Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Drove Double Digit Top and Line Bottom Growth by Incorporating Noble Purpose with Their Sales Teams
ATLANTA, May 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Sales Leadership Expert Lisa Earle McLeod, who created the popular business concept "Noble Purpose" has been galvanizing sales teams in the pharmaceutical industry to explode growth by creating a employee culture that is passionately engaged in improving their customers' lives.
One of her clients, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals drove double digit top and bottom line growth using McLeod's trademarked methodology, to make the Noble Purpose of patient health the nexus of their organization.
"Noble Purpose reframes the way we think about sales and business," says McLeod, whose bestselling book, "Selling with Noble Purpose" is on desks of many C-Suite Executives, including Merrill Lynch.
"The data from our work with sales teams is clear. Organizations with a Noble Sales Purpose that focus on the impact they have on their customers outperform organizations that focus on sales targets," says McLeod, who works with CEOs and sales vice presidents at companies around the globe to accelerate growth and motivate sales teams.
"If your team's internal narrative is about sales numbers, you're heading down the road to mediocrity. Teams who know that their job matters, that they're part of something bigger than themselves produce exponential growth," says McLeod, who consults and delivers keynote speeches about Noble Purpose to companies like Google, Apple and Genentech.
The results are contrary to popular thought.
"Focusing on something beyond profits winds up producing more profit. Ironic isn't it?" says McLeod, the acknowledged thought leader in sales leadership training.
Here are three key Noble Purpose tactics Sunovion used to drive revenue growth:
1. Start with culture, instead of numbers
In the pharma industry, product development and marketing talk about patients, but the sales narrative is about numbers.
With McLeod's help, Rick Russell, Chief Commercial Officer for Sunovion took a different approach. He recast the sales narrative around how patients' lives were improved.
"Now it's in the sales model. It's in the coaching model. It's in the vernacular," he says.
The year after Russell began implementing the culture change, Sunovion's U.S. sales team exceeded both top and bottom line projections by double digits.
2. Engage emotions
"We've long been told that people shouldn't get emotional about business. This is total bunk," says McLeod.
Engaging employees' emotions on behalf of a Noble Purpose bigger than themselves is the very thing that creates a truly differentiated organization. People who understand why their work matters will go the extra mile, no matter what.
"Our people told us they want to make a difference in the lives of patients. They want to help patients through hard work and passion," says Russell.
3. Reframe your leadership narrative
McLeod says, "It's not enough to stand up at the annual meeting and talk about how your business makes a difference. In organizations of Noble Purpose, leadership brings customer impact to the front and center."
"When I work with clients, we reframe the way the entire leadership team talks about their business. Noble Purpose becomes the gestalt of the business," she says.
Russell says his leadership team played a pivotal role in placing the patient as the cornerstone of the Sunovion culture.
"We're making a difference in the lives of patients," says Russell. "Oftentimes people forget that. They get caught up in the numbers. But the reality is that we have patients who write us letters of gratitude." Russell's results, the financial gains and the espirit de corps he created, give Sunovion a strategic advantage in an industry struggling with change and uncertainty.
"A Noble Purpose gives people something to hold onto during times of change. Noble Purpose provides a framework for decision making," says McLeod.
"People ask me why I call it Noble Purpose instead of just purpose. It's intentional," says McLeod. "Purpose is easily reduced to quotas. Noble Purpose makes it emphatically clear: making the number is not enough. Adding value to the customer is the true cause."
Watch a video about "Selling with Noble Purpose: http://youtu.be/xbflEdP9fgg
About Lisa Earle McLeod
Lisa Earle McLeod is the top sales leadership consultant. Organizations like Apple, Kimberly-Clark and Pfizer hire her to drive revenue, improve morale, and gain a competitive advantage. A sought after keynote speaker, her newest book, "Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud," hit #2 on CEO Read.
McLeod is the Sales Leadership expert for Forbes.com and is quoted in major news outlets such as The New York Times, Fortune and The Wall Street Journal. She has appeared on the Today Show, NBC Nightly News and Good Morning America.
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