Daxos is one of the characters in the English movie 300 which was released in 2006. Daxos,  a Commander or King of Arcadia  meets up with the Spartans when they are heading to the Thermopylae. Daxos enquires Leonidas why he has so little soldiers. Leonidas responds by questioning Arcadian men what is their profession and the Arcadians answer with Potter, Sculptor and Blacksmith. Turning to Spartans, Leonidas asks  his soldiers what is their profession, they all answer in unison AHOU AHOU AHOU, which is the Spartan battle cry for War and Death. Leonidas tells Daxos “See old Friend, I brought more Soldiers than you did”.

You may wonder, why a movie script is being retold here.  But, it is relevant in the field of sales, especially in an unprecedented competitive environment as  existing today.  For example, a typical  automotive dealership’s sales organization include functions such as  HR,  Marketing,  Reception,  House-keeping, Used car evaluation, Accessories sales, Billing, Test-ride, Inventory,  Registration,  Pre-delivery inspection,  Delivery  and after sales Service.  Normally,  sales and service is  bifurcated in a car dealership, and there is no contact between sales and service staff.  Moreover, all those sales supporting staff don’t understand their importance in increasing the sales or they are reluctant to accept this responsibility. Even they look down upon the sales executives. Most times they act with ego of being superior to sales staff, and it reflects in their work.  Resultantly, the sales executives may not be able to meet the customer expectations, without any fault from their part.  This reflects in the overall  sales numbers in the long term.  Do they realize the fact that sales function  is the sole revenue generator of the firm, and all others depend upon the sales revenue for their existence. How many dealers put the sales function first and align all other supporting functions as per the requirement of  successful sales execution?   This attitude shapes the sales culture of the organization.  This culture is going to interact with  the customer requirements.  This culture in turn, decides the level of customer satisfaction.  So, the sales organizations to succeed in the long term, must be able to create, instill and sustain a high performing sales culture.

Think about a sales organization in which each and every department and it’s staff working to increase sales by achieving higher customer satisfaction.  Once this becomes the organizations common goal, they will be able to prioritize their work as  per customer requirements.  This  will lead to increased overall customer satisfaction, which results in increased sales numbers in the long term.  This is easier said than done.  This requires effective leadership skills to initiate and  instill this type of sales culture.  But, the organizations also can try to highlight that all the functions are related to sales by merely adding sales to their designation.  For example, HR people can be designated as HR- Sales, Marketing-Sales, Reception-Sales, Housekeeping-Sales, Used Car Evaluation-Sales, Billing-Sales, Testride-Sales, Inventory-Sales, Registration-Sales, Pre-delivery Inspection-Sales, Delivery-Sales, Service-Sales and so on.  This habitually reminds all the staff that their prime responsibility is sales. Alternatively, the various departments can be named for internal purpose as Sales Function 1, Sales Function 2, Sales Function 3 and so on.  Or simply S1, S2,S3 and so on.  Or any other names highlighting  the importance of sales.  It may sound markedly unusual, but it may make the organization a sales oriented one if implemented adeptly. It gives a direction for the staff to work towards.   As a corollary,  the entire organization comes behind the sales force to support them.  It precludes each  staff putting their efforts in different directions as per their whims and fancies by projecting their job as the more  important one.  It applies to almost all sales organizations irrespective of the product or service they sell.

If a movie is made eulogizing the Spartans after some 2000 years,  that’s  because they created history by battling an army of about a million with just  300 Spartan warriors.  The warrior culture of Sparta and their pinpointed orientation upon their military service made them stand up against such a formidable Persian army.  Coming to our times and the battle in the market,  a sales oriented organization with a high performing sales culture, really can create history on their  own turf.