Implementing Strategy in Sales
When you ask salespeople if they know their company´s strategy, you often get mixed results: Some will cite objectives, such as ´growth´ or ´profit´ (instead of describing a strategy). Others often don´t know their company´s strategy at all. In many cases, there is a lack of clarity about what strategy is. Therefore, here is a pragmatic definition: A strategy is a plan. It includes clear decisions about what a company does (e.g. exclusively serving a luxury segment) and does not do (e.g. not serving a low-price segment.) Based on these decisions, strategic initiatives (actions) are initiated to build competitive advantage and reach growth goals (turnover, profit, market share). The sum of all decisions and strategic initiatives constitutes the strategy.