Sales Effectiveness – Do You Have the Right Sales Game Plan for Growth
Be honest. How much time do your sales reps spend on sales pre-call planning? Data from multiple sources tells us that sales reps spend less than 10% of their time on preparing and planning to win new deals. Far too many sales reps wing it when, if only they were better prepared and had a proven sales process to follow, they would be far more successful.
Just as sports organizations have learned that data and analytics can help them find undervalued future superstars, high performing sales organizations identify and leverage the key sales activities with the highest impact for their:
For most solution selling oriented sales teams, it’s high time to develop a compelling sales game plan for growth.
The Sales Game Plan for Growth from High Performing Sales Teams
High performing sales teams in terms of market share and revenue growth are almost 3 times more likely than lesser performing teams to excel in the five measures of sales planning below. This assumes that the sales strategy is clear enough and that the sales culture is aligned enough in the eyes of the sales team. How does your sales team stack up?
- Customer and Market Insights
Top performers are obsessed with being customer centric. They understand the competitive landscape and consistently use strategic account management best practices to prioritize strategic accounts, capture and share client information, and develop clear and compelling strategies to win new accounts and ensure that existing customer relationships meet their potential.
Do your sales reps know your marketplace and what matters most to their target accounts? - A Relevant and Time-Tested Sales Playbook
Like a playbook in sports that plans for the most frequent and most important in-game situations, a sales playbook is a company-specific curation of the top sales scenarios, strategies, plans, tactics, and tools to win deals – typically across different stages of the sales process. Effective sales playbooks are based on customer-verified outcomes and contain the top sales plays and tactics that contribute to the majority of revenue growth and profitability.
Does your sales team have easy access to the best practices of how to handle the specific selling situations that matter most? - Effective Sales Coaching
High performing sales managers know who and how to coach their sales team to higher performance. Sadly, most sales leaders tell us that they barely have time to manage their sales teams and that they just don’t have time to effectively coach everyone.
To increase sales coaching effectiveness and to decrease the amount of coaching time required, do not invest equal amounts of time and effort in coaching all members of the sales team without regard to their level of receptivity to coaching or their overall performance. Avoid basing sales coaching and development efforts on exhaustive lists of sales behaviors rather than outcome based sales competencies.
What if you could cut your coaching time in half and get better results? - Targeted Sales Training
Once your sales strategy and culture are clear and aligned and after you have the insights, sales playbooks, and coaching to drive and support sales growth, your last step is to provide proven and targeted business sales training to close identified sales confidence and competence gaps to live your sales strategy and process in a way that makes sense to your customers, your business, and the sales team.
Have you identified and invested in the “money making skills and mindsets” that truly matter most for your unique situation?
The Bottom Line
Consistent sales growth does not come easy. According to Gartner, only 6% of sales leaders are confident their sales team will meet or exceed their revenue targets. A successful sales game plan for growth takes commitment, clarity, and alignment.
To learn more about creating a sales game plan for growth, download 7 Ways to Stress Test Your Sales Strategy
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