We conducted some recent research and 50 percent of the people that responded (mostly sales managers and sales representatives in this case) stated that the sales strategy that their company implemented was not actually clearly communicated in a way that helps the sales representative take action.

So What’s the Problem?

The real problem with not having a strategy effectively communicated or outlined is the fact that we often second guess whether or not that was the right strategy and in most cases that probably was the right strategy, but unfortunately, we’ll never really know because it wasn’t really communicated in a way that enabled the sales team to take action.

So What Should Be Done About it?

There are probably two things organizations can do to help improve the communication of their strategy. Number one, it’s not just knowing what needs to be done, which is often the strategy, but also how to do it. Unfortunately, that how part doesn’t really get communicated effectively. Therefore, what we really need to do is begin to identify the on-the-job behaviors necessary to execute that strategy. The second thing is to make sure that we have a real clear alignment. That alignment needs to start from the point of the sales goal that we’re trying to achieve, making sure that the strategy that we have to execute aligns to that sales goal, and then we have a real clear understanding about the on the job behaviors that your team needs to be proficient in to execute that strategy. I’d really say those two things, making sure we know the what and the how and make sure we have clear alignment.

 

 

How Can Ignite Help?

One of the things that we offer at Ignite Selling is something we call the Learning Alignment Process. The Learning Alignment Process is designed to help organizations be more effective at creating clear alignment between the sales goals that they need to achieve for the upcoming year. The strategies that we need to identify and execute in order to achieve those sales goals and the critical on the job behaviors that our team needs to be proficient in order to execute those strategies. We ask ourselves, is our sales team proficient in the on the job behaviors necessary to execute those strategies that will ultimately help us achieve our sales goals?