Clients often struggle to understand what consultancy includes and looks like. This is very true when it comes to our sales consultancy offer. In our experience any approach we take to sorting out a client businesses sales problems and function requires three things, a sales development strategy to be put in place, an execution plan for that strategy and staff training where necessary that needs to be carried out.

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Sales Strategy

The strategy is needed because most businesses don’t have a plan for sales:

• Sales just happen either by demand pull from interested potential customers or through some sort of contact interface such as networking or a sales visit
• Little is understood on who, what and where works and sales becomes a scatter gun strategy
• Some companies do have a considered overview plan but it is often based around what has worked previously and not on any understanding or knowledge of the actual process involved or the marketplace they are in.
• For companies like these a lot of effort is relationship based which, whilst important, does little to develop sales effectiveness or best practice

This is why our involvement starts with developing a sales strategy for the client. A sales development strategy defines how a company is going to achieve its sales growth and market expansion objectives. It shows how a company plans to acquire new customers, retain existing ones, and how it will optimise its commercial performance.

• Adopting a sales development strategy is not just a choice; it’s a basic prerequisite to business growth. It optimises a company’s available resources by focusing them on areas where success is most likely
• By understanding a markets needs and the competitive opportunities that exist and understanding how that market consumes, a business can position its products or services in a more positive and effective way
• A sales development strategy provides a clear vision of the goals that a business needs to achieve, allowing quick and informed decision-making which will have positive outcomes

A sales development strategy goes much further than just selling more products or services. It’s a considered plan to grow your business, become stronger in the market and capitalise on those market opportunities that will give the best returns for you.

• The sales development strategy demonstrates how a company will play to its own strengths while adapting to competitive changes
• It utilises resources efficiently and outlines the actions a business will take to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and ensure growth is consistent
• A good sales development strategy is essential in helping a company grow sustainably

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From Strategy to a Working Plan

The second part of our consultancy comes after the sales strategy development stage and relates to putting the agreed strategy into action. Here we focus on how to turn a strategy into a working plan, be aware this is an area where many companies often stumble. Creating a strategy is essential, but it’s only the first step. It’s when a strategy is translated into timelines and responsibilities that it enables a business to deliver on key goals. Without this executional layer, the most brilliant, focused strategy will fall short of the desired impact. Here is the five step plan we use for sales strategy implementation.

• Step 1: Translate  the Strategy into a working plan - In many situations, strategies are defined in broad, directional terms and often lack deeper, clearer definition. So we need to draw up a plan that turns the plan into action. We work in partnership with you to achieve this
• Step 2: Confirm What the Priorities are - Once a strategy is more clearly defined, it is important to establish clear priorities. Typically, we challenge management teams to identify three to five top level sales priorities within a desired timeframe (e.g,. calendar year, multi-year etc.). What are the three to five most important things that need to get done from a sales perspective?
• Step 3: Define Strategic Initiatives - To make the strategy actionable, it needs to be broken into specific initiatives that individuals and/or teams can understand, own and execute. Each initiative should have clear goals, accountabilities, milestones and timing expectations.
• Step 4: Engage people within the business - This begins with identifying clear and accountable owners and participants who will work on the key initiatives in the working plan. They also need to be the communicators of the strategy and identify how it effects their operations and staff.
• Step 5: Measure, Monitor and Adjust -  Once you’ve translated the strategy into a plan of action and rolled it out across the organisation, the last step is to monitor your progress against the action plan. This needs to be a separate activity from monthly financial reporting and annual reviews.  We review each strategic priority and the associated initiatives in terms of “what’s working and what’s not working,” after which adjustments are identified and initiated. By doing this on a regular basis, we stay on top of important strategic efforts while making critical adjustments along the way.

Setting strategy is critical to success, but it’s only half the battle. The value of your strategy can only be realised when it’s translated into action. Set priorities and define key initiatives and assign them to specific individuals. Work on gaining broader buy-in. Then measure, monitor and adjust as needed. If you can maintain this discipline, you’re going to see incredible value from the sales strategy you worked so hard to create.

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Upskilling your Sales Team

The final part of our consultancy covers the training of the sales team. Many SME’s sales efforts are led by business owners/founders who had the initial business and product ideas and had to sell as well as produce the product or service in question.

• This leads to sales being very features led and technically based. In these cases, very little if any formal sales training has been completed and the sales role is often seen as something which is down to an individual’s natural ability and cannot be learnt
• Because of this sales can be a very inefficient process and is often not very effective, failing to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace
• Even when a sales team has had some formalised training it is good to put a single selling system in place that everybody knows and can follow

So after we agree the Sales Development Strategy with the client we then work together to create a bespoke on-going sales training package for all staff involved in sales.

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So this is a very quick overview of what you can expect if we get involved in helping you improve your sales performance and hit the growth and sales targets you want from your business. If you need help with developing a sales strategy, training your team or any operational aspect of your sales function and activity, call us on 01482 772261 or email us. We will be very happy to help you with any query you may have or come and see you for a no cost initial consultation.