Translating Sales Strategy Into Action

We find that a lot of companies place big bets on strategies that absolutely cannot fail. Strategies that represent significant growth opportunities. Strategies like the launch of a new product. A shift from selling products to selling solutions. A strategic acquisition. New positioning. New markets. 

When major growth initiatives fail, it’s painful. The dollars invested cannot be recovered. The opportunity to gain a competitive advantage is lost. Some of the best talent may leave the company. Someone always gets blamed. 

What we find is that smart leadership teams consistently get the ‘WHAT’ and they miss the ‘HOW.’ They have the right idea, the big idea, but they miss the implementation. 

When we talk about the ‘HOW,’ we’re referring to strategy implementation at the sales execution level. This means taking strategy implementation from a big idea down to the level of how the sales channels will actually implement the strategy in their day-to-day activities. 

We find there are four areas to address – strategy, messaging, process, leadership. Strategy is all about “where to go.” Messaging is “what to say.” Process is “what to do.” And sales leadership is “how to coach.” 

Are your sales teams aligned with your strategy? Delivering the right messages in light of that strategy? Applying the necessary selling processes and disciplines to execute your strategy? Are your managers coaching in a way that enables strategy implementation and ensures behavior change?

We will explore these topics in future posts. Or, you can jump ahead and watch our video on 'Strategies that Can’t Fail' below: