Sales Strategy: How to Set Up 2013 for
Sales Success
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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• Review existing documentation• Research industry markets• Interview executives and management• Survey Sales Force• Survey Customers• Mystery Shop competition
Assess Performance Environment
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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
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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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