Sales Strategy: How to Set Up 2013 for Sales Success

Sales Strategy
What is a Sales Strategy? An operating plan for a companys sales force. What does a Sales Strategy do? Allocates sales resources efficiently to drive selling costs down and revenues up. What does it mean to use a Sales Strategy? CEO can get the most out of his/her sales force.

A Sales Strategy Has a Life Cycle

A Sales Strategy Solves for Typical Problems

Merger of sales forces after Acquisition Declining Sales Revenues Declining market share Increasing cost of sales Changing market- product mix New Product launch that falls short of sell-through expectation New market entries posing competitive threat
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Sales Strategy is Step 1 to World Class

STEP

Account Segmentation
Segment accounts by Ideal Customer Profile

Lead Management
Generate MQL/SAL/SQL

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Sales Process
Map customer/prospect buying process to custom built sales process

Develop Sales Strategy

Channels
Determine optimal route to market

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Develop Go-to-Market Plan

Sales Force Structure

Organizational model effectiveness vs. efficiency

Sales Force Size

Match selling capacity to market demand

Design Sales Force

Sales Infrastructure
Create performance conditions for optimal results

Build Infrastructure

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1 Assess Performance Environment

Things like Corporate Strategy, Business Life Cycle, Market Dynamics

How are you at Sales 2.0?

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Assess Performance Environment

Review existing documentation Research industry markets Interview executives and management Survey Sales Force Survey Customers Mystery Shop competition

2 Evaluate Organizational Design

Look at Sales Structure, Value Chain, Sales Channel, Processes/Tools

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Evaluate Organization Design

Questions to ConsiderHow do you apply?

Is Compensation inciting correct behavior? Is there an active Performance Mgmt. plan in place? Does the CRM platform maximize efficiencies?

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3- Conduct Competitive Analysis

Including Stakeholder analysis and identification of competitive openings

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Competitive Analysis
Competitive Intelligence
links sales strategy to competitive response

Content Generation

Information Aggregation

Competitive Intelligence

Strategy

Business Action

Magazines Newswires SEC Filings Web Sites Census Market Research Newspapers Internal & External Experts

Business Intelligence Software News Portals Online Directories Vertical Portals News Portals Research Shops Monitoring Tailoring Archiving

Competitor Profiling SWOT Analysis Trend Analysis Simulation Forecasting

Communications Brand Marketing Position Human Resources Suppliers Mergers/Acquisitions Financial

Product Dev. Business Dev. Public Relations Marketing Information

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4 - Develop Buyer Personas.

Dont just try to understand who your customer is. Understand how they buy. 1 Otherwise you cant tailor your sales methodology to their buyer methodology. 14
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 With ROI models, Change Management Plan, Sequencing of improvement initiatives Requires a Sales Force Effectiveness team to carry out
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Develop Roadmap
Clear roadmap in developing sales strategy to achieve corporate goals

Momentum

Success

Design

Research and define the marketplace, strategies and measures of success

Develop the systems, processes and communications that drive results

Implement and execute defined strategies

Strategies successfully executed and creating measurable results

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Build

Systems, processes and communication are Standard Operating Procedure

SOP

Sample Target Metrics for Roadmap

1. Achieve $350MM in current revenue by end year 2012 2. Achieve $150MM growth in revenue from new business by end year 2012 3. Improve EBITDA 15% by end of 2012 (from 10.1% to 15%) 4. Improve Customer Experience (in top 50% for CSI) 5. Improve Retention in Key Positions (10% annually)

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Sequence Driver Initiatives

Phase 1- Design
(Q1) Sales Strategy Account Segmentation Channels Management Sizing & Structure Key Account Management Talent Management Sales Process Territory Design, Quota Setting & Compensation Planning Key Account Management Talent Management Territory Design, Quota Setting & Compensation Planning Sizing & Structure Channel Management Lead Generation Key Account Management Sales Management

Phase 2 - Build
(Q2)

Phase 3 - Momentum
(Q3/Q4)

Phase 4 - Success
(Q4)

Phase 5 - SOP
(Q4 Future)

Sales Performance Management

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Best Practices in Sales Strategy

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Ensure active and visible CEO/Business Unit Leader participation Agree on financial & operational term definitions Plan and execute robust communications Garner continuous cross-company engagement Deploy/contract talented resources to carry out build & improvement efforts Dont forget to link to Corporate Strategy Continually refresh strategy as needed

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