To develop a world-class sales organization, companies should follow a defined methodology that employs management processes and accountability tools to help their sales organization successfully engage with leads and develop them into customers.
The key to building a customer base lies in winning an initial set of customers as quickly as possible, and building a solid relationship through consistently and fully satisfying all of their needs. These early customers are an invaluable source of feedback from actual members of your target market; feedback which will help to validate your core offering, as well as provide insight into ways you may be able to modify and improve your product or service to better meet market needs.
Successful companies have a well-defined sales strategy that not only utilizes prospect information obtained through its relationship and reputation efforts, but is based on a systematic account management and opportunity management process.
The program typically begins with reviewing and optimizing the sales cycle, and understanding buyer needs at each stage of the cycle. This is then used to define the optimal sales organization, processes and tools the company requires. The overall sales design must integrate seamlessly with marketing and business development.
The sales organization typically comprises any or all of inside sales, outside sales and/or channel partners. The role of each in the sales cycle must be defined, together with appropriate metrics. Processes must be defined to ensure smooth integration, communication and hand-offs between different parts of the sales team.
By focusing on a defensible target market and building a strategic marketing program to attract leads, you establish a strong business foundation for growing customers, revenue and profitability.
Direct sales
A direct sales model should be structured to accommodate a prospects buying cycle for a particular product or service. The model can be simple, requiring resources with solution selling expertise, or it could can be highly successful in specialized, complex and high priced product markets; however, the buying needs of your customer must be well defined and they must be well qualified in order to expect predictable sales. In all cases, special consideration must be given to selling skills and geographic and vertical industry requirements.
Channel sales
Building accountable and measurable sales channels through the Internet, consultants, resellers and partners can be an effective way to facilitate more sales. Channels allow you to economically and effectively reach niche markets, expand your geographic footprint, bundle with other solutions and introduce your product or service to new target industries.
Partners
The right partner can help to increase visibility, enhance credibility, and in some cases reduce marketing and development costs. Much like finding, attracting, and retaining customers, developing worthwhile partnerships involves understanding partner needs and goals, and then creating solutions and messaging that speak to these. Identify potential partners for possible strategic alliances in marketing and/or development efforts, and work to meet their needs in order to create a mutually beneficial relationship.
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Develop a plan of action to achieve the company’s revenue and profitability objectives
Establish a plan of action that enables you to realize your growth goals. This includes the development of your direct and channel sales model, assessment of resource and skill development needs, and a detailed metric tracking program for gauging plan success.
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Build internal and external resources to grow sales
Recruit resource skills in alignment with your defined sales model and support resources with sales tools and reporting processes to hold them accountable and ensure their success. Documenting your sales processes establishes a foundation for team management and guarantees a repeatable training program for future growth.
- Optimize the development of sales opportunities
Work smart by sourcing and building your target database to maximize return on investment with lead generation and calling campaigns. Your sales resources will be more successful in meeting outreach and sales goals and management will be better equipped to gauge forecast accuracy.
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Measure results, refine success, address challenges and modify as needed
A critical and often overlooked step in any sales methodology is the establishment of closed-loop feedback processes between sales, marketing and the executive team. The consistent exchange of information, ideas and program results creates a corporate culture committed to providing constructive feedback for the benefit of the entire company.
