Want a Winning Sales Strategy? Answer these 6 Questions
Want a Winning Sales Strategy? Answer these 6 Questions
It’s possible for sales teams to hit short-term revenue goals and for the company to still miss critical long-term targets. It’s not enough to give the sales team a better prospect list. That may help in the short-term, but it will only put a bandage on the larger issue, which is that leadership hasn’t developed or communicated a sales strategy.
It’s not uncommon for business leaders to start a sales strategy with sales goals. But a sales strategy doesn’t start with sales. In fact, a sales strategy ends with sales. There is a whole lot that happens before you can look at a sales team and say, “Hit these numbers.”
Answer These Big Questions!
Answer These Big Questions!
A revenue goal alone won’t result in the long-term strategic sales you need to sustain growth. But building a great sales strategy will help ensure the success of your team.
To create a great sales strategy and to effectively execute it, your sales team needs you to answer six big questions:
- What’s the bigger picture?
- What Ideal Customer Criteria can they use to prioritize prospecting?
- What are the top companies we want to reach and sell to successfully?
- What is your position in the market?
- What value proposition is appropriate for each buyer persona?
- What support can sales depend on from every department in the company?
Here’s how you can answer each question and position your sales team for success.
What’s the bigger picture?
What’s the bigger picture?
Leaders often think it is as simple as telling sellers what to sell. But, to truly grow your business and make the right sales, your reps need to understand your company vision. Make sure you explain where the company is going and where the market is going on a regular basis. Provide your sales team with insights regarding how the company intends to capture a new market or leverage technology changes. If you make changes to product availability or services, explain to your sales team why those changes were necessary. Or, better yet, involve your sales team in those decisions! Once reps see the bigger picture and the long-term vision for the company, they can bring their customers with you.
What Ideal Customer Criteria can they use to prioritize prospecting?
What Ideal Customer Criteria can they use to prioritize prospecting?
Did you know that in some companies as many as 90 percent of leads never receive a follow-up call? Sure, some of those leads may be unqualified or may not be worth your sales team’s efforts—but what about the one that is?
If your sales team has a glut of mediocre leads and no way to prioritize them, it’s likely they’re missing the opportunity to sell to the right person. To help them prioritize leads, provide sales and marketing Ideal Customer Criteria they can use to measure a potential client. This information will help your reps filter prime opportunities and pursue them in a focused way.
What are the top companies we want to reach and sell to successfully?
What are the top companies we want to reach and sell to successfully?
Your sales team shouldn’t be picking your top priority companies—leadership should be. Once you have defined your ideal customer you can use those criteria to make a list of the companies you want to target. Depending on your capacity, that could be 10 companies or 1,000. Once you select these companies, explain to your reps why these are the top target companies, which will help your sales team understand the bigger picture.
What is your position in the market?
What is your position in the market?
For your sales reps to effectively sell your company and products, they need to be able to communicate your position in the market. Look at the strength of the market, brand awareness, competition, and outside factors such as technology landscape or economics to clarify your positioning. Once you’ve completed your analysis, provide your team with a summary of your findings and a positioning statement they can use.
What value proposition is appropriate for each buyer persona?
What value proposition is appropriate for each buyer persona?
A value proposition flips the positioning statement to be customer-focused. Sellers need to explain to customers what your company offers in a way that resonates with prospects.
Your value proposition starts with the answer to these two questions:
What problem is your prospect having that you can help or solve with your solution?
What is unique about the way you solve this problem?
Provide your salespeople with real reasons that your ideal customers will get unique value from what you are selling. This will empower your salespeople to have the conversations they need to have.
What support can sales depend on from every department in the company?
What support can sales depend on from every department in the company?
Even with the answers to all of the above questions, your sales team will still be unsuccessful if they do not have buy-in from every department in the company. Many companies have at least one sales prevention department. It could be a production department that can’t fulfill the orders that the reps sell, or legal holding up contracts, or maybe it’s accounting.
Every member of your company needs to understand the sales team’s goals, how they are expected to achieve those goals, and how they can support the sales team. To get there, make sales a fully integrated part of your company. And ensure that other departments know the value and critical nature of a high performing sales team.
Sales Strategy Doesn’t Start with Sales
Sales Strategy Doesn’t Start with Sales
As I said in the beginning, sales strategy doesn’t start with sales. It ends with sales. If your sales team only receives a revenue goal, they will never be able to understand how to reach that goal in a way that grows your company for the long-run.
If you want more information about writing a winning sales strategy. Read 7 Steps to Build an Effective Sales Strategy and download the Sales Strategy Guide.
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