We might think that a sales strategy and a business strategy are synonymous — but the savvy leader knows they are not. They should, however, work in tandem. The business strategy is the overarching game plan for a company: it includes branding, hiring choices, partnerships, and — yes — sales. Sales strategies activate valuation strategies and serve the company as a whole. So what happens when sales is doing one thing while business strategies are doing another? Continue reading to get your sales strategy properly aligned with your business strategy.
Perhaps you are driving toward strategies for fast growth, but your sales force is chasing small accounts that will never result in enough revenue for your company to achieve big sales deals. Or, maybe your sales team is focusing their efforts on landing large accounts when your business strategy is to grow by diversifying your client base with multiple smaller accounts. Either way, a misalignment between your sales strategy and business strategy results in lost growth opportunities for your organization.
There’s one key way to align these principles and grow as a united company: become super efficient at transactions and understand their strategic intents.
If your business strategy relies on your sales force targeting numerous, small accounts, your sales strategy should drive your sales force to become the most efficient and effective transaction processor it can be. This can be accomplished by improving transaction efficiency. This is typically done online, through a portal, a store, or an inside salesperson. Through this process, your company is valued not for the salesperson’s knowledge, but for how quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively you can provide value. We call that the ‘’lower cost channel’’ or the ‘’self-serve model’’. When you do not have to deploy your expensive assets (live humans), the ROI of such a transaction improves.
Let’s face it: time is money.
That means knowing what kind of energy to expend on smaller sales and what needs to happen for the big catches and key accounts. This also necessitates clear communication from leadership: if leaders are not communicating what kinds of sales, partnerships, and accounts they want, sales managers will make their own decisions. And as skilled as sales managers are, they are not mind readers and they do report to upper management.
Bigger sales may take their own special effort, and this requires personnel to land these larger sales. Engaging presentations, articulate sales people, and charismatic energies are all needed to more efficiently clinch larger clients. That means knowing where individual team members’ gifts lie and placing them in the right roles can mean the difference between reeling in a big fish or letting it slip from your line.
With clear direction, expectations for sales of varying sizes, and the right personnel, your business will hum along with each team member knowing their strengths and roles and executing the company’s needs more efficiently. Without it, sales teams and managers will flounder and will not present a unified brand. Take it as a cautionary tale — one not only for your image, but also for the revenue!
Is landing big sales becoming difficult for your company? Schedule a free consultation with our professional consultants to see how you can better focus on high-gain business and sales strategies and activate large sales that impact growth.
