This is part 3 of the preparation before your Financial Year (FY) begins. In this part, we will cover the various channels that would assist us in generating opportunities.
Topics to cover here are:
- Me
- My team
- Business plan
- Me
To create a successful and sustainable business, one begins by defining its “WHY”, Clarity on its Vision, Mission and Values. These are typically drafted by the founder/founders, this is no different to “Me” as a business owner ( Sales Professional ) within the company I work with.
An example of a “Vision and Values” statement
Now that I’ve defined my Vision and Values for my current FY, I can picture my end goal, for me this creates excitement as I view it as a challenge.
A goal without discipline is merely a goal and may not be met, this means we need to enforce some rules and discipline to ensure we stay motivated each day.
Personally, I like to stay motivated through having daily routine’s, working on my character ( EQ ), working on my mental state, investment in myself – physically, mentally and spiritually.
Mental Activity
As the saying goes, a healthy mind equals a healthy body.This is absolutely crucial to ensure a success in any career, particularly as a Sales Professional. Some reps practice mindfulness at home or at the work place, relaxation, reading and writing and many more.
We will have a separate blog on the health of the mind in due course, for now you can review Mental Fitness – 8 Unhelpful Thinking Habits and The Fight or Flight Response.
Physical Activity
For me this involves eating well ( I try to anyway, then it all changes when I come across pastries eta’l 🙂 ), regular gym sessions, football, swimming and taking walks with my wife.
We will have a separate blog on physical health in due course.
Spiritual Activity
We need to ensure a balance in everything, maintaining a healthy balance between mind, body and soul is no different. As a kingdom believer, I regularly attain wisdom through reading my bible and applying this to my daily life.
Personal Development
This is an area of very little investment for most reps, just like a “fund” in financial services terms, the right investment with careful planning would most likely yield positive returns. And guess what, this is directly applicable to personal development. I have a personal development line item within my monthly budget, this budget is leveraged towards books, courses and anything that would aid in my development.
Just like a “fund” in financial services terms, the right investment with careful planning would most likely yield positive returns
Character
This is a whole topic in it’s entirety, you need the right attitude to achieve longevity in a sales career. I will be posting blogs from guest writers with a specific focus on the topic “ Character” and how important this is for a Sales Professional. Stay tuned.
- My Team (Channels for New Business )
In addition to your own prospecting activities, the next biggest channel for generating opportunities is your team. Using the flight scenario, your team involves your assistant pilot, flight crew, baggage handlers, check in desk etc
The goal here is to be realistic in the targets you set for each channel. If this is your first year building your plan there is an element of pragmatic guess work that needs to be incorporated. If this is your second year in the role, or perhaps the second quarter or second half of the year, you can forecast based on your estimations in the time you’ve worked with them so far.
External Channels
Partners : Depending on the company and offering you are responsible for selling, you may have 3rd party organisations who can assist you/your company with selling your offerings. If you’re in IT sales, some of these external partners would sound familiar;
- System Integrators ( SI ) – Partners who act as independent consultants and tend to have relationships with companies you may be targeting.
- Managed Service Partners (MSP) – Partners who add their own service around your offering, similar to a white label in retail terms.
- Resellers – Partners who refer their clients into you for a referral fee.
- Original Equipment Manufacturers ( OEM ) – if your organisation has an established firm who have acquired your offering and sell it as their branded product , you can work with them to target their client base.
Internal Channels
- Business Development Representatives (BDR) – This is your internal business development team or colleague, I treat this as a bonus should I receive any opportunities from them. Separate blog to follow on business development and how to help them achieve their goals in the form of mentoring whilst they help you. Win/Win
- Marketing – Your marketing team will hold events which could yield you opportunities, again treat this as a bonus since this could be few and far in between.
- Events – these are events which you would personally attend. In my plan, I will outline which events I will be attending during the year, you can gather this information through your industry news and our biggest helper, Google search.
Once all the above is in line, the next stage is for you to set yourself targets for each channel, this will be covered in Part 4 of Sales Planning.
If you found this useful, I would value your feedback and comments. Remember, this is a learning blog and our WHY is to use these blogs as a platform to support others.
P.S- do contact me at mike@metricdrivenselling.com should you need any further questions or support.
To Our Growth
Mike
