If you haven’t already it may be worth your while to hold a formal review and business/sales strategy planning session with your team before the new financial year kicks in. Many markets have and are going through major changes and this requires us to be on our toes and ready for action.
The challenge for any business, especially those of us who run a small business with limited man power and resources, is to take the time out to work on our business and plan for the future rather than stay stuck in the day to day of our businesses. This is a vital part of our job and can set us up very well for the future. If we stop and look to review and reassess our strategies, plans and actions and take into account what the market is doing, we in a better position to note the vital signs and opportunities that can help us secure our business future. Ideally this type of process should be done on a regular basis at least formally twice to three times per year.
So with that in mind my team and I are putting aside Friday 2 May to come together and work on our business strategy for the next 3 years and our sales strategy for 2008/09 and beyond. My business has gone though many iterations over the years and my long term goals are now coming to life. I now what to ensure that we are on the right track and I thought I would share with you the process we are going through to help us put in place the best and right strategy for us to realise our goals and fulfill our market potential and expectations.
Now I confess that I am not the most detailed person and ‘planning’ is one of my challenges so to keep me focused and on track here are some of the questions we will be preparing to address and answer as part of our planning and strategising. Ultimately our aim in going through this process is to make sure we have a profitable and viable business.
Our vision and mission for being in business
- WHAT do we stand for?
- WHY are we in this market space?
- WHAT do we want to best known for?
- WHAT are the values the guide us in our work?
- WHAT are our goals for the next FY, 2-3 years, 5+ years?
Our Customers
- WHO are we specifically targeting?
- WHY are we targeting them?
- WHAT does a viable ‘ideal’ customer look like?
- HOW do we find them?
- WHAT do they specifically want or need now?
- WHAT problems do we currently solve for our customers?
- WHAT products/services to we use to solve their problems?
- ARE our products/ services/ solutions solving their problems effectively?
- WHAT might they want or need in the future?
- WHAT can we offer them in the future?
- HOW do they want to buy?
- HOW do we need to sell to them?
- HOW do they want our products / service delivered?
- WHAT is our customer acquisition & retention strategy?
- WHAT are their expectations of us?
Our Competitors
- WHO is our competition?
- Current Competition
- Peripheral Competition
- Emerging Competition
- WHAT markets are they operating in?
- WHY are they in this market space?
- WHAT is their primary objective / goal?
- WHAT do they do well?
- WHAT don’t they do well?
- HOW are we positioned against them?
- WHAT is our competitive advantage?
Our Value Proposition & Service Standards
- WHAT is our unique selling proposition (USP)?
- WHAT is our promise?
- WHAT is our sales expectation?
- WHAT is our service level standard?
- HOW effective are we?
- WHAT do we do well?
- WHAT do we need to be better at?
Marketing & Product
- HOW effective have our current marketing activities and tools been? (i.e. PR, SEO, Brochures, Events, etc.)
- WHAT marketing activities and tools do we need to keep on using? & WHY?
- WHAT marketing activities and tools do we need to stop using? & WHY?
- HOW effective is our current product mix? What are the most profitable areas? What are the least profitable areas?
- WHAT is the $ value of our average sale?
- WHAT product mix do we take to market?
Steps to ‘Yes’ (Sales Process)
- WHAT is our current sales cycle? (how long does it take to make a sale?)
- WHAT is our current ‘prospecting : sales’ ratio
- WHAT are our current sales activities and HOW often did we do them to achieve our current revenue? (Prospecting, Sales Meetings, Account Management & Networking)
- HOW effective have they been?
- HOW often do we need to prospect to make enough sales appointments with viable prospects to make enough sales to meet our goals?
- HOW effective is our current sales process?
- WHAT do we need to change to be more effective as sales people? (Structured sales communication process & skills, human relations, motivations; values, behaviours & attitudes; problem solving & decision making; self management, planning, etc.)
Sales Inputs & Outputs
- WHAT are our current Performance Expectations & Rewards
- HOW do we need to allocate customers? (by territory, industry, size, etc.)
- HOW do we set targets? (revenue allocation, profits, phasing, etc.)
- WHAT levels of responsibility and authority do each of us need to have?
- HOW do we currently manage revenue & profit?
- HOW do we forecast?
- HOW effective is our current CRM system in terms of capturing the right customer, marketing and other sales data?
- HOW effectively are our people at putting in the right data into our CRM?
- HOW effectively do we use the data we capture?
I hope this helps.
As many of you may be aware, putting together a business strategy and associated sales / marketing/ operation plans is all well and good, however they will remain intellectual abstractions until we put them into action. Good luck with your business and sales planning process.
If you want a Sales Planning template for your business call us on (+61) 03 9532 7677
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