Leadership Spunje » Strategy

Why your strategic plan failed and what you can do about it.

Leadership Spunje — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:09:49 +0000

The conversation normally begins like this, “We’ve tried strategic planning in the past but somehow it allows seems to fall by the way side. No matter what method we try, the same result occurs. What are we missing?”

From it’s military genesis to strategic planning as we know it today, the reason for it is always the same: we need to know where we want to end up, how we’re going to get there, what resources we need, and who can help us make it happen. From small entrepreneurial businesses to large public entities, strategic planning is critical in shaping the future of your business.

http://mikedesjardins.wordpress.com/

So if planning is about the alignment and execution, start by asking yourself, “What is our system for planning? How does our system drive behaviour and measurement that tells us early on about execution effectiveness? Is our strategic planning system heavy on communication, reporting, metrics, review and revision so we can’t ignore it, forget about it, or avoid accountability around it?”

Eight Questions to Assess Your Sales Organization

Leadership Spunje — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:02:45 +0000

At the moment, can you guess the #1 thing keeping CEOs up at night? So far, it’s how to optimize the sales channel.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/hbr-now/2009/09/sales-sales-sales-sales-sales.html

My intention is for this blog to encourage leaders to hold up the mirror and ask again some of the fundamental questions. CEOs need sharp axes as 2010 approaches, but they also need to know which trees to chop at.

Lead Management Software, The 5 Mistakes That Kill Sales

Leadership Spunje — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:18:21 +0000

In today’s business climate it’s no secret for the need of a strong customer base and to keep attracting new ones. Yes, we all want more customers with less leads. This is a strategy that greatly improves your profit and saves your company from throwing away money for marketing.

http://aramnet.blogspot.com/2009/09/lead-management-software-5-mistakes.html

How many times do we spend too much time organizing or getting ready to do something? The best strategy in most cases is to do as my Dad was found of saying, “Do something, even if it’s wrong.”

Simply getting onto the next lead will produce more sales than any other strategy. Get To Your Leads Now!

Backup procedure: Seven rules to follow for effective data backups

Leadership Spunje — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:18:43 +0000

Consistency is not merely a virtue when it comes to handling data backups — it’s nearly a necessity. If you don’t consistently handle all aspects of backups and restores in the same way across the organization, then backups become a lot harder to deal with. You could also find yourself facing a nasty, expensive surprise the next time you need those backups.

http://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid91_gci1209276,00.html

when you’re responsible for backups on multiple systems, you need not just backup policies, but also a well-understood procedure for setting those policies.

How To Define Winning Sales Territories in 5 Steps

Leadership Spunje — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:39:08 +0000

Surveys of consistent, successful sales performance show that the single most significant factor in a field rep’s success is his or her tenure in the territory.

http://www.eyesonsales.com/content/article/how_to_define_winning_sales_territories_in_5_steps/

So why do some firms change territory assignments as often as their socks?

Sales Stat Strategies Suck!

Leadership Spunje — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:35:58 +0000

Sneak up behind someone and poke them with a safety pin and they jump. Do it 100 times to a 100 different people and you will get the SAME result.

http://thedewview.com/2009/09/09/sales-stat-strategies-suck/

People do what people do because they are people and that’s what people do…

Instead of researching what already exists – what people are already doing — spend time on what you WANT people to be doing. That should be your ONLY concern. What people are doing is already the past. Your vision for them promises a new and better future.

Creating a sales strategy: Don’t bite off more than you can chew

Leadership Spunje — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:32:13 +0000

Having a great product or service isn’t enough. There are countless business stories about the failure of companies that developed anything from the next killer application to boost productivity to a kitchen gadget that would revolutionize cooking.

A company can have the best product on the market and still not succeed if it doesn’t have the right sales strategy in place to ensure that customers get the thing in their hands.

http://www.workshift.com/credibility/news%20articles/obj-10-04-05.htm

It’s usually relatively easy to make initial assessments on how much work an employee can handle and this helps you set targets for productivity and payback. However, the real challenge comes not from planning the work, but rather from working the plan.