All great leaders have a had a great strategy to get them to where they wanted to go.

Unfortunately for so many people they have not even thought of their winning sales strategy and rely on random unconnected tactics.

Now is the time to get into action. A good sales strategy will help you identify and take advantage of the best opportunities. Ensuring an effective sales strategy is in place can help you create a competitive advantage too, so it should not be ignored.

The Sales Academy will though the sales strategy analysis identify the following;

• Clarifying your sales objectives.
• Plan on how to reach target customers.
• Supporting your new sales strategy.
• Continual monitoring and honing the effectiveness.
• Clarifying your sales objectives.

You want to ensure that your sales force have a workable cohesive sales strategy that will deliver desired results in line with your company strategic objectives. Initially we examine your current sales strategy plan and look to see how effective it has been to date (or part of it). This will provide a starting point from where you can objectively measure your new sales strategy.

If you are dealing with channel partners, you may find that a core detailed channel strategy is needed. In which case a channel strategy will be developed utilising the skills and resources that are available.

Supporting your new sales strategy.

We then provide an some building blocks and the ‘glue’ to increase the probability of success. You can be confident as we offer mentoring too to help keep you to that strategy. We can examine the roles of you key people and ensure they are skilled or trained in the desired rolls for your new strategies.

Monitoring and improving effectiveness.

Getting your strategy right is essential. By having key measures in place to check you sales progress against, will deliver results. Your growth from the right strategy is memorable and rewarding. We will show you how!

Want more information now? Email John Bond or phone to find out more about our Sales Strategy Analysis.

Over a couple of months we met regularly but the timing wasn’t right for me to discover what the secret was. Fortunately we had a large opportunity to close in Scandinavia which meant we were going to be together for 48 hours including sharing flights, meetings and staying in the same hotel – I saw this as a great opportunity to get that little bit closer and to ask the so called magical question with a magical answer. My timing was perfect – after a successful sales negotiation we decided to dine and then returned to the hotel for a few drinks prior to going to bed. In the early hours of the morning in a hotel bar at a 5 star hotel in Stockholm I had my opportunity. Amidst the smoke from his expensive cigars I cornered him as the time was right – wow I was sooooo excited. In just a few short minutes I could learn from a master, someone who outwardly had it all, had the knowledge, the information and the plan. Off I went with butterflies in my stomach and I finallyasked my question – ‘ So, what do I need to do to be as successful as you? ‘ the question had been asked and shortly I would have the revelation, the answer, soon I could accelerate into the future with new found knowledge and a blueprint for future sales success. He looked around, sucked on his cigar and the grey blue smoke from his cigar filled the area along with the smell of smoke. He looked at me and with a wry smile was thinking – I was only a few seconds away – soon I would have the knowledge to power ahead and become even more successful . His cheeks were drawing in another breath of smoke and as he exhaled he started to talk. ‘Mike I’ll tell you what you need to do in order to get ahead’ – the next sentence would change my life ‘ Mike what you need to do is ……… sell more software’ . ! I stared and inside me I was thinking – hold on I am looking for a revelation not something as simple as that. For many moments I was stunned, I felt let down – sell more software – not exactly what I had been expecting.

So what did I learn, well it was indeed good advice. There is no miracle cure, there was no miracle pill. Sales is all about hard and smart work and getting a signed contract. Doing the fundamentals, doing it better and doing it with passion. What my boss had told me so succinctly was that I had to be good at what I thought I was good at – in fact I had to be better. Better than anyone else in my company, better than anyone else in my sector of sales. This was in fact brilliant advice because it’s about getting the business closed off and in many cases getting larger ticket values (sometimes you work just as hard for a £10k opportunity as you do for a £100k or a £1million opportunity) but at least when the values are higher you have more to gain (and some would say more to lose) – the trick is having enough of the right opportunities in your pipeline.

I have recently worked with a number of people some who are tasting huge success in a global recession. One company their average order value was less than £200k and they closed a £25 million pound contract and quickly followed it with another for £10m. They had focus and yes it did take time but they new exactly what their target audience was and they worked that account in a huge way. Opportunity is everywhere but there is no substitute for focus and the end result. Giving the prospect what they want will help you sell more. If you sell more and you are on a bonus scheme or commission the rest will be history. So in summary the answer I received form my boss was 100% accurate – today this advice is as a good as it was when I heard it for the first time – now you can benefit form it too!

Many companies are very eager to sell their products and solutions however they lack a comprehensive strategy. Sadly they generally only use 10% of what they could be using to increase their market share then wonder why revenues don’t just happen!

What is the Sales and Marketing Audit?

Our Sales and Marketing audit is a heavy hitting analysis completed with senior management normally over a two day period with results and recommendations during day three. We analyse what you are doing and what you may not be doing. Once you have made sense of your marketing assets and grab those additional sales opportunities, you can look forward to sending your revenues through the roof.

