned and given the support it needs to perform.
Turn fat into muscle in tough times
This ability to lift the performance of existing resources is valuable, especially when money is tight and cost-cutting feels like the only option. By making the sales team more effective, a company avoids retrenching salespeople to protect profit. Rather than cut muscle, it turns fat into muscle, and sells its way out of trouble.
There is another advantage. Once you have diagnosed the root cause, you know where to begin. Better still, you understand that sales performance is the product of all eight levers working together. Over time, you can improve each one in small steps, lifting overall performance. It becomes an ongoing, sustainable fine-tuning exercise, achieved with minimal disruption and continuous gains.
Having proved this approach inside our own business, we knew we could take it to clients. The market has grown tired of point solutions, like one-off sales training, that cannot be measured. A method built on diagnosing the root causes of failure, then fixing them, strikes a real chord. More importantly, it delivers results. If your sales numbers are under pressure and training has not moved them, start with a diagnosis. Talk to the LRMG team about optimising your sales function, or explore our Sales Excellence solutions.
Sales department optimisation: frequently asked questions
What is sales department optimisation?
Sales department optimisation is the process of improving how a sales function performs by diagnosing the root causes of underperformance, rather than applying a single fix like training. It treats sales as a connected system across the business and improves the levers that drive results, including leadership, strategy, process, capability and digital enablement.
Why does sales training often fail to fix an underperforming sales team?
Sales training usually fails because it treats a symptom, not the cause. If the real problem sits in sales strategy, culture, process or leadership, more training will not move the numbers. Without a proper diagnosis, companies invest in a solution that does not match the actual problem, so performance stays flat.
What are the eight levers of sales performance?
LRMG identifies eight interlinked levers: sales leadership and management, engagement, sales culture, sales strategy, process, people capability, performance management and digital enablement. These levers depend on one another. Strong performance comes from improving them together, not from fixing any one in isolation.
How can a company improve sales without hiring more salespeople?
By making the existing team more effective. A diagnosis shows where performance leaks, so the company can fix the root causes instead of adding headcount. LRMG’s Kenya office, for example, grew new client acquisition by 800 percent in a year with no new sales staff, simply by improving how the existing team worked.
Where should a company start when sales performance drops?
Start with a diagnosis, not a solution. Map how the sales function works and how it connects to the rest of the business. That reveals where the pressing issues sit and what drives them. From there, you can prioritise the right levers and improve performance in measurable, sustainable steps.
How is sales optimisation different from a sales training course?
A training course delivers content and skills. Sales optimisation diagnoses why performance is low, then improves the full system of levers that produce results. Training may form part of the answer, but only once the diagnosis shows it is the right intervention. This makes the outcome measurable and lasting.
