Bookmark and Share

How to Sell Strategically


If you want to maximize your sales performance, take a strategic approach to selling. After all, wouldn't you agree that "the 80/20 rule" applies to customers, where approximately 20 percent of customers produce approximately 80 percent of sales?

The starting point for strategic selling is figuring out a) which customers produce the bulk of your sales, and b) what they are buying. Armed with this information, you can strategically plan how to increase sales.

Critical Data Elements

If you want to sell strategically, you need to have access to specific data elements. Plus, you need to be willing to perform data analysis.

Which data elements do you need? This list provides a reasonable starting point:

  • Customer Name
  • Revenue by Month by Customer
  • Gross Margin or Gross Profit by Month by Customer (this is only necessary if it impacts your performance measurements)
  • Product or Service Name (for each product or service purchased by each customer)
  • Product or Service Quantity (for each product or service purchased by each customer)
  • Product or Service Unit Price (for each product or service purchased by each customer)
  • Product or Service Extended Price (quantity x unit price)
This data can be used to analyze the buying habits of your customers. Sort it in various ways to answer the following questions:
  • Which customers buy the most from you?
  • What is the trend for each customer's purchases? Are they buying more or less when you compare the current month to preceding months? How about when you compare the current month to the same month in the previous year?
  • Which products or services are they buying?
  • Are the amounts purchased in line with your expectations and the commitments that have been made by your customers?
  • Which products or services are they not buying?
  • Why aren't they buying these other products or services?
Once you have completed the first stage of analysis, consider this next set of questions:
  • How much time should you allocate to each customer in your territory? (Tip: You should spend 80 percent of your time with the customers that buy the most and/or offer the greatest potential for sales growth.)
  • What is your plan for increasing sales to each of your customers? (This includes selling more of what they have already been buying, and selling other products or services that they haven't purchased from you previously.)
  • Which new prospects should you pursue? (Tip: Which prospects can your existing customers refer you to? Which prospects have the greatest potential to produce significant sales?)
It may not be easy for companies to extract the data that is required to support strategic selling. However, arming salespeople with this data is the best investment a company can possibly make. Strategic selling enables salespeople to maximize their sales, which in turn maximizes the company's overall sales and profitability.

How frequently should the data be made available to salespeople? If sales cycles are relatively short, it would be ideal for the data to be available on demand, with the minimum frequency being weekly. For longer sales cycles, providing the data on a monthly basis may be adequate.

Strategic selling begins with data availability. If you are going to maximize sales, you need to be able to analyze your customers' buying patterns to determine how to prioritize your efforts. Which customers should you spend the bulk of your time with? How much time should you allocate to each customer? How will you increase sales to specific customers? Which new prospects should you pursue?

Plan your work, work your plan, and compare your results frequently against your quota and personal goals. Sell strategically to maximize your sales, minimize unpleasant surprises, and maximize your earnings!

Copyright 2005 -- Alan Rigg

Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. To learn more about his book and sign up for more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020performance.com.


MORE RESOURCES:

(SALES MANAGEMENT) - Free Hiring Webinar
Radio Ink
Thoreson says, "hiring is the number one job of sales management and it is the most difficult, if you hire effectively the job of sales management becomes much easier." It's a fact that when you miss hire a salesperson it may cost you FOUR times what ...



Borneo Bulletin

Postal Services concludes Sales Management Training
Borneo Bulletin
By Danial Norjidi The Department of Postal Services officially concluded a Sales Management External Training Programme yesterday with a certificate presentation ceremony. The ceremony saw the participants of the Postal Services Department awarded with ...



University of Calgary Students Donate Nearly $30000 to Children's Wish ...
MarketWatch (press release)
CALGARY, AB, Feb 07, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- On December 8, 2011, students in a University of Calgary sales management course headed by Professor Derek Hassay at the Haskayne School of Business donated $29392 to the Children's Wish Foundation ...

and more »


Enterprise Sales Management Executives Bypassing IT for Mobile App Development
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Mobile development firm now getting more custom development requests from sales and marketing officers than from IT Directors. There is no doubt about it - we're headlong into the mobile Internet age. What used to be fun little gadgets for games, ...

and more »


Schuff Steel Expands Fabrication and Erection Services to New York Area Market ...
MarketWatch (press release)
MURRAY HILL, NJ, Jan 16, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Schuff Steel Company, a subsidiary of Schuff International, Inc. (pinksheets:SHFK), a family of companies providing fully integrated steel construction services, is now offering their steel ...

and more »


Do yourself and others a service
Financial Times
By Mike Southon Sales management is a thankless task, even at the best of times. Steadily increasing revenues have to be delivered every quarter, requiring good people management as well as expert organisational skills. In the worst of times, ...



Kansas man inducted into Gelbvieh Hall of Fame; Nebraskan is Member of the Year
Midwest Producer
In that role, he saw a need for a sales management firm within the Gelbvieh breed. In 1988 Roger began Cattleman's Connection to promote and manage Gelbvieh only sales throughout the US Five years later, Gatz expanded Cattleman's Connection to include ...



Michelman CEO Steven J. Shifman Elected to TAPPI Board of Directors
Packaging Europe
Since joining Michelman in 1992, Mr. Shifman has held multiple corporate positions in Sales Management, Business Unit Management, Chief Financial Officer, and since 2003 has been President and CEO. He has an active community portfolio serving, ...
TAPPI Announces Board of Directors Election ResultspackagePrinting (press release)

all 3 news articles »


Cereplast Strengthens Sales Force in North America and Europe
MarketWatch (press release)
William G. Mashy has a 24-year track record of success in sales, management and marketing working for privately held international plastic packaging manufacturer, Rehrig Pacific Company. Most recently he was General Manager for the Material Handling ...

and more »


AvalonBay Communities' FFO rises in 4Q
BusinessWeek
AvalonBay Communities Inc. said Wednesday that its results improved in the fourth quarter, aided by higher rental revenue and real estate sales. Management also said it expects demand for rental housing will continue to grow this year.

and more »

Google News

home | site map | Group Privacy Policy | Definition of Leadership | Contact Us
©  Sales Management 2011