Every great company has a key defining concept. Something that is woven into the fabric of people, products and culture. For example, 3M strives to use innovative technology and imagination to improve the daily lives of people (www.3m.com). This concept becomes obvious when reviewing their history and how the company operates each day. The immense challenge for businesses who want to achieve tremendous success like 3M, is to define that key concept – and then to make all decisions in alignment with that concept.
Successful sales cultures are often built the same way. A truly honest assessment of how your sales time is spent, and the associated results, can be a very enlightening exercise. Who is your best client or customer? How did you find them? How much of your time are you spending trying to repeat that same process? How much time are you wasting with less productive initiatives or people who are less likely to buy?
Here are a few steps to help you complete this exercise:
- Define your Idea Prospect – Use your best customer as an example. Who are they? How big are they? What does their industry and client base look like?
- Determine your Most Effective Marketing Tools – What marketing initiatives provide the best results? Where do your closes come from? What is producing the right kind of prospects?
- Refine your Marketing Plan– Once the above two items are clearly and honestly defined, make sure your marketing plan is directed at repeating the process. Refine the plan so that it is accurately aligned with your findings.
- Stop doing Everything Else – This is a hard one. But to achieve the 3M type of success mentioned earlier, it is required. Throw away everything else that does not fit, and only spend time pursuing your best prospects and executing your most effective marketing campaigns.
It sounds simple, but if it was easy everyone would already be doing it – maintain focus on your best prospects and best marketing channels. As your discipline to this concept increases, your results will improve dramatically.
Originally Posted on September 20, 2010 by John Scranton