The Components and Logistics of a Strategic Sales Review

Start Your Sales Transformation Today!

The Components and Logistics of a Strategic Sales Review

Experienced sales executives know that to transform an organization, it all must start with strategy and direction. Where many of these same sales executives “fall down” is moving from the thought of a strategic transformation to the components of execution. There is an old military saying, amateurs talk tactics while professionals study logistics.?

To be successful, you must think not only about the goal, but the objectives, work steps, process and support components to successfully achieve your mission.?

To ensure you are not only focused on the strategy, but good execution, the following approach and logistical process can help you maximize your ability to succeed.

Key Questions to Ask During a Sales Transformation:?

Objectives of Your Sales Transformation?

As a sales leader, you should be looking to review your current sales model and create a better aligned coverage strategy to support the salesforce. In doing so, you will better position your sales team to service their clients as effectively as possible and maximize sales efficiency.

Specifically, you should look to achieve the following:

• Confirm overall go-to-market strategy, account planning, sales process and support to meet revenue growth goals
• Benchmark against industry and best practices for organizational structure, process and job roles
• Assess/Reconfirm organizational and account management strategy to best position the salesforce for success
• Assess/Reconfirm job roles and success profiles needed to meet overall sales strategy?
• Identify possible new structures, process and/or roles across the sales organization that will lead to a more effective and efficient organization to drive sales results; identify sustained enablement programs

What is the Work Step Process? A Four Step Guide to Get Started...

Work Step I: ?This work step confirms the current sales strategy and capability to meet go-to-market goals. It helps identify gaps in process, jobs, organizational structures/readiness and overall account effectiveness. Overall, it helps align the sales operating model to the corporate strategy and customer segmentation model.

Current State Diagnostic Study of Organization and Current Salesforce Readiness

• Document initial perspective on sales capabilities and align to account sales strategy
• Define/Clarify the current capabilities and needed capabilities of the sales function teams
• Understand and define the market opportunity data for the markets, customers and products
• Review industry practice data (jobs, organizational structure, sales strategies, compensation, etc.)
• Document a view on sales structure and areas needed to support new capabilities (market opportunity, territory sizes, organizational structure and job roles)
• Review sales organization structure considerations (organizing principles, spans, layers) and gather additional documentation around current state (support/management needs)
• Develop a recommended organization process/structure for the sales function and describe teaming across jobs; provide alternatives for discussion
• Finalize/Reconfirm organization structure/process and adjust supporting materials as required (i.e., role profiles)

Work Step II: ?This work step identifies the key competencies, accountabilities and skillsets required to be successful for each role(s) in your sales channels and involved in the sales process. A detailed profile(s) shows what “good looks like” as a sales rep and can be used for assessing and/or hiring reps of the future.

Job Role Need, Assessment and Success Profile Building

• Assessment of current roles and needs for future
• Top performer review – top 10% of RMs (this could include time studies)
• Leadership input gathering
• Development of initial success profiles for new job roles
• Align technical (sales) competencies to the corporate foundational competencies as necessary
• Refine and finalize success profiles

Work Step III:?This work step creates a performance management and incentive program that aligns with driving sales, reducing sales cost, and establishing a performance-minded culture within the sales team.

Performance Management and Reward Recommendations

• Assess and develop performance management and reward structures to support go-to-market strategy and job roles
• Model financial cost and finalize plan design and organization outcomes
• Market/Industry practice comparison and review
• Finalize KPI's and compensation plans to specific corporate objectives/goals
• Development of quarterly dashboard
• Review with key stakeholders and ensure consensus

Work Step IV:? This work step helps mitigate the risk of sales strategy adoption and enables change into the new sales model, builds a journey roadmap for people integration and a plan to transition to the new ways of working, and manages functional sales enablement.

Implementation Planning Roadmap

• Develop implementation roadmap, including best practice transformation ideas for the sales organization
• Change management plan that includes case for change and vision
• Key communication messages includes communications strategy and campaigns for sales channel and opportunity management
• Document high level requirements for plan administration and sales enablement

Applying Strategy to Your Daily Sales Routine

Sales transformation success requires more than intuition and selling tools—it takes strategic thinking, alignment and discipline on a consistent basis. Leading sales organizations understand these links and develop a systematic approach to planning and managing the sales organization.

By using the sales transformation approach above, your organization can operate by a strategy that encompasses all critical growth disciplines and charts a clear path to the company's goals. The impact can be huge—a systemic approach to managing growth can provide a lasting competitive advantage.

**********

Please click?here to access print and go version of this newsletter.

For more information, please reach out to Joe DiMisa at [email protected].

To learn more about Korn Ferry, please click?here.