Posted by Mansfield Sales Partners on Fri, Aug 27, 2010
The goal of a Rapid Market Entry is to rapidly acquire a significant market share. But what is the best way to achieve this?
There are a number of strategies for Rapid Market Entry – Price Leadership and Production Differentiation are two of the most common. But a Focus Market Strategy is often the most effective and most rapid way to enter a new market. This strategy is quite simple – “focus” first on one high-potential segment of the marketplace. Design the message, pricing, feature set and support services for this specific market segment and serve them is such an exceptional manner, that no one else can compete.
Since your company is just entering the market, you can afford to outflank the competition by addressing this specific market segment while the competition needs to be spread across the entire market. Once you have conquered this market segment, then you can move on to other parts of the market.
How to win with a Rapid Market Entry
To get your target customers to change vendors or consider a new product, your company needs to have an offering that is better, faster and/or cheaper. The majority of buyers will need to have more than just a fancy presentation. Then look for ways to differentiate your company’s support and customer-service specifically for your target customer segment.
Other considerations for Rapid Market Entry
- Make sure your team can handle a Rapid Market Entry. Rapid Market Entry is often very effective because it is well underway before your competitors can respond. Before you launch, make sure your team has the recourses to be successful. If they don’t, then develop a strategy to increase your capabilities by either expanding your staff or through sales outsourcing.
- Consider test marketing as the first step in the implementation process. This can be simulated, controlled, and/or conventional test marketing, but make sure it is designed to allow your team to evaluate, decide, and refine the product and its launch program before your rollout.
- You do not always need to be first. The market entry strategy is situational and depends on the nature of the product and the market. But often later market entrants acquire and retain the largest market share.
- Make sure your team has tracking and contingency plans in place before you launch. Once a new product is launched, set up regular tracking of performance versus goals. If goals are not being met, make sure that there are options to modify and improve the program to get it on track. The failure to make quick fixes and program changes can lead to a product launches early demise or the continuation of mediocre performance.
What are your challenges for rapid market entry? How are you overcoming them?
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Posted by Mansfield Sales Partners on Mon, Aug 23, 2010
Yesterday, I had lunch with a business associate. He is a very successful Korean businessman who owns a couple of high tech manufacturing firms. He was in the U.S. to unwind a failed joint venture (JV) with an American company and wanted to ask my advice. The story was a simple tale that I had heard too many times before.
A business can enter the U.S. in a number of ways
Licensing, joint ventures, acquisitions, working through existing distribution networks, establishing a U.S. subsidiary or even direct to consumer via the internet. Sometimes companies combine these approaches to enter the U.S. market. But no matter what path a company takes, the decision the CEO and his team make about how to enter the U.S. can be the difference between a success and failure.
Back to my business associate
For many years his only efforts in the U.S. were to provide private label merchandise to a few very large U.S. retailers. The U.S. private label efforts focused on a small portion of his company’s product lines – inexpensive accessories. These private label initiatives were not as profitable as most of the other parts of his business.
This CEO recognized that the U.S. market was the largest and most profitable market in the world for his company’s products. He knew that it was time to fully enter the U.S. market. After considering many options, the CEO decided to establish a joint venture with a U.S. based company who was in a similar, but non-competitive business.
Even before the ink on the JV agreement was dry, issues started to arise. His U.S. partner had access to the right distribution channels but did not have the financial or technical capabilities to really support the market entry. Over time, the issues did not go away and the Korean company’s U.S. entry had stalled. My associate was in the U.S. to terminate this JV agreement but did not want to give up on the U.S. market. He wanted my advice on the best next step.
In listening to this story, I realized that the CEO had not considered entering the U.S. market with an outsourced sales team. His company had the financial resources and technical support team needed to support a U.S. entry. All he really needed was cost-effective access to U.S. distribution channels and a U.S. sales force. The cost to enter the U.S. market would still be low, and the company would control pricing and the arrangement should net a higher profit then other business arrangements. Plus, if properly structured, his company could avoid U.S. income taxes. The biggest trade off is the company would also have to assume more financial risk.
Entering the U.S. market with an Outsourced Sales Team is not always the best course, but it certainly should be on every CEO’s list of options.