What is the Sales Audit Process?

The sales and marketing audit drills down and asks some hard questions – possibly you may even squirm when you realise what you could have been doing and what some of your competition are already doing.

Through the sales audit, we analyse what you are doing and what you may not be aware that you could be doing. Your sales strategy and sales processes are investigated. Then the marketing strategy reviewed.

By combining and utilising multiple ways to market you can enjoy significantly better revenues and dramatically shorten those sales cycles and see improved closing rates.

With this sales audit, a base line is established and recommendations will be made to increase your teams effectiveness. This can be done through;

• sales training to raise salespeoples’ awareness and reinvigorate them.
• a skills audit to ensure the right staff are in the right positions. This will ensure they are pulling together to achieve your company vision and aims.
• ongoing mentoring so your staff have a ’sounding board’ to test ideas and get those sales cycles closed.

Whilst this can be a one off exercise, most companies will then retain us to ensure that they are running on all cylinders maximising all the sales effort to deliver quantifiable sales improvement.

How does that sound? To explore hidden opportunities please email your requirements to John Bond or phone now.

A foundation of a sales and marketing plan.

A marketing strategy is the foundation of a sales and marketing plan. It should integrate with your sales strategy, combining the company policies and actions. Your marketing plan is an essential part of any business plan, a guide helping you reach your ultimate goals.

It is surprising just how many people are unaware of the awesome power marketing has. Marketing strategies can arrive in so many different forms but if you are similar to most companies you only use a subset of valuable marketing goals and policies (you should look at the sales and marketing audit and mentoring here) that means you could be losing out!

No matter what level of skill we will work with you to unlock the true potential of a marketing plan that will fully integrate with your Sales Strategy and company objectives. All of this will help you get more clients and also position yourself for future greatness. Your marketing plan will include topics such as;

• a description of the key targets,
• analysis of your competitors,
• the positioning of your products compared to your competition,
• the FAB (features, benefits, advantages) of your product,
• pricing strategy,
• advertising and promotion and integration with sales strategies.

The vast majority of companies stay within their comfort zone and never stray just in case… This can be a limiting factor for most because in order to grow, you have to take some form of risk. This often means looking at your old paradigms and replacing them for newer more aligned processes that take advantage of today’s market dynamics. If you want to thrust forward and capture more market share there is a right way and a wrong way of doing things.

The Advanced Marketing Strategy Builder helps you assemble ALL of the components to implement an effective marketing plan. We use power builders to extend the probability of rapid success. We implement easy processes that are often only used by the skilled marketing professional in a large corporate. We believe in producing results for focussed organisations.

No waffle – just highly workable strategies designed specifically for you to deliver the results that you want.

To find out more about our Advanced Marketing Strategy Builder, why not email John Bond or phone .

Having a repeatable sales process means that you can rely on revenue if you have qualified your prospects at a high enough level. Most companies have an informal way of running sales and rely far too much on gut feel as opposed to hard facts. Many companies rely on the old arbitrary sales funnel with the 20%, 40%, 60% way of qualification. Is it the really best way? Isn’t there some thing better?

There is! Make real decisions based on facts and watch your revenues increase. The Sales Academy is a reseller of a multi dimensional sales processes. These measure the accuracy of each sale element, allowing you to forecast with confidence the exact status of the sale and the probability of it happening. Benefits to you include:

• Grow Revenue.
• Better Qualification.
• Increase The Quality of Leads
• Nutbaser – Reliable Sales Forecasts.
• Align Sales And Marketing.
• Develop Effective Channels To Market.

Sales Processes Grow Revenue.

Enhance your companies sales performance by evaluating progress rate throughout a sales cycle. This means that you can easily see what is happening and where you need to concentrate efforts like training or mentoring.

A Sales Process Gives Better Qualification.

By asking the right questions – you will shorten the sales cycle and increase prospect generation.. – means you get very accurate sales cycle feedback. The sales process strategy will assist you in setting realistic and attainable goals for you salespeople.

Increase The Quality Of Leads

The result of a great sales process implementation is the enchanced quality of your leads . It will resulting in an increase in the sales closure rate.

Reliable Sales Forecasts.

All your sales professionals will score each opportunity using a standard pre defined method which means higher accuracy.

Align Sales And Marketing.

Through the implementation of efficient selling processes you will be supporting the company’s sales goals.

Develop Effective Channels To Market

Using the sales process implementation, you will be in the best position to take advantage and leverage the company’s infrastructure and business goals.

By adopting a sales process your sales will improve. You sales staff will never forget to establish and qualify important criteria up front, which means you only work on the sales that are most likely to happen rather than being busy and not see the results.

Having a predictable and repeatable process is not just a nice to have it is an essential. See our two software offerings.

Recommended Sales Process Applications

• Qualified Leads

• Nutbaser

Initially call or email johnb-at-thesalesacademy.com – lets get going and start winning.