Are hidden sales gaps undermining your B2B energy profits?

Sales performance is becoming a growing concern for B2B energy suppliers.

More leaders are coming to us with challenges around hitting targets and maintaining momentum, especially as customer buying cycles evolve and competitors shift the landscape - whether by strengthening ties with TPIs after the non-domestic market review, or by offering longer-term contracts that mirror the I&C market. These changes are putting pressure on commercial models that previously worked well.

At the same time, a sustained period of stronger margin performance has, quite naturally, shifted focus towards growth and innovation.

In some areas, this has meant that the fundamentals, such as consistent performance management, channel effectiveness, and the alignment of targets with outcomes, haven’t always been prioritised to the same degree. Now, as market conditions become more challenging, it's becoming clearer where renewed attention on these core areas could deliver real value.

Many suppliers are looking for in-year improvements, but don't have time to wait for large-scale digital programmes or long-term strategy shifts. What they need is a practical way to lift performance now, within the control of their sales leaders.

From our experience working closely with B2B energy teams, we've identified four key areas that when addressed, consistently unlock stronger margin performance. In one case, this approach helped uncover an additional ~£16m in potential gross margin in just one year.

The four key areas are:

• Misaligned targets or metrics
• Individual and team performance variability
• Underperforming sales channels
• Ineffective sales processes

Four areas that can unlock stronger margin performance

1) Misaligned targets and metrics

Sales teams work best when goals are clear, consistent, and aligned to the overall strategy. However, we often see KPIs that create conflict between teams, targets that drive behaviour in the wrong direction, or individual targets being changed to help them stay on-track.

Whilst often well intentioned, misaligned goals can lead to uncertainty which prevents sales teams performing at their best.

2) Performance variability

It’s natural that there are high-performers who regularly exceed their targets. However, high performers can often give an illusion of high-performance for the team.

Without a clear view of what ‘high performance’ truly looks like, and a consistent approach to performance management, coaching, and skill development - teams risk becoming over-reliant on individual stars, rather than building collective capability. 

3) Underperforming channels

Sales channels can drift into underperformance if they’re not continuously nurtured or adapted for changing market dynamics.

For example, a new customer acquisition channel may work well for a certain sector or for a specific geography, but must be continuously improved to ensure the product or service offer stays relevant to the target customer base.

4) Ineffective sales processes

Many teams operate with processes that may have initially worked well, but have been poorly maintained. This is often seen through blurred roles and responsibilities, and teams finding workarounds that ‘work better’ in silo, but may create issues or missed opportunities for other teams.

It’s important to spot these opportunities as often clarification of responsibility, or slight process adjustment, can lead to compounding results.

How we help suppliers get it right

Where sales performance hasn’t been a recent focus, we've worked with organisations to ensure it regains the attention it deserves.

In one example, following our approach of assessing the challenge areas, we noticed a significant performance variance between teams and individuals. High-performers were inadvertently masking underperformance in other parts of the sales team, highlighting the need for a clearer, more consistent definition of what ‘good’ really looks like across the sales organisation. 

Based on our analysis, both data-led and qualitative, we found that gross-margin sales performance could have been 12% higher in the previous year, equating to ~£16m.

We worked together with the client to build the right practices, and upskill leaders and agents to improve their sales performance. We’ll share more on these practices in our next article. 

Where to start if you’re facing the same challenges

If you’re facing similar challenges, a good starting point is understanding where your organisation currently sits in terms of sales performance maturity. We use a structured maturity assessment framework to help our clients build a clear picture of current capabilities, and pinpoint where the greatest opportunities for improvement lie.

Here are some of the key questions we typically explore as part of that process:

Misaligned targets or metrics

• Are the targets of individuals clearly connected to overall business objectives, and do individuals understand this connection?
• How are the targets created? Are they based on reliable data, or something else?

Performance variability

• What performance management structures are in place, and how well are they followed?
• Are there clear performance expectations, and do we hold our team to account?

Underperforming channels

• Are teams the right size to address the known or potential opportunity in the market?
• Is there a feedback cycle or continuous improvement culture in place to adapt to observed market changes?

Ineffective sales processes

• How well is data used to visualise the flow of customers or sales opportunities through each stage?
• Is there any friction or tension between different teams in a process, and what is the root-cause of these tensions?

How can we help?

At BFY, we support utility companies in building Sales Excellence, combining deep industry expertise with our transformational practices and a collaborative partnership approach. 

Specifically, our team has extensive experience leading SME and B2B sales functions at major UK energy retailers. 

Our capabilities include:

• Shaping strategies to unlock commercial value
• Developing products to increase sales performance
• Driving performance through structured performance management
• Optimising operations and back-office processes to increase efficiency and enable scale

If you’d like to explore how Sales Excellence can drive better performance in your organisation, contact Hannah Sword.