Develop a sales strategy that REALLY works in 8 steps

Owning a business without developing a sales strategy is like setting off on a journey without a reservation and without a fixed destination: you won't get anywhere.

A sales strategy is essential for building an effective sales organization, choosing the right sales techniques, building a high-performance sales team and equipping it with the right sales tools.

But how do you build a coherent, effective sales strategy? Where do you start?

In this article co-authored with Victor Cabrera, founder and CEO of Technique de Vente Édition, discover how to define the most effective sales strategy in 7 steps. In addition to our advice, we've included a PDF sales strategy template at the end of the article.

Ready to get your business off the ground? Let's get started!

What is a company's sales strategy?

Sales strategy: definition

A sales strategy is defined as the course to be followed to achieve a company's sales objectives, and the means to be implemented to achieve them.

It is based on various pillars, in particular :

• the company's vision (what is its ultimate goal?) ;
• the company's environment (market, socio-economic context, consumer behavior, etc.);
• the business plan.

What are the different business strategies?

💡 Every organization aims to grow its sales. The broad outlines of sales strategy therefore remain more or less the same. However, the means deployed may differ from one structure to another.

For example, the tactics adopted are often distinguished by the target audience. Key accounts? Mass market? Niche market? Sometimes, it's also a question of the priority given to a particular stage in the sales cycle. Would you rather focus on prospecting? Or loyalty?

With this in mind, let's take a closer look at each stage of the sales strategy.

A word from the expert

It's essential to define your company's business strategy.

If you don't know where you're going, you're likely to end up somewhere else, as the saying goes. Achieving sales results never happens by chance. On the contrary, it's often the result of :

1. Clear objectives set by sales management,
2. Efficient sales management by sales managers,
3. Perfect execution of sales actions by the sales force.

So there's no point in reinventing the wheel. Don't improvise, and be demanding in the design of your sales strategy. This is the shortest route to predictable, stable and sustainable growth.

Victor Cabrera,

1. Setting goals

Why is this step essential to maximizing growth results?

Because it's counterproductive to implement a strategy without a goal in mind:

• to define "how to get there" (business strategy),
• you need to know "where you want to go" (objective).

It's the objective that dictates the actions to be taken, not the other way around!

If you dream of growth, set yourself precise, measurable objectives. Your objectives must be SMART:

• simple or specific,
• measurable,
• attainable,
• realistic,
• time-bound.

You can be ambitious, but it's all a question of dosage and respect for SMART criteria.

They can be quantitative (sales, percentage growth, number of customers, etc.) or qualitative (customer satisfaction, customer typology, etc.).

💡 Here are a few examples of SMART objectives:

• achieve sales of 2 million euros within 3 years ;
• increase customer satisfaction by 50% by the end of the year;
• maintain double-digit growth over the next 10 months, etc.

💡Our advice: define a main objective and complementary sub-objectives to milestone it, and avoid unnecessarily accumulating too many objectives.

2. Analyze your market

Market research is a fundamental step: any sales strategy must be based on this analysis. It goes without saying (but it's always good to remember) that successful companies are those that know their market best.

So do your research and find out :

• your competitors: their profile, the details of their commercial offers, the market share they occupy;
• the geographical area you're targeting: its specific features, the importance of your spatial proximity, depending on what you're offering;
• trends: market viability (growth, stagnation, etc.) and your scope of intervention, in the medium and long term, based on this observation.

By gathering as much information as possible about your market, you'll be able to define it, draw it, and see it as it is, so you can position yourself as effectively as possible.

A word from the expert

There are different tools, ways and strategies for analyzing your market. You can start from the demand side, by carrying out market studies, surveys of customers for similar products/services, unsatisfied needs, and so on. Or you can start from the supply side and analyze the competition, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor, the characteristics of existing products and services in each market segment...

It all depends on your internal resources and your objectives. But all roads lead to Rome when the work is well done, and you will often succeed in identifying one or more strategic areas of activity to exploit commercially.

Victor Cabrera,

3. Identify your target and ideal customer

The actions of your sales strategy must be adapted to your target. When you want to reach as many people as possible, you run the risk of reaching none at all.

Attracting attention in a competitive environment isn't easy, so you might as well give yourself the best chance of success by speaking directly to your most promising target:

• by talking to them about themselves,
• their issues,
• using their vocabulary,
• on the communication channels where they are present,
  to maximize your chances of getting your message across.

But do you know beforehand who your ideal customer is? You know, the one who's generally more receptive to your messages, with whom the business relationship is fluid and for whom your product or service is great?

💡 O ur advice: try to determine the commonalities among your existing customers to draw up a typical profile known as a buyer persona. If you're just starting out and don't yet have a customer base to draw on, imagine the kind of customer you'd dream of having!

4. Define an appropriate sales offer

Build a sales offer based on :

• the segmentation of your targets or potential customers,
• the choice of your product or service corresponding to this segment of prospects;
• your pricing policy, to be determined on the basis of market rates;
• your areas of differentiation from the competition.

