7 Sales Strategy Challenges that Freeze your Sales Growth

7 Sales Strategy Challenges that Freeze your Sales Growth

Does it feel like your sales growth strategies are frozen? Do sales results seem to be ice-cold, during a time when you need the sales effort to be producing piping-hot, high-growth results?

To heat up sales production, are you thinking that you might need to move players around? To restructure your sales effort?

If yes, you’re not the only CEO, president, and business owner who see restructuring as a profitable route.

During a recent trip in our RV, I had to draw on all my restructuring experience. Thank goodness for our weather app!

My husband, Gordon, and I, love going on adventure vacations. We’ve been to China, Tanzania, Panama, and we even visited our daughter in Paris, shortly after the tragic bombings in 2015. On other occasions, we prefer to enjoy a relaxed “Sun & Sand” break.  This time, after a year of lockdowns, sheltering, uncertainty, and stress, the choice was obvious – Sun & Sand, here we come!

In view of the Covid Craziness, I was hesitant to cross the border this year, so we decided to check out the Texas sun. My, oh my, were we in for a surprise…

Shortly after leaving home, we checked our weather app again and realized that we were driving towards the eye of a snowstorm. Now what?  Within hours, our planned “Relaxing Sun Vacation” turned into a “RV Winter Camping Adventure!”

Here are a few of the challenges we faced:

• My reading glasses fell and cracked – so no reading during the entire trip. (Big disappointment.)
• Our RV was broken into! The culprits didn’t get away with much (only my North Dakota snow gear), but our locks were destroyed.
• Propane, which we use to power the RV when we can’t plug into an electricity supply, was virtually unavailable.

So, what do we do?  We had to make a choice.  Do we give up on our goal to enjoy our adventure?  Or do we find a way to carry on?

Well, if you know me, you’d know that giving up isn’t really part of my vocabulary.

We decided to restructure our vacation…

Even though our trip didn’t go as planned, our ability to (literally) change course, because of our weather app, enabled us to still enjoy our adventure.

What sales results challenges are you seeing that cause you to consider restructuring your sales teams?

Why Consider Restructuring to Address Your Sales Growth Concerns?

Many of the presidents, CEOs, and business owners I work with are concerned about sales results. Almost every day, I hear:

• How do we differentiate in an increasingly fast-paced, highly competitive marketplace?
• How do we sell consultatively with video – it doesn’t seem to be working so well?
• How do we improve our ability to motivate and manage a remote sales team?

Just like the disappointment we experienced when our vacation plans were derailed by the cold weather, you may be feeling let down by a poor performance from your salespeople.  But maybe this is because they don’t fit in their current roles. During the last year, your market has changed, your customers have morphed, and priorities have shifted. The salespeople who were successful a couple of years ago, may not be equipped or wired to succeed given these new conditions.

Or, are there other reasons contributing to a lack of results?

The success of your recovery will be determined by how well you restructure your sales effort.

What might you do to get the sales growth results you want from a restructuring process?

Consider These Critical Sales Strategy Challenges

Like many other business leaders, you may be considering restructuring your salesforce. However, a sales restructuring process can turn into a painful nightmare quickly, if not handled well. So, often leaders will back away from the idea because they are unsure about the best way to proceed.

When considering a Sales Force Restructure, you need accurate insights into the following:

• What Critical Sales Strategy Challenges are you facing?
• Which of these issues will become a problem sooner, rather than later?
• What other Critical Sales Challenges might block success

Here are 8 challenges that I find will cause CEO’s,  presidents, and business owners to ask:

• Are my sales teams properly aligned?
• How do I need to restructure so that I maximize results and exceed my sales growth goals?

Critical Sales Strategy Challenges

1. Introducing new Products and Services

You’re launching innovative new products and services in an economy that’s emerging from Covid Craziness. Which of your sales leaders and salespeople can proceed confidently, considering the continuing changes and disruptions the economy, the market, and your industry are facing?

2. Shifting from Product to Technology-base Solutions

Your company is shifting from a product-based solution to a technology-based solution. Which of your sales managers and salespeople will be able to make the transition to a more conceptual-based solution?

3. Stopping Margin Erosion in a Competitive Marketplace
   

Your high-growth market was already flattening, and margins were shrinking. Which of your sales managers will be able to coach the salespeople to maintain margins? They’re facing an economy where buyers are reluctant to let go of their money – if they have any left. Who can succeed?

4. Fighting against Intensifying Competition

The competitive landscape is changing even more rapidly. You once were a dominant market leader. Now your sales managers and salespeople are up against competitors who are already dropping prices dramatically just to get cash flow and capture market share. Who on your team will be successful in this selling situation?

5. Acquiring Another Company 

The new company acquisition looked like a great strategic addition…until the pandemic. You were starting to see gaps in the selling competencies of the newly acquired salespeople. Now, the gap is widening. You don’t have the time or money for a wait-and-see approach. You have to make decisions now on who’s going to stay and who needs to go. What might you do to gear up your leadership development program? Which sales leaders and salespeople can help ensure your new acquisition is profitable during this mess?

6. Changing your Go-To-Market Strategy

You realize the demographic shift in both your clients and your available workforce requires a change in sales strategy. However, with an economic recovery that’s a gradual process, is there a way to speed up sales growth results with your new BDRs?

7. Managing Remote Teams 

You gave your sales manager grace last year because of all the chaos. However, you’re moving into a new season, and you’re not confident that your sales manager can manage and motivate remote salespeople and virtual selling. What do you need to do to ensure your sales managers are keeping your remote team motivated and productive?

Check out my video:

Use a Sales Weather App to Guide Your Sales Strategy Restructuring

Just like Gordon and I used a weather app to guide our decisions for rerouting our trip, you too need accurate insights also before doing a Sales Restructure.

Before you decide to change the current direction of your sales growth strategy, you must know exactly which route to follow.

Knowledge is power and will guide you to make the best decisions with clarity and confidence.

Whether it’s one of these 7 Critical Sales Strategy Challenges or some other sales issues caused by the Covid-19 crisis, you need accurate insights. You want confidence as you’re restructuring your sales teams.

That’s where we can help.

We have proven tools, processes, and resources that help you get clarity on your current sales capacity. I call it my Sales Weather App.  You will discover which areas of your sales strategy are frozen, and what you might do so that you change in order to get piping-hot sales results.

Contact us for a Sales Weather App Discussion

Would you deliberately drive into a snowstorm and risk sub-zero temperatures in an RV?  If you’re sensible, you probably won’t!

Would you keep leading your salespeople forward when you’re having frozen sales growth results?

Would you keep them in roles where they don’t fit?

I doubt it.

However, you may not know how to get your salespeople out from the icy cold conditions of sub-zero sales growth and on to a path of piping hot sales potential.

We can get you the insights you need with our Sales Weather Ap!

Our goal is to help you strengthen your leadership and management quotient. Let’s chart a sales growth plan that ensures you and your team succeed during these difficult economic times.

Sales Growth Leadership Lesson:  Address your Critical Sales Strategy Challenges by getting accurate insights on restructuring your salesforce.

Sales Growth Leadership Question:  What are you doing to get clarity on your current sales strategy, so that you make the right decisions to successfully navigate this volatile marketplace?