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Preparing for your 2008-09 Sales Year
| Guest post by: Sue Barrett |
Article Overview: If you haven’t already it may be worth your while to hold a formal review and business/sales strategy planning session with your team before the new financial year kicks in. Many markets have and are going through major changes and this requires us to be on our toes and ready for action.
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Free Download - How Your Procurement Practices Affect Your Sales and Brand By Sue Barrett |
Preparing for your 2008-09 Sales Year
If you haven’t already it may be worth your while to hold a formal
review and business/sales strategy planning session with your team
before the new financial year kicks in. Many markets have and are
going through major changes and this requires us to be on our toes and
ready for action.
The challenge for any business, especially those of us who run a
small business with limited man power and resources, is to take the
time out to work on our business and plan for the future rather than
stay stuck in the day to day of our businesses. This is a vital part
of our job and can set us up very well for the future. If we stop and
look to review and reassess our strategies, plans and actions and take
into account what the market is doing, we in a better position to note
the vital signs and opportunities that can help us secure our business
future. Ideally this type of process should be done on a regular basis
at least formally twice to three times per year.
So with that in mind my team and I are putting aside Friday 2 May to
come together and work on our business strategy for the next 3 years
and our sales strategy for 2008/09 and beyond. My business has gone
though many iterations over the years and my long term goals are now
coming to life. I now what to ensure that we are on the right track
and I thought I would share with you the process we are going through
to help us put in place the best and right strategy for us to realise
our goals and fulfill our market potential and expectations.
Now I confess that I am not the most detailed person and ‘planning’
is one of my challenges so to keep me focused and on track here are
some of the questions we will be preparing to address and answer as
part of our planning and strategising. Ultimately our aim in going
through this process is to make sure we have a profitable and viable
business.
Our vision and mission for being in business
- WHAT do we stand for?
- WHY are we in this market space?
- WHAT do we want to best known for?
- WHAT are the values the guide us in our work?
- WHAT are our goals for the next FY, 2-3 years, 5+ years?
- WHO are we specifically targeting?
- WHY are we targeting them?
- WHAT does a viable ‘ideal’ customer look like?
- HOW do we find them?
- WHAT do they specifically want or need now?
- WHAT problems do we currently solve for our customers?
- WHAT products/services to we use to solve their problems?
- ARE our products/ services/ solutions solving their problems effectively?
- WHAT might they want or need in the future?
- WHAT can we offer them in the future?
- HOW do they want to buy?
- HOW do we need to sell to them?
- HOW do they want our products / service delivered?
- WHAT is our customer acquisition & retention strategy?
- WHAT are their expectations of us?
- WHO is our competition?
- Current Competition
- Peripheral Competition
- Emerging Competition
- WHAT markets are they operating in?
- WHY are they in this market space?
- WHAT is their primary objective / goal?
- WHAT do they do well?
- WHAT don’t they do well?
- HOW are we positioned against them?
- WHAT is our competitive advantage?
- WHAT is our unique selling proposition (USP)?
- WHAT is our promise?
- WHAT is our sales expectation?
- WHAT is our service level standard?
- HOW effective are we?
- WHAT do we do well?
- WHAT do we need to be better at?
- HOW effective have our current marketing activities and tools been? (i.e. PR, SEO, Brochures, Events, etc.)
- WHAT marketing activities and tools do we need to keep on using? & WHY?
- WHAT marketing activities and tools do we need to stop using? & WHY?
- HOW effective is our current product mix? What are the most profitable areas? What are the least profitable areas?
- WHAT is the $ value of our average sale?
- WHAT product mix do we take to market?
- WHAT is our current sales cycle? (how long does it take to make a sale?)
- WHAT is our current ‘prospecting : sales’ ratio
- WHAT are our current sales activities and HOW often did we do them to achieve our current revenue? (Prospecting, Sales Meetings, Account Management & Networking)
- HOW effective have they been?
- HOW often do we need to prospect to make enough sales appointments with viable prospects to make enough sales to meet our goals?
- HOW effective is our current sales process?
- WHAT do we need to change to be more effective as sales people? (Structured sales communication process & skills, human relations, motivations; values, behaviours & attitudes; problem solving & decision making; self management, planning, etc.)
- WHAT are our current Performance Expectations & Rewards
- HOW do we need to allocate customers? (by territory, industry, size, etc.)
- HOW do we set targets? (revenue allocation, profits, phasing, etc.)
- WHAT levels of responsibility and authority do each of us need to have?
- HOW do we currently manage revenue & profit?
- HOW do we forecast?
- HOW effective is our current CRM system in terms of capturing the right customer, marketing and other sales data?
- HOW effectively are our people at putting in the right data into our CRM?
- HOW effectively do we use the data we capture?
As many of you may be aware, putting together a business strategy and associated sales / marketing/ operation plans is all well and good, however they will remain intellectual abstractions until we put them into action. Good luck with your business and sales planning process.
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Article Tags: 3 years, aim, business sales, business strategy, challenges, iterations, job, man power, nbsp, rsquo, sales strategy, small business, term goals, three times, toes, viable business, vital signs
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About the Author: Sue Barrett RSS for Sue's articles - Visit Sue's website 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   How Your Procurement Practices Affect Your Sales and Brand Whats your competitive edge Broken Promises Bagging the Competition Changing sales perceptions Practice Practice Practice then Play |
Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional
- Hi Evan,
I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional
- [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan,
I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz]
I second the request...
How to valuate a business
- Hi Garth - here is how we did it at Northern Crown Capital when I was helping them raise venture capital for Toronto-based entrepreneurs. Assume the start date is 2003 so 2008 projections are 5 years out:
How Northern Crown Capital Valuates a Business
2008 Financial Projections
Earnings Before Tax
$5,865,000
Tax Rate
42%
Taxes
$2,463,300
Net Earnings
$3,401,700
Amount Seeking to Raise Today
$3,500,000
Discounted Value of Future Opportunity, 5 Years Out
2008 P/E Ratio
15
Value of Company in 2008
$51,025,500
Discount Rate Applied
30%
Year 2008
$51,025,500
Year 2007
$35,717,850
Year 2006
$25,002,495
Year 2005
$17,501,747
Year 2004
$12,251,223
Value of Company at Investment in 2003
$12,251,223
Less: Investment Amount
$3,500,000
Present Value
$8,751,223
Discount for Risk & Private Company
40%
Less: Discount for Risk & Private Company
$3,500,489
Private Company Value
$5,250,734
Present Value (What the Owner Keeps)
$5,250,734
60.00%
Financing (What the Investor Gets)
$3,500,000
40.00%
Total
$8,750,734
100.00%
I hope this helps!
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