How can you demonstrate strategic thinking in Outside Sales?

Strategic thinking in outside sales involves understanding market dynamics, tailoring solutions to client needs, and building long-term relationships. Adaptability is key in the face of change, and leveraging technology can provide a competitive edge. Success comes from seeing each deal as part of a larger client success strategy, focusing on partnerships rather than just transactions. Stay ahead by anticipating trends, personalizing your approach, and committing to continuous learning and adaptation.

Outside Sales can leverage strategic thinking by using OKRs. Once your key objective is established, you can set 3-4 key results that are very specific and numbers driven in order to ensure all teams are aligned.

Doing your research, as this suggests, is a given. What many overlook, lack the patience for, or don’t invest enough time in, are developing relationships and communication skills. Prospective clients almost never hire someone they don’t like, don’t trust, or aren’t responsive. In addition, often they look for characteristics upon which repeated sales, or a continued relationship, can be built for the longer haul. Oh, and that research done at the onset? It needs to continue to keep that advantage of why you were hired in the first place.

I agree with using the SWOT, but take it further and develop a TOWS solution model. There would be areas/customers that can be more easily capitalized upon in the current state; and those that would require some more effort/resources. In a competitive market environment know your own strengths and weaknesses, the terrain and attack wherever you have the greatest advantage or least disadvantage

Spend time on your strategic offering and how you plan to talk about it. Do you really understand the problem it solves? Can you position it in a way that has your prospects leaning forward or are you just a me too? Test your pitch with colleagues, talk to existing customers about why they bought. Strategic selling requires skill in translating a complex offering to a decision maker. How will you prompt them to engage and change? Your thinking needs to go beyond memorizing the sales playbook.

I've found that a strong sales plan with intentional pipeline creation targets focuses the mind. Look at previous win rates to determine what coverage you require and build your plan around the number of conversations you need to be having. It is a great way of stress testing your month ahead before starting on activity. If you cannot hit the number then you either need to find ways to reach more people or increase your yield. A sales strategy must have 4 things. A defined number of target customers you will speak with, an offering, a target deal size, and a timeline. Be specific and you'll find opportunities tend to arise. If you generalise, you will often fall short

Many love SMART goals in sales because they present clear, focused targets to chase. It's like having a formula to success, making sure you’re headed in the right direction, aligned on achieving your targets. However, it's not always the way to go. Sticking too tightly to these goals can box you in, leaving little room for spontaneity. Sales is often about riding the sizing the opportunity, being able to adapt to what the customer wants. The spontaneous discussions, the unexpected turns—that’s where a great seller can pick up unexpected key information. So, it’s a bit of a tug-of-war between following the directions with SMART and being able to take the scenic route when customer wants to talk.

One of the common mistake in setting SMART goal and KPI is being too general and lack of clarity on the end objective we want to achieved. Being specific and clear about the end objective will further enchance the smart goal set and bring us the desired result. Clarity in communication to the team on the SMART goal and KPI is also extremely important as this serve is setting foundation to achieve the goal and KPIs.

A key aspect of execution is to clearly understand the white space potential.  Focusing on targeted gaps provides the best opportunity to channel offerings.  Goals can then be defined based on quantifying the growth vectors.  This promotes development of compelling marketing campaigns and content to facilitate meaningful customer engagement and validation.

Working on strategy as a team ensures you get the necessary buy-in. Once the team agree the right KPIs split actions into tasks (immediate) and projects (delivery will typically take 6-12 months) and run a 'What, when and who' session.

Once upon a time in Salesville, Sally eyed a market opportunity. With her team, she set SMART goals and crafted an action plan. They prioritized tasks and dove into action. When the Market Shift dragon roared, they flexed their plan, dodging its fiery breath. They documented each battle, learning and sharing their tales with the villagers. Sally’s mix of planning, adaptability, and transparency turned them into Salesville's most admired sales squad. Their journey showcased how strategic execution navigates the unpredictable sales seas. Through Sally's lessons, Salesville saw the blend of structured planning and spontaneity as their map to the golden market opportunities amidst ever-shifting tides. And they learned to deal with the dragon.

Have a properly qualified target list. Closely monitor and ensure each account is thoroughly studied and “tracked”. Develop and maintain a 360 degree understanding of their business model, current and future growth models, challenges faced, etc. Study and determine “out of box” marketing/alliances, sales growth ideas that you can share with them. Study and do a “deep dive” into market opportunities and ways that YOU/your company can help open doors for the target account. Build and maintain relationships with the client. Get to know them professionally and to a degree, personally. Have “skin in the game”. Show up for them. Offer to meet for lunch or dinner, to see how you can help them.

Once you have found an opportunity with a company that converts to profitable business, then maximise its potential by finding all the companies that do similar work and show them how your solution benefits them. This then will create a pipeline of opportunities.

Demonstrar o planejamento estratégico. É  necessário conhecer os objetivos, missão, visão e valores da empresa; Desenvolver uma análise do mercado que deseja atuar, identificar as possíveis ameaças e oportunidades. Definir os objetivos através da estratégia que torna possível traçar os rumos  através do planejamento; Apresentar ações a serem desenvolvidas, com olhar para o presente pensando e futuro, aceitar ideias novas e criativas para aprimorar ou desenvolver soluções; para enfrentar com sucesso as forças competitivas e obter um retorno maior. Acompanhar as ações com eficiência e eficácia, tornando o processo contínuo de criação, implementação e avaliação de decisões que orientem e permitam a organização atingir seus objetivos.

