You have already conducted ABC and XYZ analysis, you know how the best clients behave, and you have a list of their qualities. Based on this, form a portrait of the target client and create a questionnaire for him. Identify the industry and niche where sales are most active.
Now conduct at least 10 interviews with customers from categories A and B. For effective strategic sales planning, the following data is most relevant:
Customer requests
Study what customer needs are involved in creating the value of the product, what benefits your product or service provides.
LPR/LVPR/GPR
Track how the decision-making austria email list process takes place in the companies of your most important clients, what stages the purchase itself consists of.
Suppliers operating in the niche
Find out which competing companies your target customers have previously contacted and in what ways these suppliers are stronger than you.
The more you learn about your target client, the clearer it will be for you to find them and how to work with them. The basis of strategic sales planning is a strategy for interacting with client companies, on whose actions your profit will depend.
Perform a SWOT analysis
This will provide answers to a number of questions: what are your advantages in the market, are you able to withstand possible threats, what are the weaknesses of your team that will slow down the implementation of the sales strategy, etc.
10 Steps to Strategic Sales Planning
To conduct a SWOT analysis, a special strategic session is launched, including several iterations. Leading managers of the marketing and sales departments are involved. Ask the team how to minimize threats and tighten weak points. Find out why closing deals (both with existing clients and newly attracted ones) is difficult. Identify products that sell better than others, determine the reasons. Having answered all these questions, you will outline the steps for implementing the developed sales strategy.
Plan your sales targets
With sales results and ABCXYZ analysis data in hand, you will be able to determine where you are losing profit and how you can actively improve sales.
Study the market segments, count how many companies operate in them that meet the needs of the target audience in your industry. Here is what you should pay special attention to:
And how to achieve sales growth with the existing base?
How many new target customers can you sell your product to and in what time frame?
And how can you sell more (both of your existing product and of some new one) in the regions where you operate?
And how much can you increase your income by entering other regions (both with the old product and with the new one)?
Compare how much you spend on working with old customers and on attracting new ones. The second in B2B usually costs about 7 times more than the first. If you want to spend less and earn more, then actively conduct additional sales, promote new products and services, attract customers to participate in affiliate programs, all kinds of joint promotional events, etc.
Plan sales figures for existing and new customers. Using the SMART method, set goals for the sales and support department.