This is an essential and solid foundation on which to build your action. However, the hardest part remains: ensuring that this strategy is deployed as effectively as possible in the field to bear fruit and achieve your target results. 3 major levers are available to you in this area: team engagement, the translation of your strategy into operational action plans, and the implementation of effective management. What do they consist of?
Guarantee a high level of engagement from your teams
To engage means getting your teams to decide to carry out concrete operational actions, that are effective and measurable. The level of engagement of your managerial and sales teams depends on various non-exclusive factors. How to operate to act favorably on this commitment?
First, by sharing the defined strategy: present this strategy to your teams, clearly explaining the why, the what, and the areas of work defined to involve them in its implementation.
But engaging also means listening to your teams about their motivations and obstacles, in order to address these obstacles, and to strongly involve them in developing the actions to be taken.
Finally, don't lose sight of the fact that you must also "create desire", beyond the constraints, by proposing an inspiring ambition! Annual seminars, in particular, are key moments to act on the commitment of sales teams effectively (we have dedicated an article to best practices for successful seminars and engaging teams)
Translate the commercial strategy into operational action plans
Sales action plans serve as the roadmap for your employees. They determine the key moments of the year (sales seasonality, trade shows, contract renewals, etc.) and the precise planning of actions, resources, and tools to be implemented on a weekly, or at the very least, monthly basis.
They serve as the operational link to the commercial strategy defined upstream: number of opportunities to identify, frequency of visits per customer or prospect segment, type of visit to conduct (needs discovery, identification of decision-makers, closing, etc.).
They ensure the practical implementation in the field of the expected level of effort, coverage, and commercial pressure on their portfolio.
To ensure the implementation and scope of these action plans, however, one last point is crucial: their management, and therefore the management style implemented.
Implement effective sales management.
What are the components of a sales management approach that ensures the effective deployment of your strategy and the implementation of action plans?
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- Monitoring actions and supporting sales representatives: segmenting accounts in the CRM, planning actions, creating reports and monitoring coverage and sales pressure dashboards, associated with conducting regular individual interviews and co-constructing progress plans to improve results.
- Results analysis: monitoring and managing KPIs. For example, during the sales pipeline review, track and analyze volume, value, and time spent on opportunities to optimize the allocation of sales effort.
- Regular coaching and training of sales representatives: developing the performance of sales representatives by focusing on skills and competencies. Field support and coaching sessions, in particular, lead to demonstrable results. (Read our article on field coaching on this topic).
It is necessary to act on all of these levers to ensure an effective deployment of the commercial strategy that you have defined and to secure the achievement of your objectives. In some cases, however, it is complex for Sales Directors to act on all of these factors in a coordinated manner, for example in a context of strong pressure on their market. That's why we offer support programs to act successively or globally on each of these levers, in order to accelerate the implementation of actions and optimize their results.
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