To develop a coherent commercial offer, your value proposition must both meet the needs of your target and enable you to stand out from your competitors. Continue to study your targets and their behavior in relation to your product or service offering and their means of accessing it. Study existing demand and supply to identify your business prospects in this specific context.

💡 How can you stand out from the crowd?

• superior product or service quality,
• competitive pricing,
• advanced expertise,
• an innovative product or service,
• a polished brand image,
• embodied values (environmental, social, etc.).

These differentiating assets will be the cornerstones of your sales pitch.

5. Draw up an action plan

Now that your objectives are clear, all you need to do is draw up an action plan. This is also known as a roadmap. This step is the concrete translation of your strategy.

Examples:

• 📈 You decide how many sales you need to reach your sales target.
• 🤑 You decide to increase your prices to change your positioning: you make fewer sales, but for a higher average basket.

Your action plan doesn't just depend on your objectives: available resources also come into play. These two factors converge in the planning:

1. you know what action to take ;
2. on what date or over what period ;
3. to achieve your objectives.

Your sales strategy takes shape in the marketing mix. This is the basis of your marketing plan. Its analysis indicates how and where to reach your target ( McCarthy's 4 P's matrix ) according to :

• the exact nature of your Product;
• at what priceyou sell it;
• the placesor distribution networks you are targeting;
• the means of communication or promotionyou prefer.

Define your angles of attack, and think about how you want your marketing mix to evolve to match your strategy. The variables at your disposal are :

• the characteristics of your offer: range, positioning, etc,
• pricing: freemium, premium, modular offer, etc,
• means of promotion: inbound or outbound marketing, etc,
• distribution channels: direct or indirect, for example,
• sales processes: methodology, sales cycle by segment, sales typology, etc.

💡 O ur advice: developing an action plan is highly strategic. That's why we recommend that you enlist the help of a partner to help you draw it up. Join the Kestio platform to access valuable advice from certified experts and hundreds of instructive sales-related content (videos, workshops, webinars, etc.). Enough to give your sales performance a serious boost!

6. Take action by generating qualified leads

This stage consists in identifying leads interested in your solution, in order to qualify them as prospects. There are three steps to this.

1. Analyze lead behavior: on your website, during a face-to-face meeting or in response to an email campaign (opening rate, click-through rate, etc.) to gather information about their profiles. For example, datadrive helps you turn anonymous visitors to your site into customers.
   
   
2. Segment leads: you'll be better able to communicate in a personalized way to generate interest:
   1. send the right message,
   2. to the right person,
   3. at the right time,
   4. and through the right channel.
      
      
3. Prioritize with lead scoring: by assigning a score to each prospect, you :
   1. identify those most likely to become customers,
   2. contact them as a priority,
   3. concentrate efforts where the chances of conversion are highest.

💡 How can you maximize the success of your sales strategy? By correlating it with a well-crafted CRM strategy.

Don't panic! The two subjects are intimately linked and feed off each other. When defining your business strategy, include best practices to leverage your CRM tool and try to exceed your sales!

CRM software examples 👉

• Axonaut, an ERP with a wide range of CRM functions, enabling prospect scoring and strategic decision-making.
  
  
• Decidento, a B2B sales prospecting tool that uses filters to automatically detect qualified leads for your business.
  
  
• EFFICY CRM, BtoB software that centralizes all essential information and makes it accessible to all company departments (sales, marketing, customer service, etc.).
  
  
• monday.com CRM, ultra-simple to configure and use. It helps you centralize and manage all your sales opportunities to boost your teams' productivity.
  
  
• Salesforce Sales Cloud, a complete solution for managing customer relations across all channels (mail, email, SMS, social networks, blogs, etc.).
  
  
• Yuto, a mobile CRM offering a fluid user experience on smartphones and tablets, to optimize prospecting with functionalities useful to nomads (link with ERP, calls via the application, automated reporting, etc.).

A word from the expert

Today, potential customers are everywhere!

Qualification is truly the sinews of war in terms of sales performance. It all depends on your sector of activity and the type of customer you're targeting, but generally speaking, the most effective approach is multi-channel. If you use emailing, for example, plan a telephone/SMS/ground follow-up campaign targeted at leads that have opened/clicked. Set up specific advertising retargeting based on sales milestones and page views on your blog/website, etc.

There's no shortage of strategies, but it's often the lack of relevance of commercial contact points that's lacking. So don't hesitate to seek training and support to maximize acquisition and conversions.

Victor Cabrera,

8. Measuring performance

Leading a sales strategy without tracking sales indicators ? Unthinkable!

Indicators enable you to measure your sales strategy, to see if it's working. There's no point in maintaining a strategy that won't help you achieve your objectives.

You can rectify the situation by :

• stopping or changing what's not working ;
• allocating more resources to actions that work;
• learning lessons and finding new ways to improve efficiency.

Here are a few examples of indicators you can use:

• number of registrations on a landing page,
• number of incoming and/or outgoing calls,
• average shopping basket,
• customer retention rate, etc.

