13 Steps to a Sales & Marketing Strategy

Below I have outlined my views on creating sales and marketing strategies, but let’s answer the obvious question first … Why bother?

Without a strategy, sales and marketing teams and leaders make decisions based on what is best at that moment.

Not because they are short-sighted, but because they haven’t considered or discovered the big picture in detail.

To have a strategy and see the “big picture” ensures the chances of success are dramatically increased.

It can be as detailed as you wish, we just need to ensure it provides the following; Clear priorities that are broken down. Clear goals by function and by role. Clear measurable outcomes. Clear guidelines for everyone to use. The what, when how and why plan for everyone to work from and use as a reference point.

In my experience these three considerations are key when creating your strategy.

Take the time needed to think it all through.

When writing a sales and marketing strategy take the time needed to create it thoroughly, invite constructive feedback and disagreement from as many people as possible along the way.

Plan to change and adapt

The days when you set out a 5 or 10-year strategy and then refine it every year have long gone. A strategy needs to take into consideration “change and adaptation” because markets change quickly, so strategies needs to do the same.

Have investment conversations early to understand opinions.

When considering all the strategic plans actions and expectations, remember that it needs to be executed by the resource you have or are prepared to invest in.

13 stages to create your sales and marketing strategy

A valuable sales and marketing strategy will take some time to create, at the point where it has been accepted it will then become a working and living document. Therefore, when writing the strategy have this in mind so that it’s easy to follow for everyone involved, and to review and refine, because the world evolves fast. 1. Business achieved I like to start with what’s been achieved i.e. past performance along with how it was achieved. We all know the phrase “The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour” so take some behaviours of the market and data that allows you to understand some predictions for the future. 2. Business objectives/forecast Always consider the business mission statement and background of the business before starting work on objectives. When the plan is complete it must be able to mathematically achieve the objectives, with assumptions based on data from past performance, with forecasts per quarter shown alongside the objectives for direct comparison.

There are two ways to create the business objectives, one from the top down and one from the bottom up. The top down where the shareholders or stakeholders have given you the objective and asked how you will achieve it. The bottom up which is when you have understood the value of your product/service to a market and have created a plan to achieve the maximum return staying within a given budget investment. 3. Marketing goals What are your marketing goals, this could be about new business, new products, or customer growth, it may be primarily about brand value or dominance in a specific market segment? Goals need to be SMART so it doesn’t allow for any mis understandings and so that success can be measured, and celebrated. 4. Size of addressable market Typically, you would confirm the addressable market’s numbers i.e. circa 26,000 UK-based companies of 500/250+ employees within the specific market of Finance for example. Or if you are selling ice to Eskimo’s in Greenland, then you need to know that there are 135,000 Eskimo’s living in this area. 5. Addressable target market From the addressable market, what is the targeted market you would expect to get either the most profit or the majority of wins from? If we take the Eskimo example with an average of 5.5 Eskimo’s per household that’s an addressable market of 24,545 homes. Hopefully selling ice to Eskimo’s isn’t your objective, as I happen to know that they have a high market take up for ice making machines these days. Addressable target market needs to have considered;

What the potential buyer persona’s and profiles?

What are the company profiles?

How do they buy similar service’s currently?

What value could they bring your company?

What are the market conditions within the sector being targeted?

Are there seasonal considerations?

Is the target market seeing by an upturn in business or suffering a downturn? 6. Market positioning This needs to be considered based on what your target market is or will be, how do you want your marketing to portray the business? i.e. Disruptors in the market, or technically advanced, maybe as thought leaders in the industry, low cost SaaS model or high value premium supplier? 7. Expected outputs List out marketing’s SMART outputs that need to be achieved, and by when along with all the KPI’s needed. For example, if social media is to play a part in developing data into leads, you would need to measure a multitude of KPI’s. Such as the numbers of qualified people reached, then engaged, the followers and the number then inquiring.

Then from a sales perspective KPI’s on volume of calls or video conferencing, F2F visits, presentations, proposals, tender or bids and obviously sales and AVO etc. Areas such as customer acquisition cost, churn expected, lifetime value, are all KPI’s that culminates in marketing return on investment (MROI) and the projected revenue return. 8. Marketing plan This can be very in-depth and deliver amazing value, however you should have the following areas covered as a minimum; What are your USP’s or at least what are your strengths? Incorporate a competitor SWOT analysis. Confirm the geography that you intend to win business in. Sectors chosen to target, value and the reasons why they were chosen. Determine your value propositions, which needs to be specific, pain-focused and explain how you will deliver the customer’s needs, and if possible, show its exclusive. i.e. UBER; One tap and a car come’s directly to you. Your driver knows exactly where to go. Payment is completely cash less.

Show the sales and marketing funnel, outlining the different pathways expected to sales being made. 9. Critical success factors explained. When you have the numbers, then outline the critical success factors that go with them and what the assumptions are that have been made for them to work. Look at what tools that maybe required for either marketing or sales, i.e. CRM, marketing software, and other resources, it’s worth spending time on what is available in the market to make success more likely. 10. SMART Marketing action plans This is the detail of the actions that need to take place in order to deliver the objectives and KPI’s outlined. Again, this can be very detailed but areas that need formal integrated plans are communications, content and campaign plans. Communications and Content action plan, what needs to be shared and written about, where this needs to be placed, when it is written and published, how it will be maximised and my favourite, what tone of voice does your brand have? Campaign action plan, when do you run them, who do you target, how do you maximise results and what’s the value proposition to your target market? 11. SMART Sales action plans This can be and, in my view, should be an in-depth plan, however as a minimum you need to have the following in place. Sales methods, different products and services need different sales approaches or methods Sales structure, do you need pre-sales, new business sales, account development, a proactive and reactive structure? Would a sale valued at £1 be dealt with by the same person who may deal with a £1 million opportunity, do you need different channels, a partnership plan? Development and attrition expectations, these all need to be planned for in order to have a realistic sales strategy. Leadership needs, often a sale is not made by one person, and many people can add value so what roles might be needed and for what? Is the sales leadership client facing expectations to be 1% or 100% of the working week? This determines the need for first line people management etc. New business sales action plan, this includes KPI’s on activity, productivity and should also include training and development plans. Retention and growth sales action plan, again with KPI’s for activity, productivity and most importantly customer satisfaction. Depending on the product/service the value in having an account plan for each client will have a substantial impact on retention and customer growth.

Partnership sales often the quickest way to grow sales revenues is to partner with other organisations who will see a value in offering your product or service to the same target markets. 12. Implementation timeline A marketing and sales flow chart that is realistic by task per month/quarter and year. This timeline lets you view the chronology of your sales and marketing plan over time, from objectives and strategy to completed actions. There are many templates available you may choose a Gantt chart, calendar, or handwritten document. But remember a timeline will serve the purpose of organising both your sales and marketing plans with clear schedules to follow. 13. Budget This can be an emotional area, as the request is often to deliver more revenue and profit, but to cut costs. Ensure you have confirmed point two above (Business objectives) and understood the expectations before spending time on a plan that needs more investment than the business can commit to. The budget is a separate item but aligns to the timeline and to the numbers outlined in the body of the strategy.