Is Your Corporate Strategy Encouraging a Race to the Bottom of Sales Profitability?
Your overall corporate strategy determines your top sales performer’s success. Solely focusing on a short term strategy of activities and price encourages a race to the bottom of your profitability goals. Your corporate
sales strategy should include components to address products/services as well as company differentiation.
First on the list is outfitting your team with the necessary tools to be successful. Examples would be a CRM system that is used exclusively by sales and marketing as a key component of your top line sales process. The CRM additionally aids management in understanding sales activity and metrics. Other examples are supplying remote devices such as iPads or other presentation/demonstration aids, supplying technical and other sales material which reinforces differentiation and most importantly sales training which needs to be comprehensive and ongoing.
Secondly, the corporate strategy must understand with laser precision who the customer is and what their needs are. We can discuss this in depth, however for the sake of brevity it’s the differentiation of needs and wants as well as features and benefits. Let me give you a simplistic example. When consumers buy “safe vehicles” they’re doing so not for the sole reason of having a good braking system, or a front end collision warning system…they purchase the vehicle ultimately to keep their loved ones safe and “avoid death”. This example gives focus to product/service development which focuses on the overarching needs of prolonging loved ones lives if in a vehicle accident. The sales/product/HR strategy should be built around that need as opposed to solely brakes and airbags. (View the Corporate Realization Quick Test)
Third, ensure your sales team is aligned with the geographic, technical, support, deliverability, product/service needs of your clients. There are numerous sales team structures including unique task assignments and organizational designs to be considered to maximize your particular opportunities. Some are more successful than others based on the client’s needs and or company capabilities. Some questions to ask yourself to help frame your sales structure effectiveness:
How simple is the sales role. Technical – Strategic – Transactional – Enterprise.
Capacity – How much selling capacity do I need as it relates to cash flow
How to deploy the sales team – Do you focus best sales members on the greatest opportunities, geography, product… Is this working?
Thru which sales channels do your buyers want to engage your sales team (How do they want to buy)?
Do you have the right sales talent in the appropriate critical roles?
Do you have the right team leader?
Research suggests that only a quarter of sales teams have the right strategy. That means 75% of sales teams can improve sales operations and therefore revenue.
Contact us to take advantage of our Sales Performance Evaluation tool. We can work with your team to develop the right strategy and develop your competitive advantage.
Resolution summary:
My recommendation is that the entire executive team be engaged to ensure everyone is aligned and moving toward the same objective and doing so in concert.
If you're the owner/CEO and facing this scenario our firm is potentially a source of education / solution for you.
If you’re the head of sales, ensure your team has the training, tools, and that your structure will maximize sales opportunities.