I dont see them as objections. We need to lose this word from our lexicon. It's often predictable dialogue in the early stages, conditioned responses that people use when sold to, often without thinking. For this you can plan your response, you'll find there are rarely more than 7-8 categories In later stages, negative signals are normally due to the fact that we've missed something. Re-qualify. Check you understand the decision making unit, know who your competition is, including 'Do nothing'. Do not push past these signals. Stop and deal with them the moment you hear or sense an issue.

Adopting a mindset of assisting customers on how they can buy aligns both parties to mutual benefit. This is less about overcoming objections and more about collaboratively solving problems. When faced with challenges like rejections or delays, instead of merely pushing through, it's key to understand the core concerns and explore solutions together. This customer-centric perspective not only helps in making more informed, effective decisions but also in building trust. It turns the sales process into a shared exercise to find value. This way, you're not just selling to them, but partnering with them, making the process beneficial for all. How does this idea fit with your current sales strategies?

The ability to solve problem and make decision is extremely important in sales environment. This process can be difficult and painful but is journey to grow and improved. The ability to solve a problem strategically and make right decision to resolve the challenge comes from clear mind and right attitude when you face the problem. Right mindset and right attitude is pillar to determine if you can pull yourself into right direction toward the end objective you want to achieved.

Effective outside sales calls for a flexible strategy that allows you to adapt to the customer. We've all encountered the almost robotic salesperson obviously working from a script, and while preparation is good, you really need to be able to tailor your approach for different situations. Think of every possible objection to your proposal and try to put yourself in the shoes of the people making them. What can your service or product do to assuage their concerns? What might be important for them?

In every difficult situation, is a chance for you to learn and grow. Leaving comfort zone, steps into discomfort zone, will make yourself stronger. After the entire journey of problem solving and having to meet the end objective, this is a true process of development and grow. This is why you need to trust and learn from the process and you will see the result.

Any skilled professional analyses their performance, strategic sales is no different. Determine what a good week looks like at the start in terms of outcomes and review how you did at the end of the week. Were you honest with yourself? Did you give yourself an easy ride? Did you over commit? How do you compare to your peers?

I have found that those who remain humble and acknowledge they always have something learn, particularly when things don't go absolutely according to plan, are often the most successful long-term. Openness to adapting and striving to always be better goes a long ways towards long-term success. Enjoy the journey.

Continuous learning is key in sales. It's about taking feedback seriously, reflecting on your actions, and understanding what worked and what didn’t. Learning from both successes and failures helps in making better decisions moving forward. It's also crucial to stay updated, seeking new skills and perspectives to constantly evolve. This not only boosts your sales effectiveness but shows a strong commitment to bettering your approach, reflecting well on your strategic thinking. By adapting and improving, you will demonstrate strong drive for excellence and innovation.

I love to ask prospective client what was their best off sit meeting or event and why? What was their worse and why. Take notes and make sure yo follow their best experience

My best sales call ever. Was attending a Meetings and events Conference in Vegas. Went to the pool and ran into one of my favorite clients who had recently had a successful private party at our at our theme park. I thanked him and congratulated him by buying him a drink. A bottle of Don Pierre Champagne. As we were talking a few other clients huddled by our table. 6 large prospective companies from Silicon Valley. Some I knew and a few I just met. Loren was doing all the talking. Telling everyone about their event. That year I was Sales person of the year for all kings Island parks. I sold 5 more exclusive Park rentals that year (1200 people min) Thanks to my happy client I was able to sell in a different way. Be creative in selling.

1. Take time to fully understand what mission critical initiatives they are pursuing 2. Examine what you and your organization can offer to accelerate accomplishment of the customer’s key strategic plans 3. Fully estimate the value (both economic and intrinsic) to be gained through acceleration 4. Have enabling dialogues with key beneficiaries including those in the power/decision making ranks 5. prove all beneficiaries how the results can be achieved 6. Ask key beneficiaries for sponsorship of implementation

In my experience being able to solve problems, remove obstacles and make the person who is responsible for making purchasing decisions around the types of solutions you’re selling your champion. My goal was to ensure that person, who responsible for making my decision maker look like a rockstar. Also, don’t forget that each business unit typically has a budget so while you may need to get creative around positioning- where there’s a will there’s a way.

Strategic thinking in outside sales is a crucial to achieving sales objective and it's a pointer to the ability to make a good decision in closing a deal. Every market is unique and people differ, therefore after identifying the opportunities or threats peculiar to the market or individual a SMART objective is set to enable you operate within the scope of organization practice. Importantly the outside sales person should always have at the back of their minds the dynamics of every market, the people, culture and their beliefs. All these put together will enable you have a good analysis for decision making, handling objections and tailor your persuasion towards a favorable AIDA concept.

Game Theory: Develop the mentality of an entrepreneur. If this was your business, how would you create it from the ground up? Treat it like a game and build from nothing. Once you theoretically rebuild the business, discover what new processes, systems, personnel, equipment, or other structures you would put in place. Where are you creating something different from the current business? In a perfect situation, where would you place key structures for fulfillment? What's missing that would make a difference? Answer these questions and you can discover new abilities, areas of opportunity, and ways of building a business. Play the game.