Is Sales Strategy a Must?

“Strategy” has become a buzzword that consumes big portion of our daily sales conversation. You could come across it when salespeople are referring to any abstract complex idea, plan, process or action they follow or followed on a certain challenging deal, saying; “my strategy is to hold still for few days before giving the client a visit and follow up to close the deal”.

On the other side, sales managers use it more frequently when describing their upcoming goals; “Our strategy is to go aggressive this year, hire more salespeople in order to increase our sales”. And when it comes to General Managers they may graciously use the word while describing their vision and options to expand to other markets and not to keep their eggs in one basket.

This article takes it to the next level by describing the importance of “strategy” in respect to its business terminology.

Strategy in a sales context

While it is important to know what strategy is and why it is important, it is also useful to differentiate between the word “strategy” used in our daily chit-chat and its definition as a business terminology.

Strategy is NOT:

• A process of actions of persuading clients to buy
• A goal, budget or sales plan
• A vision or mission statement

Strategy is the way that consists of a plan, choices, and decisions used to structuring the  entire sales organization in order to have a clear road towards greater performance, efficiency and effectiveness in meeting the overall business objective.
The development of a sales strategy involves making firm decisions in regards of:

1. What to sell – Targeted Offering: Focus on the products that meet the needs of each segment, and make sure salespeople are selling the right wares to the right prospects.
2. Whom to sell – Customer Segmentation and Market Description: who to target as customers and who to avoid. This provides an overview of the market’s composition, and demonstrates an understanding of key market dynamics.
3. How to Sell -Sales Force Design/model, structure and size: This will draw the structure, size and model of the sales force needed for executing the set strategy. The design includes salespeople role, customer segment held responsible to, products, areas and type.

Importance of a Laser Focused Strategy

A focused sales strategy gives direction to the salesforce in identifying and qualifying sales opportunities. It conveys a clear message which in-turn directs the salesforce to spend time targeting the correct clients with the right product/service.  It also provides a foundation upon which to develop the appropriate sales tactics. Further, it diminishes the stress of illusion when following a challenging journey to reach a set objective.

It is obvious that strategy is NOT a must; especially if the business objective is only to survive. But strategic thinking is the key when you need to take your business to a higher level.

A very interesting case study about Nespresso, that best describes the importance of how a clear strategic thinking was the key in Nestle’s turnaround of Nespresso Read More…

How We Could Help

We simply aid in putting together the required efforts and attention for building a laser focused sales strategy. The later would aid in structuring, transforming and optimizing  your sales performance.

This goes by applying all means of quantitative and qualitative analysis on your sales data. Then, we formulate  together those insights into a scientific based solution. In doing so, we enable organizations not only to overcome existing sales problems and challenges, but also to optimize their potential and build a platform for continuous improvement. Our intensive engagements include executing the set plan that link together people, strategy, plans and processes.

For case studies that have been drawn  from  Heed’s recent engagements
If you are facing any uncertain sales challenges, or interested in optimizing your sales performance feel free to contact us, or directly respond to mfarah@logicshape.com