Contact us for more information on sales outsourcing options for your business.
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Posted by Mansfield Sales Partners on Mon, Aug 09, 2010
When I ask sales executives, "What is your biggest challenge?" I hear a lot of different answers. One of the most common answers is "getting more high-quality leads." Very often, however, we find their company already has many sales opportunities that are being missed. Focusing on fixing these sales leaks vs. getting more leads can result in larger sales gains.
Top 5 Ways to Lose a Sale
Not recognizing a prospect. The number one way companies miss a sales opportunity is when they fail to recognize a prospect. Someone doesn’t forward an inquiry in a timely manner or at all. A sales rep doesn’t ask the right qualifying questions. Or a hundred other ways that organizations fail to connect with a prime prospect in time to make the sale. The Fix: Take a look at your sales process for handling inquires, make sure your sales reps are properly trained to recognized a prospect, and make everyone in the company who has customer contact part of your sales team.- Lack of planning. Planning gives you the best possible opportunity to reach your prospects with a timely sales presentation. It also enables sales reps to manage their most valuable resource, time – booking the right number of appointments so that they can spend enough time with each prospect to make the sale without ignoring valuable leads. The Fix: Make sure that you are not stretching your team too far and are properly staffed, consider expand your capabilities by working with a sales outsourcing company, determine if you have all the sales management tools you need to properly plan and track sales leads and discover any planning gaps.
- Poor first impression. You only get one opportunity to make a first impression. If you leave a bad first impression, you shouldn’t expect to be able to ever convince the prospect that it was the "wrong impression". The Fix: Put yourself in the customers’ place and look in the mirror – literally and figuratively – and be critical.
- Not knowing enough about the prospect before your meeting. Knowledge of your client and their market, and how your product can solve their problems, is essential to making a sales presentation that addresses your prospects needs and concerns. Taking the time to learn about your client before you meet can be the difference between sales success and failure. The Fix: Invest your time in doing research, make sure that you have access to the necessary sales support resources.
- Not really listening to the prospect. The Fix: Make sure to actively listen to your customers, ask open-ended questions that give them the opportunity to talk about their needs and concerns, encourage them to be open with you.
What do you think is the #1 way to miss a sales opportunity? Contact us for help with your sales performance.
Posted by Mansfield Sales Partners on Mon, Aug 02, 2010
Sales outsourcing is commonplace - over 90% of businesses report using vendors for at least some of their Sales functions. Small and mid-sized businesses use outsourced sales teams to enable them to compete with large companies. Companies outsource sales functions to reduce costs without reducing revenue or negatively affecting their sales pipelines. Many companies use outsourced sales teams to accelerate the pace of new market entries. Some companies use sales outsourcing to expand their capabilities and credibility in specialty markets.
Even though almost all companies use sales outsourcing, the strategic use of sales outsourcing to accelerate sales is rare. I recently spoke with a few sales innovators to see how they were using sales outsourcing as a rapid sales growth driver. All of these business leaders had achieved sales increases - even in this tough economy.
New Territory
A CEO of a large manufacturing firm told me he accelerated his company's market entrance into new territories by partnering with a sales outsourcing company who had existing relationships and market presence in places where his company did not have sales reps but had untapped market share. A market entry that would have taken them a year to accomplish was completed in less than half that time by leveraging the resources of their sales partner.
New Product Introduction
The VP of Sales for a technology company said that one of the main reasons he adopted sales outsourcing is that it is the most cost-effective way he can launch new products that fall outside of his company's current product set. He keeps his in-house staff focused on existing markets and developing current clients. He then expands the company's new product marketing efforts by contracting with a sales outsourcing company that has a proven track record in selling similar technology. By doing this he has been able to move rapidly and beat his competitors by being first to market.
Digging Deeper
The head of Sales and Marketing for a business services firm actually lets an outsourced sales team compete with her in-house sales force. She says that the competition has kept everyone motivated to sell more and dig a bit deeper. Because of leveraged compensation plans, her sales reps were motivated to produce results where they can get them quickly and easily. They went after the low-hanging fruit, leaving much of the available market for the competition. Adding additional outsourced sales resources has enabled her company to gain additional market coverage, at a lower cost, and got her internal sales team to look at prospects more carefully before passing on them.
