Sales policy: Optimizing the sales process

It is true that the commercial effectiveness of the company depends in part on the individual performance of each of its sales representatives. However, by implementing a good commercial policy, the sales management can better manage, control and steer its sales force. This is a clear roadmap to guide your sales forces in their activities. The KESTIO experts support you in developing a solid commercial policy. We will equip you with steering tools to structure your sales chain with, as a result, predictable sales.

Sales policy and sales strategy, what are the differences?

The two terms, commercial policy VS commercial strategy, are often confusing. However, even if they both refer to decisions made by leaders, in this case the sales management, they are at different levels. If we give a simple definition of commercial policy, it would be the general orientation of the company in terms of marketing its products and / or services. As for the commercial strategy, it indicates all the actions and means to be implemented to achieve what has been defined in the commercial policy. This is then broken down into a Commercial Action Plan (CAP), which is at the operational level.

The commercial policy includes the internal rules, principles, and procedures aimed at effectively supporting the sales process. It also includes the expected behaviors of the participants in this process (sales representatives, sellers, and customer service) to facilitate communication and cooperation with prospects and customers.

Generally, the commercial policy includes the following elements:

How to implement a sales policy?

Sales organization: this involves defining the roles and missions of the sales teams. This makes it possible to distribute tasks wisely in order not to depend on high-performing sales representatives. With a good organization, the loss of a key salesperson is less tragic for the company. It is more effective to categorize sales forces by market (key accounts, mid-market, etc.), by sector (industry, energy, transport, health, etc.) or by activity (qualification of incoming prospects, cold calling, finalizing sales, customer loyalty, etc.).

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Sales objectives: These are the overall objectives, the objectives per market segment, and the individual sales objectives for each salesperson. These objectives must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART).

The sales compensation policy: Fixed compensation, variable compensation, commission, bonus on objectives... Which compensation system should be adopted to motivate the sales force? In the case of variable compensation, what is the payment frequency? Is it granted on a collective or individual basis? Should a floor or ceiling be set?

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Sales Management: It is important to choose the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are best suited to the company's activities (turnover, number of leads, number of appointments, average deal value, sales cycle length, conversion rate, customer satisfaction, etc.).

Our support in commercial policy

If you want to put an end to random sales and accelerate your company's growth, our programs are for you. At KESTIO, we offer training and coaching sessions to support SME managers in implementing a strategic sales policy. More than 50 sales experts are at your disposal, not to mention the online resources on our platform.

We assist leaders in building and optimizing their sales policy. Thanks to our in-house philosophy of "doing with you" and not "doing for you," benefit from a real boost in skills. You will have in your hands a real sales management tool that is the key to better sales performance. You will understand how to direct the efforts of sales representatives through an effective compensation method. Thanks to a structured sales organization, the management of your sales teams will be facilitated. In addition, you will have the necessary knowledge to set realistic sales forecasts and allocate adequate resources to increase profitability. If you want to make additional sales, you will know which performance levers to activate in terms of sales policy.

If you already have sales plans in place, it's crucial to adopt an agile vision of the sales function. The best sales policy is one that is updated regularly. This is indeed an iterative process to be improved according to the sales results obtained.