Sales Lessons from the Military

In the military, soldiers are taught to follow the principle of Commander's Intent:

"To preserve the initiative, subordinates must act independently within the context of an overall plan. They must exploit successes boldly and take advantage of unforeseen opportunities. They must deviate from the expected courses of action without hesitation when opportunities arise to expedite the overall mission of the higher force. They will take risks, and the command must support them." ¹

Commander's Intent is a clear, concise statement of the specific goal a commander is looking to achieve. Something like: "Capture and hold that hill until reinforcements arrive."

That said, no step-by-step instructions are given on how to capture and hold the hill because they've learned that once soldiers engage in battle, they quickly have to adapt to the situation on the ground in unanticipated ways. The squad therefore is required to develop their own plans, often in-the-moment, translating thought to action, while maintaining the overall intention of the commander.

The Sales world is no different. First line sales managers are expected to lead their teams into battle each day to win business and grow share of wallet. That said, unlike the military, we bind our sales teams with processes and policies that try to account for every move the rep makes in the field to the extent that we often inhibit, rather than facilitate, winning business. Customers and markets frequently act in unanticipated ways and no matter how much one plans, arming the field for every possible scenario is a futile task.

It's no wonder that in today's complex sales environment, the skill that defines top-performing sales managers is their ability to innovate—to find new ways of solving deal-level problems or positioning the offer. Importantly, sales innovation is not about managers creating a new value proposition or new set of capabilities but rather collaborating with reps to understand what's holding up a deal and finding innovative ways to move it forward (i.e., innovating within the overall goal or intention set by the commander).

What's more, the principle of Commander's Intent is even more pertinent when pursuing emerging demand—deals where customer needs are not yet well understood and agreed upon. Emerging demand opportunities require salespeople to navigate through greater ambiguity, especially in the early stages of the sales process, looking for clues in the customer organization that confirm latent need/opportunity. Typical sales processes built on the strategy of gross activity and sales efficiency create a counterincentive for shaping demand, with salespeople sticking to prescribed and accepted plays than innovating in the field.

Understandably, too much autonomy risks salespeople making bad decisions. But, too little autonomy stifles them to win business. Commander's Intent provides the much needed balance.

SEC Members, to learn more, review our study on sales manager innovation and the ideation toolkit,  and follow our progress on the 2012 study, shaping demand to win business.

¹ Baillergeon, Rick and Sutherland, John, Tactics 101: 027. Commander's Intent, Armchair General (June 2008)