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Establishing a sales strategy regardless of economic conditions

Format of the webinar

1. Smaller group allows for more interaction

2. Feel free to interrupt at any point to ask a question or contribute to the discussion – the goal is to have an interactive discussion so we can benefit from everyone’s experience

3. If you are in a noisy area please put your phone on mute

Agenda

• The current state of the economy – where we’ve come from and where it appears we are heading

• What a sales strategy is and why it is important to have one – especially now

• A tale of two strategies – part 1

• Components of a sales strategy

• A tale of two strategies – part 2

• Introduction to defining and aligning your market webinar on November 4th

– Plus a homework assignment in preparation for those that plan on attending the next in the 3-part series

The current state of the economy – where we’ve come from and where it appears we are headingWe’ve all read the headlines…

• “jobless rate hits 9.8% but only tells half the story”• “full jobless picture is more like 17%”• “national debt hurting the country”• “US factory orders plunge unexpectedly in August” (reported Oct 2, 2009)• “decline in durable goods signals trouble for manufacturing”

So with all this bad news what are we as business owners and those responsible for generating sales to do???

Perhaps it's time to take control of what we can control and increase our proactive sales and marketing efforts since it doesn't appear we're going to have the luxury of simply being reactive and waiting for business to magically reappear.

What a sales strategy is and why it is important to have one – especially now

Strategy is defined as a careful plan or method.

Strategy Components

• The strategy must be specific and detailed.• The strategy must be measurable.• The strategy must be attainable.• The strategy must be realistic.• The strategy must be time-sensitive.

A discussion on the importance of moving from “reactive” to “proactive” and how a sales strategy can help you achieve this transition!

A tale of two strategies - part 1 Company “A”

A custom machine tool builder selling to the automotive industry decides it wants to go after the medical market where there is more business at higher profits. Its “strategy” is to bring on a new line of machine tools used in that industry. Buy a prospect list for the sales people to call. Post the information on its website, generate great brochures, and then. . . . .nothing.

A tale of two strategies - part 1

Why didn’t anything happen? Because the company didn’t have a strategy to enter this market.

• How is this company going to change its shop in order to be accepted as a custom machine builder in the medical industry? How is it going to train its operations staff, project managers, sales people, programmers, and installers?

• What exactly is the company selling and to whom? Who are the contacts? The decision-makers? What is the decision-making process? The buying criteria? The sales process?

• How will the new line be priced and will it be accepted by the market? What is the competition and what advantages/disadvantages does the competition have?

• What are the sales goals? How will those numbers be achieved and in what period of time?

Recall the components of a strategy

Strategy Components

• The strategy must be specific and detailed.• The strategy must be measurable.• The strategy must be attainable.• The strategy must be realistic.• The strategy must be time-sensitive.

Lets take a look at each of these in more detail…

The strategy must be specific and detailed

A sales strategy must answer some basic questions such as:

• What exactly is the company selling• To whom? • Who are the contacts? • Who are the decision-makers? • What is the decision-making process? • What is the buying criteria? • What is the sales process?• Who is the competition and what advantages/disadvantages does the

competition have?

The strategy must be measurable

It’s important to have data points that are constantly being researched and updated as the market changes…

• My markets are…• The demographics of my markets are…• The industries within my markets are…• There are “x” number of companies in “y” industries within my “z”

markets…• Of those “x” number of companies, by industry, within market I have/want

_% market share• My current quote to close ratio is _%• Based on the number of companies of _ and my close ratio of _% I need to

touch each prospect in my territory _ # of times per year/quarter/month in a proactive manner.

The strategy must be attainable

As leaders it is important for us to not set ourselves or our teams up for failure…

• Have we ever before done what we are proposing be done now? • How has the market, my competition or my capabilities changed in order

to accomplish this?• Do we have tools, technology, people, training and management

components to execute this?• Am I willing, capable and committed to seeing this through?

The strategy must be realistic

Those of us who are entrepreneurially predisposed tend to view the glass as almost full (not just half full)!

• Focus on the facts• Obtain the data• Study the data• How does my strategy align with the data?• What adjustments are needed to align the strategy to the data – not the

other way around!

The strategy must be time-sensitive

Establishing time-sensitive deliverables or key achievable points is critical to the long-term success of the strategy…

• I require a complete sales and marketing plan by “x” date• Within that plan I will require two inside and one outside sales person and

will have their profiles done by “x” date, hired a recruiter by “y” date and have offers out by “z” date

• My website will have SEO complete by “x” date• My direct mail campaign will be initiated by “x” date• My sales people will be following up on these mailers by “x” date• We’ll be generating “x” new prospect appointments by “y” date• Based on my close ratio of _% we will be on target to hit production levels

of “x” by “y” date• I will review and recalibrate my plan by “z” date

A tale of two strategies - part 2Company “B”

A machine tool distributor selling to the automotive industry decides it wants to diversify into medical, aero, and energy where there is more business at higher profits.

• They begin down the path of educating themselves on these industries in their markets. Trade shows, competition, periodicals, web research, symposiums etc…

• They obtain the data• They formulate a very detailed strategy with all the components

mentioned today

And then what happens…

A tale of two strategies - part 2

• Auto is now <60% of their overall business (used to be 95%) and of the auto a larger percentage of it is with the transplants where there was less of a downturn

• Three record years of sales increases – doubling their annual revenue from the point in time they designed and started executing their strategy

• While still struggling during these challenging times they have not laid any employees off or reduced working hours due to their diversification

• In a position to take over market share from their competition who did not adjust and are starting to go under and this is happening at a greater pace right now

They will come out of this downturn relatively unscathed, with an increase in market share and the ability to increase margins and leverage competitions lack of capital and grow even more in the years to come!

Introduction to defining and aligning your market

Now that we have introduced the why of a strategy – as well as having touched on the what… the next webinar in this series will get deeper into the defining and alignment of your market.

Homework if you choose to do it…

Review the questions we discussed in this webinar and see which questions are missing from our list and add them. Then make a list of the questions youcannot answer and determine your next steps and timeframes to get theanswers.

This will position you well for the detail that we will be getting into next month Wednesday November 4, 2009 at 1:00 PM EST.

Q & A

Questions?

For more information or to just chat feel free to contact me directly at brian@thesalesmatrix.com

Thank you for attending and participating and I look forward to working with all of you again soon.

Thank You!

I look forward to meeting with you again soon!