What Is a Sales Strategy? Playbook and Template for Success
We all want a united and successful sales organisation, don’t we?
But there’s no magic word or secret trick that’s going to help you scale up into a revenue wonder kid fast.
There is, however, one thing that’s proven to help align sales teams and empower them to give their very best - your sales strategy.
In this guide, we’re looking into the top sales strategies and initiatives that work and how you can build your own for sales success.
Also included is:
- The most popular types of sales strategies.
- How to build a successful sales strategy.
- A free sales strategy template.
- Three sales methods that work!
First, let’s look at the sales strategy definition:
What is a sales strategy?
A sales strategy is a structured plan that outlines the actions, decisions, and goals necessary for a sales team to position a product or service and acquire new customers. It outlines sales procedures, activities and product placement to help B2B sales teams achieve sales targets.
The major benefits of implementing a sales strategy are improved team performance, more effective targeting and a higher ratio of closed-won deals.
Here’s a quick summary of what a sales strategy is in 90 seconds 👇
The 2 most popular types of sales strategies
No matter what industry or organisation you work for, there will always be two types of sales strategies:
Inbound and outbound.
You can choose to do one or the other, or you can do both.
Here’s a breakdown of their meanings:
1. Inbound sales strategy
Inbound can be considered a marketing sales strategy because marketing collateral captures a buyer's attention. They already know what your company is selling through this process and enter the sales funnel warmer than outbound leads. Content is then used to inform, educate, and nurture prospects through the decision-making process.
2. Outbound sales strategy
Outbound lead generation focuses more on reaching out to prospects via email and cold calling. These buyers have shown no interest and often don't know anything about your company, so it is your SDR’s job to convince them that your solution is a good fit.
If you think that both of these methods sound good, you'd be right. According to a WebStrategies report on inbound vs. outbound marketing budgets, 84% of companies use an omnichannel sales strategy for more effective lead generation. There's no reason why you can't too!
💡Click to learn more about the differences between inbound and outbound!
Developing a sales strategy in 5 steps
It doesn't matter how great your product is - if you want to win B2B sales, you must be strategic.
That means excellent B2B marketing and implementing a working sales approach, so your team can stay on top of closed-won and closed-lost deals.
And the better your strategy, the more incoming revenue.
This infographic explains the importance of a good sales strategy:
An effective B2B sales strategy is made up of many different elements, although they all relate to one another. Each part of the strategy is connected, creating a feedback loop that drives efficiencies and improved performance.
These are the five steps to building the best sales strategy:
Step one: set up a sales process
The initial phase of a B2B sales strategy. Take a step back and take note of where the business currently sits. By looking back at the analytics, you can set goals, metrics and KPIs and plan how to achieve them. Here are five tips for establishing your sales process:
1. Set B2B sales goals
Start with revenue generation. How much would you like to generate each quarter and year? Then build your strategy around that number.
2. Create a sales model that drives growth
The bedrock of your sales strategy is your sales generation KPIs and metrics. B2B sales metrics are the numbers you monitor to ensure you are on the right track.
Your sales tech will produce an avalanche of figures – too many to stay on top of. Your task is to identify the sales metrics that matter. Focus on your chosen metrics and point your efforts at improving them. If you see the numbers dropping, you need to take action.
3. Identify your ideal customers
Develop a profile of the type of customer who will get the most value out of your solution. This will be your ideal customer profile (ICP). Look at factors such as their company size, qualitative data, and buying process. Then, outline how your product and its features will benefit and solve your target customer’s pain points.
4. Define your Total Addressable Market
How many of your ideal customers are available for your pitch right now? A TAM calculation will give you this knowledge.
5. Develop and manage a sales pipeline
The process of qualifying potential customers, initiating engagement with them and guiding them to the next phase of your SaaS sales strategy.
To help you implement and manage a B2B sales strategy you’ll need to employ a team of lead generation specialists, including:
- Sales directors: Are responsible for planning, setting sales goals and communicating selling strategies to their team.
- Sales leaders: Are responsible for the day-to-day management and training of your sales team.
- Business development managers (BDMs): Conduct demos, negotiate contracts and close business with prospects.
- Sales development representatives (SDRs): Help generate new leads, making the initial contact with prospective customers and booking meetings.
- Marketing development representatives (MDRs): Follow up with targeted leads the marketing team has generated via the content they produce.
- Sales operations: Are responsible for the technical implementation of new solutions, products and processes.
