LEADERSHIP


10 Steps to Future-Proof Your Sales Force & Transform Results


BY MIKE KUNKLE, VICE PRESIDENT, SALES EFFECTIVENESS SERVICES, SPARXIQ AND AUTHOR OF THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF SALES ENABLEMENT


The start of the new year causes one to reflect on the past year and contemplate how to improve in the year ahead. Rarely is this as true as it is now, given recessionary challenges, widespread layoffs, and concerns about evolving buyer behavior and how to best respond.


One of my favorite axioms for fellow enablers is: “Advice about how to figure out what’s right for you is 10 times more valuable than being told what to do.” With this theme in mind, and the opportunity we have to rethink and retool for an even more successful year ahead, here are 10 steps you can take to future-proof your sales force and transform your sales results in 2023.


STEP 1: STRATEGY FIRST, THEN TACTICS, THEN TALENT & EXECUTION Often leaders focus on tactics—hiring, training, and coaching execution—before ensuring strategy and go-to-market planning are sound and aligned. To ensure success, start with strategic planning. With that foundation, continue to go-to-market planning. Effective talent management, skills development, and tactical execution should support your strategy, not the other way around. For more detail on this process, read How to Resize and Retool Your Sales Force the Right Way and view this chart.


STEP 2:


BUILD BUYER ACUMEN Buyer acumen is the first of my Building Blocks of Sales Enablement and is foundational to any sales transformation effort. Begin by researching your buyers to gather and document critical information that will help both marketers and sellers generate interest and sell more effectively.


Focus on:


• Roles/Goals/Responsibilities • Current and Desired Future State with Challenges, Opportunities, Impacts, Needs, Outcomes, Priorities (COIN-OP)


• Common Initiatives • Size of Problems and Budgets • Metrics (how they are measured/evaluated) • Other Factors: Risks, Pressures, Preferences, Politics


Once buyers are engaged with you, you can layer in: • Buying Process and Buying Committee (how and with whom they buy)


• Overall Decision Criteria (factors influencing their decision)


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