S3 Alignment® Survey

Your Company:	* (why we need this)
Your Industry:	* (why we need this)
Your Role:	*
Your Position:	*
Length of Sales Cycle:	* *indicates required field

Internal Planning
Think about situations when your sales, support, and services professionals are engaged in planning together, without the customer present.

How often do your sales, support, and services professionals PLAN TOGETHER when...		Not Sure
•	Formulating a strategy for an important account?
•	Preparing for a sales or service call?
•	Configuring and pricing a solution for a customer?
•	Agreeing on staff resources required to implement a project?
•	Developing an annual operating plan or budget?

When your sales, support, and services professionals do NOT engage in PLANNING together, what happens?

Customer Interactions
Now focus on situations where your sales, support, and services professionals—individually or as a team—interact directly with your customers.

How often do your sales, support, and services professionals take a CONSISTENT APPROACH when...		Not Sure
•	Engaging with a customer to diagnose problems and identify needs?
•	Recommending and presenting a solution?
•	Responding to a customer demand during the sales process?
•	Resolving problems and complaints after the sale?
•	Tracking results and closing the loop with customers?

When your sales, support, and services professionals do NOT take a CONSISTENT APPROACH to working with customers, what happens?

Insight Sharing
Think about the times when your sales, support, and services professionals should be communicating with each other.

How often do your sales, support, and services professionals SHARE with one another information such as...		Not Sure
•	History of the account relationship, including customer politics and sensitive issues?
•	Current customer business goals and objectives—not just specifications?
•	Customer expectations of product/service benefits?
•	Customer dissatisfaction or complaints?
•	Sales opportunities or leads for new projects?

Do your sales, support, and services people have access to a CRM system? (Note: "CRM" refers to a Customer Relationship Management system)
If "Yes," how much does your CRM system directly contribute to sales, support, and services' ability to SHARE INSIGHT?

When your sales, support, and services professionals do NOT, for whatever reason, SHARE INSIGHT, what happens?

Internal Relationships
When it comes to working together, think about how your sales, support, and services people regard and treat each other.

How often do your SALES people...		Not Sure
•	Express appreciation for the efforts and contributions of services and support people?
•	Display a genuine rapport with services and support people?
•	Trust services and support people to engage customers in a sales situation?
•	Avoid making over-commitments on behalf of services or support people?
How often do your SERVICES and SUPPORT people...		Not Sure
•	Demonstrate respect for the efforts and contributions of sales people?
•	Display a genuine rapport with sales people?
•	When necessary, openly share concerns with sales people about what they are proposing to customers?
•	Help sales people establish new relationships in the customer organization to grow the business?

Share your perceptions: "Overall, the relationships between our sales and support/services people are characterized by ________."

conflict		collaboration
separation		connection
frustration		satisfaction
animosity		goodwill
suspicion		trust

How do most of your sales and services/support people feel about each other?

Measurement, Compensation, and Training
Much of people's behavior is affected by how they are measured and compensated. Training and development also affect the degree of S³ Alignment.

In what ways are sales, support, and services... (check ALL that apply)		Corporate Level	Division Level	Local Level	Account Level	Not at All	Not Sure
•	Measured against team objectives?
•	Recognized for performance as a team?
•	Rewarded financially for performance as a team?

How often are sales, support, and services professionals...		Not Sure
•	Trained on the same customer communications skills?
•	Mixed together in the same classroom or workshop?
•	Taught the same methods for handling customer problems, expectations, and demands?
•	Provided team practice and role-play opportunities?

Business Performance
Please give these questions careful consideration—this information is critical. It will enable us to quantify the impact of S³ Alignment on relationships, results, and revenue.

Relationships and Results
When it comes to your company's CUSTOMER LOYALTY, what is the current need for improvement in...		Not Sure
•	customer satisfaction?
•	customer retention?
•	willingness to recommend your product, service, or company to others?
When it comes to your company's EMPLOYEE LOYALTY (sales, support, and services), what is the current need for improvement in...		Not Sure
•	employee satisfaction?
•	employee retention?
•	employee commitment?

Revenue Please do not speculate. Answer only if you are confident of your actual year-to-date (YTD) performance vs. the business plan.
How does ACTUAL REVENUE compare with the plan for your business unit or group?		Not Sure
•	Revenue (YTD vs. plan)
•	Profit (YTD vs. plan)

How do ACTUAL EXPENSES compare with the plan for your business unit or group?		Not Sure
•	Sales expenses (YTD vs. budget)
•	Support expenses (YTD vs. budget)
•	Services expenses (YTD vs. budget)

What POSITIVE OUTCOMES have you seen when your sales, support, and service professionals are more aligned?

When you are finished, please click "Submit" below.