Learning to Develop Corporate Sales Strategy

A critical step that is surprisingly overlooked in many startup companies is learning the landscape BEFORE planning sales strategy.  Once sales strategy is developed and actions to execute on that strategy are identified, we can begin to build a go-to-market model that will best carry out the strategy.  It is at that point when the sales force is planned.  In mid to larger companies, there could be a shift in market coverage and different sales roles that will require significant change management to realize. 

There is a comprehensive learning process designed to learn what it takes to make correct decisions on building corporate sales strategy.  Historical perspective, performance benchmarks, people, challenges, opportunities, data and processes are a few examples of input.  Sources of information include internal employees at all levels, customers, hard data, board members, suppliers, analysts and also very important, company culture.

Why then don't many companies follow this evolution of stepping stones?  It's hard work!  Ego's get in the way.  Someone decides they want it done a certain way rather than test their ideas first.  Or, leadership has a singular method and is not versatile enough to design any number of plans that fit the situation.  Time is critical for any size company and making mistakes in strategic development and building out a sales force cause negativity, distrust, turnover, additional cost, lost revenue, loss of management credibility and time. 

Is it worth the effort to learn before you build out the corporate strategy?  You bet!  It will save you grief and put you on a path to success.  Effective CEO's won't ask their new VP Sales hire to pull a strategy out of their back pocket.  The learning process while building sales strategy can take anywhere from 60-90 days if done right.