Step two: implement sales tactics
Tactics are the practical application of an effective sales strategy. You know how you want to sell – now you need to make sure every part of the process runs effectively. How are you going to reach your ICP, and what messaging will you use?
Create buyer personas to help you work out what channels to use, then create a sales process playbook to help you get the best results.
For example, if you believe cold calling is the best way to reach your prospects, create messaging that your salespeople can use that relates to their pain points and positions your product as the solution. Here’s a quick rundown of six strategies to increase sales:
1. Lead qualification
The process of understanding more about your ideal customers and evaluating if they are a good fit for your product.
2. Cold calling
The core sales activity for SDRs. Cold calling is the process of conversing with sales-qualified leads over the phone and persuading them to schedule a meeting.
3. Outbound email
The digital companion to the cold calling section of your sales strategy. With outbound email, SDRs contact prospects by sending them electronic messages.
4. Social selling
A relatively new outbound sales discipline. Here, SDRs leverage the power of social media platforms and lead sources to boost conversions.
5. Sales cadences
A cadence is a series of outbound emails in daily or weekly sequences. SDRs often deploy video and audio messages via email in this activity.
6. Negotiating and closing
The core part of your sales strategy. After BDMs conduct a product demo, they will liaise with external stakeholders until the deal is confirmed.
Step three: optimise sales performance
The optimisation phase when developing a sales strategy. Here, sales leaders and representatives analyse results and develop inside strategies to improve their work. It includes:
1. Team structure
How the sales team is arranged and organised for peak performance. A typical structure should consist of SDRs (Sales Development Reps), AEs (Account Execs in charge of account based selling), and Customer Success who keep the customer happy after they have signed on the dotted line.
You may need managers for each of these groups of reps, and you’ll want to create separate teams to look after prospects and sales leads if this is part of your go-to-market sales strategy.
2. Time management
How to maximise time and improve productivity. It’s important to note that managing time well is crucial for both sales leaders and reps.
3. Sales skills
The best sales teams improve performance by sharing winning tactics and knowledge. Learning and development can be outsourced but are best managed in-house.
Step four: measure performance
The analytical phase of a data driven sales strategy. Sales leaders should set goals and KPIs for reps to work towards. Individual and team goals should be linked to wider company goals for the best results. Metrics to track are:
1. SDR metrics
These include productivity and success rates, such as the number of calls made/emails sent, the number of meetings booked, and meetings attended.
2. BDM metrics
These include individual, MRR, demo and pipeline metrics, such as average deal value, demo attended to closed-won rate and total number of closed-won deals.
3. Team metrics
The overarching KPIs behind every sales team. These include inbound and outbound conversion rates, and total amount of revenue won.
P.S. Read this article if you need help unpacking all these business terms.
Step five: adopt sales tech
Finally, you will need to decide which of the thousands of sales tech solutions you’ll use to power your sales strategy. Here are three types of software you’ll need to get started:
- CRM -Your CRM is the bedrock of your tech stack. It records all your interactions with prospects and customers, making sure salespeople and managers have all the data they need at their fingertips. Salesforce is the market-leading CRM.
- Sales intelligence - Sales intelligence or B2B prospecting tools are an important part of any sales strategy as it helps identify potential customers. You can also use these tools to locate the details needed to reach prospects, including email addresses and direct-dial phone numbers.
- Email tools - If you choose email as a channel to reach your prospects, implement specialist sales automation software to schedule emails, log responses and more.
These only scratch the surface of what is available. Research the market to find what tech is suitable for your chosen selling tactics. Then do the following:
1. A tech audit
Sales leaders should carry out a thorough audit of their tech stack before buying a new tool. Always aim for full utilisation of your current tech.
2. Setup a sales tech stack
The process of reviewing and choosing the best tech for your business. Thousands of sales tools are available on the market at any given time; performing due diligence is essential.
3. Adopt new tech
The onboarding stage. Here, the sales leader will sign up for the sales automation tool and arrange training for the rest of the team, if necessary.
4. Evalute exsisting tech
A B2B sales tech stack is never static; it should constantly be evolving and improving. Conduct regular reviews of the tech you use. If something isn’t working as well as hoped, remove it.
Free strategic sales plan template
It can be difficult to navigate the sales landscape. Our Leave No Stone Unturned Guide to building and managing a successful sales strategy explains how to build a strategic sales plan that maps out exactly how you can achieve sales success. Click below to download your copy 👇