Running with the Big Dogs
My final conversation was with the CEO and owner of a mid-sized company who needed to do a better job competing with much larger companies. He also needed to reduce costs and reduce the company’s sales and marketing investment risk. After careful evaluation, he and his executive team decided to outsource the company's entire Business Development effort. Using a shared sales force allowed the company to dramatically expand their sale force reach while passing on some of their inherent risk to their service providers
Four different companies, all who had achieved sales increases in the past year. Four different companies who adopted innovative ways to integrate sales outsourcing into their growth strategy.
What's your growth strategy? We can help you with sales outsourcing.
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Posted by Mansfield Sales Partners on Mon, Jul 26, 2010
I was in Las Vegas last week and one of the first things I thought about was "How can I improve my odds through sales planning and lead management?"
OK, I can read your mind, sales planning and lead management is boring. I would never think about that in Vegas. Anyway, we have vendors that care of lead management. They have it under control. As for sales planning, that's just a normal part of our sales process. Well my bet is that your company has a patchwork quilt of lead sources and no one is managing them. And the odds are in my favor!
Several recent studies found that about 75% of companies do not have an effective process for managing, dispersing and tracking leads. And over 90% of companies do not integrate lead management into their sales planning process. Yes, I can see you nodding off. But hang on for just a minute. There is a payoff!
Most companies outsource lead generation and let their lead management efforts operate on autopilot. There is rarely any effort to make sure that the vendors know about changes in the marketing program, new product development plans or changes in sales strategy. Once leads are received, there is rarely an effective process for managing, dispersing and tracking leads. And it is almost impossible to find any companies that effectively plan the lead generation program as part of the sales planning process.
Every now and then a "sure bet" really does comes along. In this case our sure bet is a sales strategy that incorporates all aspects of the sales and marketing process into a coherent plan.
- Aligning sales with lead generation. The first step in that process is to take at look at your lead generation efforts and integrate them into your sales planning. Are you getting leads and new customers from emerging markets? Are there underserved markets with weak competition that offer you new growth opportunities? Then look at your capabilities. Is your sales team able to keep up with the marketplace? If not, what can you do to make sure that you can expand capabilities rapidly?
- Accelerating the sales process. The competitive gap in sales planning and lead management provides a great opportunity to the few companies who rethink their lead generation programs. This gap has also given rise to a new generation of Integrated Sales Management outsourcing firms – agile, sophisticated companies that have moved beyond generating qualified lead lists to offering a full range of integrated sales planning, lead management and strategic marketing services. Companies who have invested in the latest sales automation technology. Companies who can efficiently manage turnkey new client acquisition programs that really reduce the cost to acquire a new customer. Bringing in this kind of capability can rapidly improve sales and allow you to exploit new markets quickly.
Look at your current lead management capabilities. Think about integrating them with external teams that incorporate planning, management and lead generation. Sales outsourcing provides a low-risk, high reward way to improve your odds of achieving success. But don't miss this opportunity. You can bet that an opportunity like this won't happen very often.
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Posted by Mansfield Sales Partners on Thu, Jul 01, 2010
In the majority of companies, from large multi-national firms to smaller high-growth companies, strict attention is paid to operational efficiency but little or no attention is paid to sales process optimization. Designing an efficient, effective sales process is an essential step in accelerating growth with a strategic approach to sales.
Most companies take a tactical approach to sales. The sales force is focused on acquiring another new client and getting the next reorder. They are playing a numbers game, but they often they do not hit the target. The big question then is, "Why aren't we hitting the sales goal?" The most common answer from internal experts and consultants is usually "low sales force productivity." And the solutions often include increased investment in lead generation, sales force automation software upgrades and additional price concessions.
The real problem is often quite different – the sales force, marketing and customer service are usually disconnected and the company's message is confused. The most effective solution is to move from disconnected, tactical efforts to a strategic sales process. Although this transition can be accomplished by a company's management team, a successful transition to a strategic selling organization usually requires an external consultant to facilitate the process and provide an objective, outside perspective – to challenge the status quo. The goal of establishing a strategic sales process is simple: get everyone on the same page and align all the efforts in the same direction. Like many simple goals, this is one that is easy to set but a difficult to achieve.
