Adapting Sales Strategy in 2023
Even in the absence of significant external and company events, the best companies continually fine-tune their sales strategies as they strive to constantly improve and become more competitive.
Very often, major events trigger changes in sales strategy. Frequently those events originate outside the company:
Increased competitive intensity (e.g., rapid rise of lower-priced ETFs, commoditization of most asset classes) that creates pressure on companies and salespeople to find new ways to differentiate their offerings
Customer consolidation (e.g., aggregation of RIA and investment consulting firms; vertical integration of investment consulting firms into wealth management and OCIO, vertical integration of broker dealers into asset management)
Economic cycles
Events originating within a company can also provide the impetus for sales strategy change. Any time a manager launches a significant new product (e.g., alternative investment products) or enters into a new market (e.g., RIA, DC, family office), sales strategy is affected. Company acquisitions and sales force mergers (e.g., Delaware and Ivy, Franklin Templeton and Legg Mason, Invesco and Oppenheimer) are other classic examples of company events that usually lead to a redefinition of sales strategy.
While major events are obvious triggers for sales strategy change, other, more subtle signals can also indicate that a company’s sales strategy needs to be upgraded. Sales leaders are in an ongoing hunt for such signals to ensure that they are constantly fine-tuning their sales strategy to be the best that it can be. The framework shown in the figure below provides a structure for diagnosing emerging sales strategy issues. By working backward through the framework, you can identify signals of potential sales strategy concern and trace their causes upstream to determine what adjustments you might need to make.
The framework (working from right to left) suggests the following series of diagnostic questions that need to be asked:
Are our company results below expectation? Is the company losing assets, or is growth less than expected? If so, perhaps changes in which customers and prospects our sales force sells to, what value it sells, or how the selling is done can improve our results.
What do our customers say? Trouble is looming if customers are not responding well to our salespeople or if customer satisfaction is waning.
What activities do our salespeople engage in? Is their selling process made up of activities that add the most value and produce the best possible results?
What do our salespeople and sales managers say?
Do we have appropriate sales force roles and structure in place? Does our current structure encourage salespeople to spend time with the right types of customers and prospects?
If a careful diagnosis suggests that your company might benefit from a sales strategy upgrade, a well-planned and proactive process will ensure the successful implementation of a change in your sales strategy.
