Planning for 2011

Guest post by: Sue Barrett
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How Your Procurement Practices Affect Your Sales and Brand - By Sue Barrett

Budgeting and developing strategy for 2011 should be near the top of your ‘to-do’ list right now or be bedded down already. People complain about being too busy and never having enough time, however if you do not make time for regular planning you will let everyone down.

Make time to work on:

Forecasting
Evaluating staff hiring and implementing staff development plans
Ensuring that your marketing calendar is planned through to June 2011 at a minimum

Right now we are working with several clients on their sales plans for 2011 as well as planning out their 2011 sales training schedule.

Here are several ideas for you to consider. The questions below should be handed to each of your management team and each person should prepare their answers. Ask them not to be soft in their responses, and to set aside some quiet time to apply the appropriate amount of thoughtful reflection and analysis in compiling their individual answers. Have everyone compare their responses with the rest of the team at your next management meeting. You may even like to reward authentic and well constructed ideas.

What went well in the past 12 months?
What did not work or go well?
What are the key drivers influencing our market, our customers and our competitors?
What are the key metrics that are giving us the right information?
What are the risks we are facing internally and externally?
What are the opportunities or ideas that could lead to better business growth, client retention and increased market share?
What are the factors we know we will be facing in 2011?
What are the assumptions we are making about the market in 2011?
What were the assumptions we made in 2010? Did they hold true and are they still true?

We use these questions and many more during our strategic sessions with clients and with ourselves to help everyone get on the same page and build a vision for each organisation.

A Best Practice hint: set a date! For example, by 17 December 2010 all budgets, compensation plans and marketing programs must be completed. This will keep everyone working towards that deadline.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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Free PDF Download
How Your Procurement Practices Affect Your Sales and Brand - By Sue Barrett

About the Author: Sue Barrett

RSS for Sue's articles - Visit Sue's website
'Selling is everybody's business and everybody lives by selling something' so says Sue Barrett, sales expert, writer, business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur. Sue founded Barrett in 1995 to positively transform the culture, capability and continuous learning of leaders, teams and businesses by developing sales driven organisations that are equipped for the 21st Century. Since inception, Barrett has worked with hundreds of Australian companies challenging thinking to create compelling reasons and continuous learning pathways for people and organisations to develop their skills, knowledge and mindsets to create the shifts they want and ensure they are well informed and equipped for the sales journey ahead.
Sue is one of the leading voices commenting on sales today. Sue has a unique way of getting to the heart of the matter - she combines extensive knowledge, research, insight, and practical experience with a deep sense of compassion to bring forth a more enlightened way of thinking and participating in the world. This makes her stand out from the usual crowd of existing business commentators.

Her ability to distill complex ideas and relate them to life's everyday challenges and opportunities has audience members and readers leaving with a stronger understanding of "self" and how they can begin to achieve excellence through purposeful action. Presenting and writing on a wide range of topics about the world of 21st Century selling Sue's presentations and articles include sales philosophy and culture, sales leadership and coaching, sales training, selling skills, resilience, neuroscience in selling and more. Sue's articles are some of the most widely read in Australia and she is gaining a following overseas as well. Besides publishing on Barrett Sales Blog site, Sue has been the lead sales writer for www.smartcompany.com.au since 2007, and is also regularly published on other highly regarded publications such as Australian Anthill Magazine, Niche Magazine, Marketing Mag, Business Chicks, and Business Deals.

Click here to visit Sue's website.

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