💡 O ur advice: record them in a dashboard to measure the achievement of your actions. You'll be able to see whether your objectives have been achieved, or, conversely, be alerted to any delays. We also recommend using your CRM to accurately measure your performance. With Sellsy, you can generate reports that are updated in real time, enabling you to track your sales performance (conversion rate and time, breakdown of opportunities by pipeline stage, etc.), as well as your sales forecast. And for a more detailed analysis, get detailed reports, by sector of activity for example.

As you move forward with your sales action plan, don't hesitate to revise your strategy and refine your objectives so that they reflect the reality on the ground. It's best to keep your objectives up to date, but within reach: your sales team's motivation is also at stake!

Download a sample sales strategy PDF

Every company has its own sales strategy, depending on the priorities it sets itself.

For example: you want to position yourself on your core expertise? An aggressive pricing policy is certainly not your strategic priority. Instead, emphasize the differentiating advantages that generate value for your customers (quality of service, advice, etc.).

To help you define your own approach, Appvizer offers you a step-by-step method for building the framework of your sales strategy:

How do you get your sales team to adopt your strategy?

Defining the most effective sales strategy after an in-depth strategic analysis is only the first step. Now it's time to pull out all the stops to get your sales people to buy into the plan and apply it to their business. Here are the steps to take to achieve this goal:

• communicate transparently: this phase involves explaining the communications policy and strategy clearly and simply. Emphasize the concrete business objectives and practical benefits for the team.

• offer company-specific training on sales methods and techniques: provide resources and practical tools to meet the need for sales people to master the implementation of the marketing and sales plan. 🤓

• leave room for salespeople's involvement: give them a real place and impact to develop a sales strategy they'll more easily buy into. If their ideas are listened to, they'll be more motivated!

• set up follow-up and feedback: regular follow-up with a dashboard will enable you to improve your prospecting strategy as you go along, and to optimize it according to the precise feedback you receive from sales reps in the field.

• Don't neglect recognition and rewards: to encourage your teams to apply the strategy, why not evaluate and reward the efforts of your sales staff in line with the objectives set out in the schedule?

A strategic plan, however ambitious, has no chance of success if it is not applied directly in the field.

How to align sales and marketing strategy?

Implementing an effective sales strategy without a marketing strategy is like moving forward blindly. For successful sales development, you need to synchronize the two! Here's how:

• Define a common vision between departments: the marketing and sales departments need to work together with the same objectives and an aligned strategic plan.

• Harmonize messages aimed at partners and new customers: marketing campaigns for the various distribution channels must reflect the brand image and added value conveyed by sales. This is essential, especially when launching a new product.

• Use the right tools: as we mentioned earlier, thanks to a shared CRM, all data can be accessed on demand, facilitating customer relations.

• Develop qualified leads: the objective of sales strategy is to achieve a higher conversion rate! But it's marketing that attracts leads. Check that the contacts entered into your programs are relevant to your sales prospecting. ☝️

• Measure and adjust: studying and analyzing marketing and sales performance indicators enables you to assess the potential of your actions. To this end, use a precise dashboard and ongoing competitive analysis. Thanks to these reports, you can adapt actions if necessary and achieve better results.

An effective relationship between marketing strategy and sales strategy guarantees an increase in the number of customers and better customer loyalty over time. Two complementary forces for increasing acquisitions and boosting business in the long term.

FAQs on sales strategy

What are the key elements of a successful sales strategy?

A good sales strategy is based on :

• SMART sales objectives: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

• in-depth market research to identify opportunities, analyze competitors and follow a suitable market segment.

• a strategic diagnosis to analyze the company's strengths and weaknesses in its target market.

• the implementation of a marketing plan and promotional campaigns adapted to the customer base.

• a dashboard to track sales, analyze conversion rates, evaluate the cost of actions and adjust sales performance.

How do you define a value proposition in a sales strategy?

The added value of your product or service must answer three key questions:

• what problem can you solve for your target market?

• what differentiation can you offer to strengthen your competitive edge?

• Why should your customers choose your offer, your product, your service, rather than that of a competitor?

With the right communication strategy around this value (on social networks and every relevant channel), you'll capture attention and take on a strong competitive position. 💥

What's the difference between sales strategy and marketing strategy?

Sales strategy relies on marketing strategy to maximize business development:

• the aim of marketing is to attract prospects through targeted campaigns. It optimizes prospecting.

• The sales that follow help build customer loyalty and generate more sales.

By aligning these two dimensions and adapting your business model, you're more likely to achieve your objectives and increase your company's market share.

What should we remember about sales strategy?

Adopting a consumer-centric approach is essential, but in practice, it's impossible to manage without suitable CRM software. More than just a sales tool, it helps you deliver the best possible customer experience and, ultimately, build customer loyalty.

Your ultimate goal should not just be to win customers, but to keep them over the long term: acquisition and loyalty need to work in tandem!