Achieve timely,
Strategic Sales Effectiveness.
What does it take to be effective? What does it take to be effective at the right time? How do you achieve sales results that align with strategy?
These are the questions Frank V. Cespedes delves into in his book “Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors that Drive Effective Selling,” a highly recommended read for anyone in sales. This book provides crucial insights for optimizing your company’s customer management activities and offers a framework for diagnosing and managing the core levers of effective selling in any company.
“Aligning Strategy and Sales” equips you with the knowledge and tools to translate ideas into action. The book is well-suited for both organizational managers and small business owners. Frank V. Cespedes’s effort to make selling meaningful is especially beneficial for those who struggle with organizing sales.
Recent research highlights a significant gap between strategy and field execution in sales, posing a substantial vulnerability. Poor alignment between strategy and sales directly impacts a company’s growth potential.
So, what’s the problem?
One major issue is that sales and strategy are often treated as separate entities. Poor alignment arises from the “one-way communication” model, as Frank V. Cespedes explains. In many companies, sales departments are only occasionally involved in strategy formulation, with strategic directions primarily set by C-level executives who are detached from sales realities.
Another issue is the tendency of sales departments to focus on tactics and daily operations while neglecting strategic thinking. Additionally, many companies treat strategic planning as a periodic event rather than an ongoing process, causing misalignment. Even if the planning output is a great strategy (a big if), the process often makes it irrelevant to sales executives who need to make decisions throughout the year in line with external buying rhythms and selling cycles.
What is the solution?
Frank V. Cespedes argues that linking sales efforts with strategy is essential for profitable growth and must be a “two-way street.” Value is created or destroyed in the market with customers, not in conference rooms. Sales staff can provide valuable insights into current customer behavior, keeping business strategy relevant. Strategic direction is key to improving sales efficiency, and Cespedes proposes a multilevel framework to achieve this.
According to Cespedes, without clear strategic direction, salespeople will “sell to anyone willing to pay a certain price.” The first step is understanding customer and market characteristics to determine where and how to compete.
The second step is translating strategic choices into specific sales tasks and measurable objectives. Ask yourself what skills your sales staff need to deliver and extract value from customers.
The final step is ensuring that the actual behavior of sales staff aligns with defined sales tasks. This involves hiring the right people, providing excellent training and development opportunities, continuously measuring and reviewing sales performance, implementing appropriate compensation and incentive systems, and fostering cross-functional communication and collaboration.
Cespedes emphasizes the importance of saying “no” to achieve meaningful strategy and outlines when meaningful strategy activity begins. Throughout the book, figures and charts highlight processes that must be managed.
Ultimately, this book will help guide your company’s sales strategy and leverage that strategy to select the most effective sales support activities. The focus is on alignment—don’t you find that interesting?
Since Harvard emphasizes sales, you may also be interested in Harvard Business School’s Executive Education program “Aligning Strategy and Sales.” This program is designed to help senior managers synchronize strategies and field-sales activities. It is ideal for executives who define and communicate strategic direction, manage sales and distribution, recruit and develop sales talent, provide pre- or post-sale service, and budget for these activities. The program examines the critical relationship between business strategy and sales activities.
What can you expect?
You’ll learn to establish and communicate sales initiatives that support corporate objectives, build and nurture the right sales channels, develop company-wide alignment, and implement the infrastructure, processes, and cultural values critical to long-term revenue growth. In short, you’ll discover new ways to increase revenues.
Enjoy this video from Harvard Business Review on how to connect what your people sell with your business goals.
