Strategic implementation is critical to a company’s success. Looking at the ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ can help you to reach your desired goals and objectives
Solid execution of your business strategy can give you a great competitive advantage in the market.
You have to be able to deliver on your intent. Your strategy has to become a living, breathing influence on everything you do and every decision you make.
Here are three key areas to focus on:
1. Concentrate on your sales efforts
Creating a focused, proactive and high performing sales function is often one of the biggest challenges facing a business.
Effective sales management incorporates the following:
- Profile and target your Most Valuable Customers (MVC). Who is it that values most what you do best?
- Analyse and prioritise sales opportunities. Look at opportunities to awaken ‘dormant’ clients and sell more to existing customers.
- Monitor and manage sales activities. Look at the conversion from call to visit, to quote to order.
- Set effective client/key account strategies – build those relationships.
- Get to key influencers – make sure you have multi-level contacts in the customers’ organisations.
- Map your sales process and think like a customer – help your customers to buy. Be easy to do business with.
- Build the revenue pipeline – note hot prospects and prioritise what needs to be done to convert them.
- Monitor the competition – understand what you need to do to take business from them – that is, after all, what sales is about.
2. Align your employees to deliver
Make sure you are able to maximise the performance and profitability of all the people involved in your business.
- Ensure everyone knows what is expected of them with clear job descriptions, person specifications and details on how performance will be measured.
- Set goals for each member of your team.
- Set up a structure to support the organisation’s vision, as well as its current framework. Remember the ‘5 Rs’ – retaining, retraining, recruiting, rewarding and releasing. Make sure you have the right people on the bus.
- Give regular feedback and talk to people about their aspirations and personal development goals.
- Find ways to motivate performance in line with the strategic plan.
3. What gets measured gets done – Ensure you are on track
The strategic planning process will identify the critical performance areas you need to measure.
- Understand financial performance. Evaluate profitability by product/customer/sales channel
- Set up a formal budget/forecast framework – breaking down the longer term vision into 12 monthly business development objectives and plans.
- Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the business and develop a monthly performance dashboard.
- Implement a monthly management meeting /performance review. This drives accountability and is an opportunity to report on the organisation’s performance against its plan.
- The above steps will help to achieve ‘true line of sight’ and drive the vision and strategy from the top-level of the business right down to the day-to-day activities and behaviours.
Certainly! My experience in strategic management and business consulting has allowed me to delve deep into the core aspects mentioned in the article about strategic implementation. Over the years, I've advised various companies across industries, assisting them in translating their strategic visions into actionable plans for success.
To break down the concepts mentioned:
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Sales Strategy and Implementation: This section emphasizes the significance of a well-structured sales function. Effective sales management involves profiling and targeting the Most Valuable Customers (MVCs), prioritizing sales opportunities, managing sales activities, establishing client/key account strategies, understanding customer behavior, and monitoring competition to capitalize on market opportunities.
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Employee Alignment and Performance: Aligning employees with the organizational goals is crucial. It involves setting clear expectations through job descriptions and performance metrics, establishing support structures, focusing on retention, retraining, recruitment, rewarding efforts, and having regular conversations about personal development and aspirations.
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Performance Measurement and Management: This aspect stresses the importance of measuring what matters. It includes evaluating financial performance, creating budget frameworks aligned with the long-term vision, defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), developing performance dashboards, and conducting regular management meetings to track progress against the established plan.
The overarching theme in strategic implementation is the synergy among these key areas. Creating a robust sales strategy, aligning employees with the company's vision, and measuring performance effectively are vital for ensuring that the strategic plan is not just a document but a living, guiding force permeating all levels of the organization.
Each component, when executed efficiently and harmoniously, contributes to the company's success, creating a unified direction from top-level strategies down to the day-to-day operations.
