A willingness to change the sales strategy is the mark of a successful business because even the strongest sales strategies will falter over time as audience and market preferences change. Yet rethinking your sales strategy is far from an easy task, as there are many variables to consider and few of these variables will be in the same position as they were the last time your sales strategy was updated. The following five parameters are starting points to make rethinking your sales strategy for business growth a more manageable task.

What Are Your Sales Strategy Objectives?

In simple terms, a good sales strategy is one that has the objective of increasing sales. However, there are better ways to measure the effectiveness of a sales strategy, and as a general rule sales strategies should have at least three measurable objectives so that you can assess where your sales strategy is performing. Multiple objectives can also provide a guiding map to how to allocate your strategy budget, and might include:

• Building brand awareness
• Growth in sales over time, segmented by market, demographics, and offerings
• Repeat sales numbers and new customer sales numbers
• Sales of add-ons and complimenting offerings

Did Your Previous Sales Strategy Perform or Outperform in Certain Areas?

By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your current and past sales strategies, you can find a foundation for updating the sales strategy without starting from scratch, although you will still want to consider where your actions for change need to be concentrated. The statistics you find can tell you where your sales efforts are dropping off, as well as where your sales strategy might be able to take new directions. Give the most weight to areas in which you want to improve to move your sales strategy forward.

Is Your Sales Strategy Targeting the Right Markets?

Sales provide the revenue that your business needs, but where are your sales coming from and how are they being achieved? The demographics for your organization’s products and services may be evolving, and if you are not keeping careful tabs on the demographics contributing to your sales mix, you may be missing out on important clues that could help you improve your sales strategy.

• Geographic changes in sales as target buyers move and new businesses open their doors
• Business and population composition changes as wider audiences realize the value of your offerings
• Changes in the size of average sales to new and established target buyers as purchasing habits evolve

Is Your Sales Strategy Appropriately Supported by Your Distribution and Marketing Channels?

When rethinking your sales strategy, you should start with your sales team, but the needs of your sales strategy don’t end there. Although your sales team does not work directly in distribution or marketing, it does work directly with these teams, which can have major impacts on sales. Clients who have an issue with service or delivery can be difficult to appease, even for the best prepared sales person. Consider:

• Are your marketing campaigns sending the right messages? This is especially important if an effective marketing campaign has reached its ending point and a new campaign is beginning.
• Are there issues in distribution channels or recent changes that would impact delivery?
• Is there enough back end support to keep customers coming back?

Can Your Sales Strategy Do More to Build Brand Loyalty?

Brand loyalty is more important than ever in a crowded marketplace. Your sales strategy should be reinforcing the notion that your organization’s offerings can provide more than the offerings of your competitors in order to encourage your clients to repeat their business with you. Construct your sales strategy with brand loyalty in mind and ensure that every individual in your sales, marketing, and customer support segments is on message with the goal of building long-term clients out of every sale.