Integrating Sales, Marketing, and Business Strategy

By: John Kypriotakis

 

Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things. Ultimate success is doing both. Doing the right things right is what this article is about.

In the next few paragraphs, we will (a) outline the four essential elements in optimizing your Marketing and Sales efforts, and (b) describe the six steps needed to successfully integrate Market, Sales and Business Strategy.

The key elements in optimizing your Marketing and Sales efforts are:

1. Integrate input from various sources, inside and outside of your business, to better outline your direction.
2. Integrate marketing and sales intelligence into the overall business strategy.
3. Synchronize Marketing and Sales efforts so they will more effectively influence each other, and
4. Target your Marketing and Sales efforts to most effectively influence the customer.

These four elements form the foundation for the steps necessary to successfully integrate Market, Sales and Business Strategy.

You will find at least one of them in each of the steps described below.

Steps to successful integration

Here is an outline of how to successfully make use of multiple sources of intelligence in defining Business, Marketing and Sales Strategy.

(1) Corporate Direction

Crystallize your vision.

Define your short and long term goals.

Communicate your vision and goals throughout your organization.

(2) Internal Audit

Assess your strengths and weaknesses, as an organization, based on input from each member of your team.

Ask questions such as: What business are we really in? What direction is our industry taking in the future? What do we do well? What can we improve?

(3) External Audit

Check the pulse of the market and your customer.

With the help of your Marketing and Sales organization ask penetrating and relevant questions.

Solicit customers� views on the strengths and weaknesses of your company, and the reasons for or against doing business with you. Ask how you can be of greater benefit to them in the future.

Compare these findings to the list you developed internally.

Your strengths should be used as part of your business plan and they should be promoted to your target market.

Be aware of your weaknesses. Use them to determine what business to stay away from since you already know you will not be able to service it effectively.

Do not stop here though, use this information as your foundation for a continuous improvement plan.

(4) Business Strategy

Analyze the data you've accumulated so far and determine the direction the market is headed.

Compare this to your initial vision and, by combining the two, develop your new business strategy.

Ask questions such as: What needs to be accomplished? How will it get done? Who is the ideal audience for our message? What is the message?

Armed with this information the Communication and Sales Management Plan can finally be put together to execute the strategic objectives of your company.

Here is a key point: Both Marketing and Sales will now develop a plan that is in line with the Business Strategy they both helped design.

(5) Communication Plan

Begin building a detailed customer profile and determine how you can best service their current and future needs.

Finally, by analyzing the profiles of your most successful accounts, devise a plan to reach other similar accounts where you have the best chance of winning.

Here is the message to communicate: This is the business we are in, this is how you can benefit and why you should be buying from us.

(6) Sales Management Plan

Develop a plan to motivate, monitor, guide and properly compensate your sales force.

Develop a proper territory and /or account management program.

Identify key customers/accounts in the target market and develop a plan on how to reach, communicate, sell and service them.

Last point...

This is meant to be an ongoing program. Measure the results, compare against your goals, fine-tune and continue.  

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John Kypriotakis is President of Lysis International, Inc.  a Tampa based sales management consulting firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service.

Phone 813-792-8500 - E-mail: need_info@salesandmanagement.com

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