We have all been there, where the pressure is on for the Sales team to deliver, or your company is just launching in to a new market or even a new country. The Boss shouts “just get selling, you know what to do, you know how to do it – so go make it happen !”.
There is nothing wrong with this scenario, as often Sales needs a strong leader, who can both encourage and apply pressure when it is needed. But more often than not, there is a huge problem that many SME’s are just not even aware of – A complete lack of “A Sales Strategy”.
Let’s make this simple, as often strategy is misinterpreted as something created by university professors, or newly qualified MBA’s. Imagine you own a car, imagine that you are a very good driver, then if someone told you to “just drive”, you would instantly reply “not until you tell me where we are going, why we are going and who is going”. Only then of course you can plan your best route, work out if you have all you need (enough seats, fuel, money, refreshments). So, a business strategy is as simple as saying here is where we want to get to, and here is a great way to get there, and we will need the following resources and an estimate of how long this will take us.
Why then do many SME’s – not have a strategy? Well often their “sales” car, even if they had a strategy long ago, it now has become about “just drive it”, rather than working out where the next destination should be and what route will get them there to tap into the new revenues and profits. Also, let’s face it, the pointless driving can even look impressive to the business owner, as everyone is so busy driving all over the place. But Action without strategy is not focussed and at best a lucky dip!
Before you “dive” (or drive) into your next sales initiative, committing expensive man power, costly advertising, marketing channel expenditure – be sure you have a strategy, and that this strategy is up to date and razor sharp.
Strategy should travel backwards from the customer market place, all the way back to how your business is structured and operates. For example, maybe your main product, rather than just being sold to an end user as a one-off product, could be offered now as “Product as a Service” (PaaS), delivering huge potential benefits such as stronger customer relationships, regular revenue frequency, reduced cost of sales, Unique sales proposition to capture new market share etc etc”.
Or maybe your non-UK product works very well in your domestic market and its unique structure – but in the UK, your product risks looking out of date or not quite right for the British taste. Just a little research and formulation of a UK strategy could change your sales results from mediocre to fantastic, but if you just jump in your normal sales car and drive, you will never know “what could have been”.
Or is there a new “gap in the market”, that your business could be selling to. You won’t ever see this if you are too busy just chasing sales.
So on Monday, just have a think when you are in the office, do you really have a strategy, or are your team driving without a real sales and marketing road map, or an out of date map that is leaving you in the Sales slow lane.
If you would like to talk to us about how to help ensure you have a winning strategy for your sales team, or quiz and expert on what to do next – Just Call us today for an informal chat.