Develop Your Sales & Marketing Strategic Playbook

Sales & Marketing Strategies

It does not matter if you are a large organization or a solopreneur, it is imperative to have a joint strategy lead by management, the initiative needs to be clear, in writing, understood, and signed off on by all members of the sales and marketing team. It must meet and be aligned with the expectations of the company, taking into consideration the “companies” growth strategy and ensure the efforts of the sales and marketing teams are in alignment with the overall strategy of the company. As I work and consult with distributor and supplier clients internationally, I am amazed at how few really know their businesses and clients. Leaving expectations to chance is a sure-fire way toward strife, frustration, and potential failure. There are simple strategies you can implement to lessen the angst and frustration, putting you on a successful path!

Establish Company Goals

Goals are critical, they provide benchmarks and targets which should help all areas of the company excel and succeed. The three target areas below must work in unison with one another, unlike in the past where sales and marketing worked independently, they now must work collectively to ensure the maximum result. Marketing too needs to be focused on profits, defining KPI’s (key performance indicators) which will help drive a positive revenue experience, therefore measurement is imperative to that end.

• Sales – if you are a solopreneur, and want maximum success, define these goals for yourself. If you are with a larger firm, defining the overall goals, and then refine those for each salesperson, and make sure they align with the companies’ overall goals. Having goals helps in keeping sales on track and gives markers to achieve milestones which will enrich their efforts.

• Marketing – what marketing efforts will you undergo to ensure the goals are met. My experience has shown, there is NEVER a one size fits all solution, everyone engages differently. The range of tools available are immense: email, social media, direct marketing, direct mail, collateral material, dimensional mailings, phone calls – and better yet, a combination of these. What will your marketing efforts look like?

• Profitability

Identify the internal team members that will help achieve these goals:

Who on the team will be responsible for maintaining the standards, while holding the individual teams accountable?

• Management

• Internal Staff

• Sales & Marketing Team

• Internal Support Team

• Consultant (if required)

Create individual pre-agreed KPI’s for success.

Identify current clients. Classifying and segmenting your clients streamlines this process. Knowing your client, understanding their lifetime value and how those numbers play into the activities you design to connect with these various levels will aid in the most effective, measurable results.

• Sales – which clients drive the best quality sales, who are those A/B level clients, what are the key indicators of that group? What does an A and B level client look like, what are those specific numbers?

• Profitability – How do you provide amazing value where you can justify the highest profitability for your company? Profitability is one of the KPI’s I look to determine my top-level clients.

• Opportunities – where are your opportunities within your client base? It is easier to continue to sell and become most profitable selling organically. Asking questions, deep diving on their website will uncover those amazing opportunities.

Identify current marketing strategies.

• What are you currently doing that works? Do these methods need to modification, or should they be dropped?

• Are you continuing to do the same thing with no significant result? Dissect your efforts and determine what needs changed – and change it. There is no shame in determining that something needs to go. What worked in the past, may NOT be effective any longer.

• Developing a consistent strategy is essential, if you decide to begin a BLOG, Social Media posting, website updates, these efforts must be consistent. Spotty, haphazard posting or effort, leads to confusion of your brand

• Establish guidelines for each salesperson.

• Current clients – Identify your top tier clients, engage with them regularly.

• Inactive clients – review and identify all your inactive clients, look at your top-tier, A/B level clients and decide which are worth reactivating. Once identified, develop a measurable campaign to bring those top tier clients back into the fold.

• Prospective clients – understanding your current clients gives you a clear benchmark of who and which vertical markets you should be targeting. This effort provides focus, and clear direction.
  
  

Create regularly scheduled meetings (must attend)

Short meetings with concise agendas, 15 to 30 minutes in length, are ideal. Have agendas typed up and sent to everyone in the meeting. Instruct all to review and to be ready to contribute to the meeting. Have weekly takeaways which the team can work on and report back to the group and share. You may get pushback initially but stay focused. If you keep the meetings, short, high-energy, and positive, attendees will come to appreciate these short blitzes of energy.

Create access to various education platforms to assist growth.

I am a huge proponent of continuing education, I encourage any company, regardless of size to put a program in place to help educate your team. Every industry has Continuing Ed, in the promotions industry, PPAI has four education levels, TAS, CAS, MAS, MAS+. ASI has two, BASI and MASI. These can are acceptable in many ways:

• Live events at shows

• Industry Webinars

• Podcasts, Blogs

• If warranted, hire a coach that can assist with these efforts.
  
  

Address means to increase profitability in the organization.

Establish new guidelines,

Each person will be responsible, based on previous pre-agreed upon KPI’s, to work toward these goals.

•  Sales Goals

•  Profitability Goals

•  Marketing Activities

•  Coaching

•  Other opportunities for profitability growth

•  Sales

•  Print

•  Packaging

•  Kitting

•  Accessorizing

•  Sampling

•  Unique distribution

These points will get you on the right path, please review and send your thoughts.

Until next time, here is to your success, Best CQ