So What? Who Cares? Why You?

Map Out Your Sales Process

Today's topic is more of a "friendly reminder".

We all know the importance of mapping out the sales process, but when was the last time we actually did this?  Mapped it out fully I mean with these 4 things:

1. Gates,
2. Timelines,
3. Sales Tools, AND
4. Call to Action

for each stage in the process.

This is a task not just for the sales team, but for all customer facing groups.  Sit down together and map this out and discuss each of the elements above for each stage.  No sacred cows or pointing fingers - Map it out on a whiteboard and give everyone a marker.

You'll be amazed at what happens.  People will analyze all aspects - the timing, the effectiveness of demos, sales presentations, tele-sales, ... in the spirit of finding the best way to get sales to snowball.

Try it -- I think you'll be pleased with the outcome.

Wendy Kennedy
author/advisor/lady with the flipcharts!
www.wendykennedy.com

The Power of Your Category

I'm constantly reminded of the power of defining your category.

This week I had the occasion to spend time with two different companies, one at the early market startup stage (i.e. first revenues) and the other, a $15M+ company in ramp mode.  In both of these, we anchored the growth plans around the concept of the category.

In the startup, they are building out a new category and therefore pushing hard with thought leadership to "legitimize" their place as a player and leader in the category.

In the other, we mapped out how to mold a new place inside an existing category, and how to educate the target market on the value of this new way of doing things. 

In both cases, the category provided an anchor to focus the team on what's important and what everyone should be doing to help create leadership in the category.

I urge you to bring this discipline to your organization.  It can make a real difference to help clear away the fog about what's important. 

Growth through Discipline....

Wendy
author/advisor/lady with the flipcharts!
www.wendykennedy.com

My New Book

For those of you wondering where I've been the past 4 weeks, the title of this post tells it all!

Yes, I've been writing a book.  Actually it's been a six month project but the last 4 weeks were the final stretch of pulling it all together. 

I'm VERY happy to be finished the writing, but now it's off to the illustrators, the layout folks, and of course the lawyers!!

It's a book full of advice, how-to's, templates, and tools to help entrepreneurs turn their good ideas into great businesses. 

Stay tuned for more news on the launch date!

Apologies to everyone for being "missing in action" on the posts during this time.  I'm anxious to get back to blogging with you.

Wendy
author/advisor/lady with the flipcharts!
www.wendykennedy.com

Testing 1-2-3

We're having a bit of trouble with bloglet sending you notices of posts, so apologies...we're testing this out right now.