What are your sales representatives actually doing tomorrow morning at 08:00?
Many companies invest a lot of energy in developing their corporate strategy. Some are extremely successful with it, but many firms are dissatisfied with the results. This is often due to the fact that sales representatives are unable to transfer strategic content to their tasks and goals, and are more or less left alone by their managers. Simply put: They don't know what the strategy means for their daily work at 8:00 in the morning. For example, the strategy may specify the financial development the company should take in the next five to seven years. Annual double-digit growth rates are often set as goals. The amounts may then be broken down further to show in which markets the growth rates should be achieved. Planning that is tailored to the employee and takes individual circumstances into account is rather rare. However, in sales, it is essential to develop a bottom-up approach to validate the company's goals. This includes considering market and customer penetration, the product portfolios sold, the competitive situation, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each sales representative. When the data is aggregated for all markets and employees, one can infer how realistic the corporate goal is and, more importantly, what measures are required in day-to-day operations to achieve it. Through a bottom-up planning approach, an individual plan can be developed for each sales representative, ensuring that they know very well every morning at 8:00 what needs to be done to achieve the goals. The data can then be tracked and updated weekly in a sales cockpit. This way, you are always up to date on the extent to which the goals are being achieved and can implement a contingency plan for each employee as soon as they deviate from their goals. And not just in the fourth quarter when it's already too late. Of course, this requires sales know-how and original ideas, which are often lacking in many companies.
