Ask a manager if his company's sales strategy is clear to his staff, and he'll say "yes" without hesitation.
Now, ask one of his sales reps if he knows why he has to get his 5 appointments a week, and the answer will be far less clear!
This difference in perception reflects a challenge you are surely facing: getting your teams to adhere to your sales strategy.
Because achieving your objectives depends on your employees implementing your corporate strategy.
So how do you get your teams to understand the benefits of this strategy and get them to apply it in the field?
*Source: Forbes survey
KEY No. 1 - Translate your strategy into action
One of the most common mistakes made when discussing sales strategy with salespeople is to focus solely on the results achieved.
Why do you do this? Because you can no longer act on results! They represent only the visible part of sales activity.
We can, however, act on the various sales actions that lead to these results.
The implementation of a Sales Action Plan will enable you to define 3 essential levers for your sales activity, reflecting your strategy:
By focusing on the sales actions of your teams, you deliver two key elements to your sales force: a sense of your strategy and the concrete means to achieve your objectives.
Because it's one thing to ask your sales people to sell 5,000 copies of your flagship product... It's quite another for your teams to achieve this objective.
By detailing the stages of your sales process and associating concrete sales activities with them, you can help your staff identify their strengths and areas for improvement.
To help your teams optimize their sales efforts, we're sharing our "Go/No go" scoring chart with you.
This tool, which you can add to on a daily basis, helps you to select the opportunities with the greatest potential, thanks to different criteria based on the main stages of a sales process!
KEY No. 2 - Make the most of your resources
Today's customer expectations have changed dramatically when it comes to sales. Influenced by changes in technology and buying habits, customers are increasingly demanding, with expectations that include :
- A personalized experience: salespeople must identify unique needs and add value to them.
- Real-time communication : customers want to be able to communicate with sales staff quickly and efficiently.
- Transparency : salespeople must be transparent about the products and services they sell, including prices and conditions.
- In-depth knowledge: salespeople need to have in-depth knowledge of the products and services they sell, including the pros and cons.
With this in mind, it ' s important for salespeople to adapt to these new expectations to maintain their relevance and competitiveness in the marketplace. Make the most of the resources you make available to your sales force, so that they can apply your sales strategy in the field.
Make a list of these resources with two objectives in mind: on the one hand, to make your sales reps aware of them so that they take them on board, and on the other, to boost their motivation by showing them that the company is investing to give them the means to achieve the results they're aiming for.
Some examples of resources :
At Kestio, our digital learning team offers interactive and engaging training modules to meet the personalized expectations of our customers. If you're still not sure, discover a video presenting our approach.
And if you're interested, you can talk to one of our digital learning experts!
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KEY No. 3 - Work on your mindset
The mindset of sales teams plays a key role in achieving their objectives. A positive attitude can lead to successful negotiations and satisfied customers.
The manager's role will be to give a positive impetus to his team, by celebrating successes and offering positive perspectives for the future. This can be achieved by asking the team for their victories of the week, sharing new ideas that have worked, empathizing with team members and seeking out the unspoken.
Relate the sales strategy and objectives for the coming months to the victories achieved over the past year, by asking yourself the following questions:
- What lessons did you learn?
- How are they used in the current strategy?
- How can you duplicate them or draw inspiration from them to build a scalable model based on variables observed on a certain scale?
Webinar - What motivational levers to adopt for each
each employee?
KEY No. 4: Expert advice
