The 7 steps to build a good sales strategy

What comes to mind when you think of a sales strategy? We've all been in meetings to talk about setting up a sales strategy when someone says, "We can sit around planning forever, or we can just jump in and do something." And rightly so. Strategy without execution is a waste of time. But executing without a strategy is like saying " Ready, shoot, aim ».

In this article, we present 7 steps to draw up a good sales strategy. But first, I would like to introduce you to this premium training that gives you skills.tips for business success.

Why do you need a sales strategy

I believe in strategy. Most importantly, I believe in a well thought out and successful sales strategy. I've seen what happens when business teams of all sizes move forward without a clear plan. In short, it's chaos.

A successful business strategy, market strategy, or sales strategy must produce these essential results:

• Clear priorities that everyone can understand
• Clear results that anyone can measure
• Clear guidelines and goals that everyone can follow and achieve

Without a strategy, business teams and leaders make decisions based on what's best at the moment. Not because they're selfish or short-sighted, but because they don't know the big picture.

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The best analogy I can think of is a ship. Imagine if the captain shouted " Cast off ", and that the crew did not know the plan. How would they know which direction to go? How to trim the sails? Or even how to stay away?

A strong team works more effectively when they are well trained, have clear instructions and know where they are going. If any of these elements are missing, then it's a recipe for a shipwreck.

What does it take to put together a great sales strategy?

Your sales team may not need to know how to trim the sails, but they do need to know the following for a successful sales strategy:

• A precise ideal customer profile
• A SWOT analysis
• A well-thought-out market strategy
• Specific income goals
• Clear positioning
• Detailed action plan

Too often sales strategies start with someone at the top coming up with an arbitrary growth figure based on investor demands, new product development, operational capacity, or any other factor that has absolutely nothing to do with sales.

This expectation of growth is distributed across regions and reps equally, arbitrarily, or based on an often unfounded belief about which markets or reps can sustain the highest growth.

Unfortunately, these poorly planned strategies often lead to lower morale, increased attrition, and ultimately poor business results.

Whatever commands come from above must become a strategy capable of supporting the desired growth.

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The secret to sustained growth is to create a powerful sales strategy to support it. Here are the seven steps I recommend for creating this type of strategy.

Step 1. Evaluate where you were and where you are now

Before you start planning for the future, first look to the past. Make an assessment of the previous year of activity and ask questions such as:

• What did you do last year? Also dig into your sales numbers and look at key metrics like.
• How much did your team sell?
• Who sold it?
• Who did they sell it to?
• How much will result in repeat business?
• Which customers reported the least and most profit? Be sure to add support time!
• What changed ?
• How are you positioned to achieve the revenue goals you have identified?
• Where is the most logical place to look for growth?
• What exists to support the desired growth?
• What additional support will your team need to achieve the desired increases?

By understanding where you have been, you can begin to determine where you should go.

Step 2. Create a clear ideal customer profile

For most businesses, 80% revenue comes from 20% client. By reviewing your previous year, you can determine which customers spend the most money, buy more than one product, are the easiest to work with, and have the shortest sales cycle.

Figure out what your best customers do and make a list of those criteria. This will become your ideal customer criteria. Dig into the demographics and psychographics of your ideal customer to create a comprehensive profile for your reps.

An ideal customer profile provides guidelines for your sales reps that help them spend their time effectively on the prospects most likely to convert and deliver loyal customers quickly.

Step 3. Time for a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis tell you how well positioned you are to grow your existing accounts, find new accounts like the ones you have, and find new ideal clients? A SWOT includes an assessment of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT).

A SWOT is not an exercise in the imagination. It needs to be as grounded in reality as possible, so get your sales, marketing, and product teams together to do the SWOT.

Your job is to figure out how to leverage your strengths to capitalize on opportunities. Consider your weaknesses and threats, the internal and external obstacles that will hinder your ability to achieve these goals.

Ask yourself and your team what needs to be done to minimize these threats and weaknesses.

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Be specific in your efforts. Research the reasons you're not selling more to existing customers and the reasons reps have trouble closing a business.

Understand which products are selling well and why. You will need this information to build your plan.

Step 4. Define a clear market strategy

Now that you've assessed where you've been and what's worked, start thinking about where you're going.

Now is the time to think about a market strategy. Consider the following questions based on your work so far:

• How far can you grow existing accounts?
• How can you leverage existing accounts to get referrals?
• How much can you increase revenue in existing territories with existing products?
• How much can you increase your revenue in existing territories with new products
• How much can you increase your revenue outside of existing territories with existing products?
• How much can you increase your revenue outside of existing territories with new products?

It is likely that the cheapest and fastest income will come from existing accounts. The slowest and most expensive new revenue will come from growing new product sales in new territories. I would start this process with key account plans for your top 10 customers.

Step 5. Create clear revenue goals

When you combine your given revenue goals with the market strategy you created based on an assessment of the past and current situation, you can generate realistic revenue goals for territories and individuals.

Now is the time to think about the support your sales team needs to achieve these goals. Get your marketing team, sales team, and product team together to work on a plan.

Handing your sales team new, baseless quotas will in reality leave all parties disappointed and frustrated.

Step 6. Develop and communicate a clear positioning

The market strategy you created will help you determine how you need to position your business and products to achieve growth. Remember that you have different market segments that each need a clear positioning plan.

It is not enough to ask sellers to determine positioning. Sales, marketing, and product teams must work together to create buyer personas or positioning statements and value propositions that meet each different need.

Step 7. Clear action plan, a good idea for a good sales strategy

We tend to send sales reps to prioritize their work on their own. If you want your reps to succeed, it's time to set up a funnel and opportunity planning process that works well.

Now that you know how much revenue you need to get and where it should come from, each sales rep should create a funnel that shows how they plan to generate that revenue. They may have more success working with marketing and including existing leads that support specific goals.

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As your reps create their funnel, train them to ask themselves the following questions:

• How much should I earn for each type of income?
• What level of sales does this represent?
• How many calls does this represent?
• How long does this represent?

If I call existing customers, how many calls do I have to make to close ten existing customers on new products?

How many new ideal clients will I have to call to close? Capture the answers to these funnel questions from each rep, along with next actions and timelines. But worry less about closing dates and more about next actions and next action dates.

Conclusion

These seven steps form the basis of an executable sales strategy. At the end of this process, your sales team will have clear priorities that everyone understands, clear results that everyone can measure, clear guidelines that everyone can follow, and clear goals that everyone can work towards. work.

You will have righted the ship and will be ready to embark on a successful journey. Shipwreck avoided! However, here is a training that allows you to have an explosive conversion rate on your online store. It's an affiliate link.

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