Sales Leaders: It All Comes Down to This

You’ve prepared for 2015.  The sales strategy is set.  You’ve defined your market and key buyers.  The team has been structured to maximize revenue efficiency.  The new compensation plan aligns with your sales strategy.  Everything is perfect on paper.

Now comes hard the part. Your team must execute the plan.

It’s easy to articulate a sales strategy.  It’s another thing to ensure the strategy reaches the front lines. What will your reps do during the customer-facing “moment of truth”? Will they revert back to old habits or deliver?

A properly designed execution plan brings your sales strategy to life.  It makes it easy for your reps to execute the strategy.  It drives adoption and learning of new concepts.  And it measures the success of each program through leading indicators and reports.

Download our report, “How to Make Your Number in 2015.” It includes real project examples of how top sales leaders execute sales strategy.

Here are the four main components of sales execution.  Each component has several questions.  Before you launch your strategy, ask yourself these questions.  If you have more No’s than Yes’s, your plans may never reach the field.

Sales Enablement: Get the right sales content into the hands of the right sellers at the right time though the right channel to move a sales opportunity forward.

• Are your “B” and “C” reps prepared to talk about the new solutions?  Or will they revert to legacy ones they are most comfortable with?
• Can you identify the reps that have the strongest skills, competencies, and knowledge to execute your initiatives?
• Is your content and training aligned with the solutions and customers of the strategy?

   

Sales Adoption: Drive sales adoption of sales programs.

• Have you reviewed past plans and programs that were not adopted by sales?
• Do you have a channel/plan to broadcast successes to increase the initiative’s effectiveness?
• Have you created training and expectations for managers?  Are they capable of directing and coaching their team on your strategy?
• Have reinforcement and adoption plans been created with a defined cadence and objective?

   

Forecast/Pipeline Management: Analyze data to produce insights for sales leadership.

• What KPIs will you monitor to ensure adoption?
• What leading indicators will you watch to address problems early on?
• Can you see which territories and reps are having the most success on the initiatives?

   

Reporting: Identify, design and create a set of reports that consistently satisfy the needs of the executive leadership team.

• Will your executive team have the information they need to know if the strategy is successful?
• Can a manager look at these reports and easily interpret them?
• Are your reports customizable by role, division, and timeframe?“

   

Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.” -General George Patton

Planning is only the beginning of a successful year.  The best sales strategy will only be effective if the field executes it.  Gain an understanding of what you need to do to be successful.  Download our report – “How to Make Your Number in 2015“ and learn how top companies plan for execution.