How many times has sales missed revenue growth goals? More often than not, the root cause is a sales number that was set incorrectly. Corporate strategy is the main culprit. The sales team will consistently achieve success when your corporate strategy supports the right revenue growth drivers.
Different strategic objectives call for different mindsets to establish the correct sales number: market expansion, new market exposure, and market share gain.
Set achievable sales goals
Aligning revenue growth drivers with your corporate strategy is the key to establishing achievable sales goals. The following definitions describe how each strategic objective comes to bear in determining the right sales number.
Market expansion
When revenue growth depends on overall expansion of market segments represented in your portfolio, corporate resources should encourage increased sales activities. For example, launching a new product expands sales opportunities for revenue conversations. If the corporate strategy does not allocate the right level of product and marketing resources, then the market expansion goal will suffer and sales will miss the number.
New market exposure
If your segmentation analysis uncovers highly profitable niche markets, pursue them. Unless there is a compelling strategic reason not to pursue a growth market, the CEO should ensure corporate resources support the sales efforts. One way to accomplish this is authorising new hires or channel partners to go after novel markets. Then include a number from these new markets in the sales plan.
Related: Great Sales People are Born, but Great Sales Forces are Made
Market share gain
This objective focuses on increasing share in an existing market. To steal revenue from competitors, this plan requires a distinctive type of sales professional. So the corporate strategy should incorporate a talent component. This will put sales and HR on notice to add talent tactics to their functional strategies.
Don’t skimp on resources
Corporate strategies are unquestionably valuable for CEOs. But most fall short on producing revenue growth. To help set and deliver on the right number, define drivers that are aligned with corporate objectives. And then provide the resources your team needs to meet revenue growth goals.
