Friday, April 2, 2010

Sales Strategies vs. Sales Tactics

How many times can we talk about the difference between sales strategy and sales tactics? Today sales trainer Bill Caskey goes back to basics!

Your sales strategy should be really, really simple...the simpler it is to understand, the more likely your sales team will understand and execute against it.

Your sales strategy should be to educate the customer to the problems he has - and help him solve them.

Everything you do in the marketing/lead generation/sales process should have THAT as your end goal. The mistake most companies make is they make their strategy about THEM - not the customer.

I recently spoke to a group where I asked the question, "What is your sales strategy?" The answers I got indicated that they had done no definitive work on the subject. Isn't that a bit absurd? With as much chatter as there is about the concept of sales strategy - to have done no work on it? None!

So, now that you have your new strategy, your sales tactics - and marketing tactics - should line up to support that. Here are some tips:

--Maybe you publish an article about all the mistakes you observe people making in the process of solving problems.
--Maybe you create a video where you interview a client about the problems they had they didn't know about.
--Maybe you create a speech that you deliver to groups in your area - your niche - where you discuss the Top 10 Problems people experience without your solution.

You get the idea. Do some work on strategy. And when you do, make sure your customer is at the center of it.

Bill Caskey is a sales development leader and experimenter. His ideas about selling are convictions about life, money, and meaning. He has coached sales professionals and executives for over 19 years. To learn more, visit his website www.CaskeyTraining.com.

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