Sales Strategy: How to Set Up 2013 for

Sales Success

2

What is a Sales Strategy?• An operating plan for a company’s 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.

Sales Strategy

3

Sales Strategy Comes from Corp Strategy

Sales Strategy comes from Corporate Strategy

4

A Sales Strategy Has a Life Cycle

5

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

6

ChannelsDetermine optimal route to market

DevelopGo-to-Market

Plan2

Sales Force StructureOrganizational model effectiveness vs. efficiency

Sales Force SizeMatch selling capacity to market demand

DesignSales Force3

Sales InfrastructureCreate performance conditions for optimal results

Build Infrastructure4

Account SegmentationSegment accounts by Ideal Customer Profile

Lead ManagementGenerate MQL/SAL/SQL

Sales ProcessMap customer/prospect buying process to custom built sales process

Develop Sales

Strategy

STEP

1

Sales Strategy is Step 1 to World Class

77

5Steps to Define Your

Sales Strategy

88

1 – Assess Performance Environment

Things like Corporate Strategy, Business Life Cycle, Market

Dynamics

How are you at Sales 2.0?

9

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

Assess Performance Environment

1010

2 – Evaluate Organizational Design

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

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Evaluate Organization Design

Questions to Consider- How 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

13

Competitive AnalysisCompetitive Intelligencelinks sales strategy to competitive response

MagazinesNewswiresSEC FilingsWeb SitesCensusMarket ResearchNewspapersInternal & External Experts

Business IntelligenceSoftwareNews PortalsOnline DirectoriesVertical PortalsNews PortalsResearch ShopsMonitoringTailoringArchiving

Competitor ProfilingSWOT AnalysisTrend AnalysisSimulationForecasting

CommunicationsBrandMarketing PositionHuman ResourcesSuppliersMergers/AcquisitionsFinancial

Product Dev.Business Dev.Public RelationsMarketingInformation

InformationAggregation Strategy

BusinessAction

Competitive Intelligence

Content Generation

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4 - Develop Buyer Personas.Don’t just try to understand who your customer is…. Understand how they buy. Otherwise you cant tailor your sales methodology to their buyer methodology.

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5- Develop A Roadmap

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

Mom

entu

m Succ

ess

Build

SOP

Des

ign

Systems, processes and communication are Standard Operating Procedure

Strategies successfully executed and creating measurable results

Implement and execute defined strategies

Develop the systems, processes and communications that drive results

Research and define the marketplace, strategies and measures of success

Clear roadmap in developing sales strategy to achieve corporate goals

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Sample Target Metrics for Roadmap

1. Achieve $350MM in current revenue by end year 20122. Achieve $150MM growth in revenue from new business by

end year 20123. 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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• Sales Strategy• Account Segmentation• Channels Management• Sizing & Structure

Phase 1- Design (Q1)

• Key Account Management• Talent Management• Sales Process• Territory Design, Quota Setting & Compensation Planning

Phase 2 - Build (Q2)

• Key Account Management• Talent Management• Territory Design, Quota Setting & Compensation Planning• Sizing & Structure• Channel Management• Lead Generation

Phase 3 - Momentum (Q3/Q4)

• Key Account Management• Sales Management

Phase 4 - Success (Q4)

• Sales Performance ManagementPhase 5 - SOP (Q4 – Future)

Sequence Driver Initiatives

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Best Practices in Sales Strategy• 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• Don’t forget to link to Corporate Strategy• Continually refresh strategy as needed

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Learn More

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