A step by step process
- The first step in taking a strategic approach to sales is to clearly define what the company stands for and how it should be presented to prospects, customers and employees – a formal mission statement. If this mission is created through a collaborative process then formalized, you have the best shot of having everyone understand and support it.
- Once you have a clear mission, move on to the value proposition. What can you offer to customers and prospects that will differentiate your company from the competition?
- Now define the target market so that the marketing department and sales support vendors can align your lead generation program to focus on this key target market. Many companies have found that carefully targeted lead generation programs are the most effective way to improve sales force productivity, increase close rates, increase sales revenue per customer and measurably increase sales revenues.
With a mission, value proposition and target market defined, your management team can get the advertising, sales presentations and service support to all communicate a clear, unified message to your prospects and customers.
Sales Process Review
Finally, examine all of your sales processes. Do all of your employees have easy access to the right information to make sure that key prospects become customers and customers prefer to do business with your company? Are your sales processes lean, fast and efficient? Is there a feedback system in place so the senior management team rapidly knows about issues and opportunities for growth? Which sales functions can be done more efficiently and effectively if outsourced and which are best done by internal staff?
There is no standardized template for sales process design and your company's sales processes will be as unique as your employees, your product and service offering, and your customers. But there are some basic principles:
- Abandon the concept of "big quick wins." Look for opportunities to make small, but meaningful changes. Small improvements made in a number of areas across the sales cycle will add up quickly and yield big results.
- No two organizations have the same requirements, the same challenges or the same assets. Take a cold, hard look at your organization to identify the real strengths and weaknesses. Then build on your strengths and take actions to minimize the weaknesses.
- Work to build and maintain shared ownership of the goals and tasks across your organization.
These are just a few of the observations we have made working with our clients. If you have any questions about your sales process, please contact us.
Posted by Mansfield Sales Partners on Sat, Jun 26, 2010
As product and service differentiation becomes more difficult to achieve and competition intensifies, effective sales channels are vital to growing and defending your market share. Many companies face growing pressure to reduce field sales investments and to produce more with less. With ever increasing resource constraints, sales leaders have used external cross-industry efficiency benchmarks to fully assess the performance of their field sales staff, to validate their resource allocations and to determine if strategic outsourcing of some sales functions is warranted.
Three factors play a critical role in sales force performance:
- Sales team size
- Resource allocation to target markets
- Sales team productivity
In order to optimize sales team size, validate resource allocation, and evaluate overall sales team and individual sales rep productivity, it is essential to establish valid benchmarks. Most companies measure the success of their sales force based on sales results – revenue growth, actual sales vs. plan, average order, order frequency, close rates and so on. And this makes sense, until you really examine it.
If the benchmark for a sales team’s success is beating last year’s performance, how do you know if that is the right goal?
What if your sales team was inefficient last year? Wouldn’t a sales goal of a modest increase over last year just be asking your sales team to be a little less unproductive? On the other hand, if you have the most productive sales team in the industry, do you need to put programs in place to make sure that your competitors don’t steal your star performers? And are there functions that can be more cost-effectively achieved by external partners? Should you consider outsourcing some sales functions?
Establishing effective sales performance benchmarks
For a truly informative benchmark, compare your team to leading competitors across your industry. In addition, benchmark internal productivity measures [cost per qualified lead, cost per sale, revenue per sale, and so on] to outsourced supplier results. Benchmarks can help you and your sales management team identify gaps and determine where to focus efforts to improve sales productivity and accelerate sales growth.
The most common sales productivity gaps
- High cost per lead OR low cost per lead with a low close rate: This usually indicates a gap in your company’s lead generation process. A review of your marketing strategy and lead process is in order.
- Low close rate: Investigate carefully to identify the root causes. Are the leads really qualified prospects? Are there gaps in the sales process? Is your company at a competitive disadvantage in service delivery, pricing or other significant factors? Is your sales team properly trained and managed? Is there a gap between your marketing message and the sales presentation?
- Sales growth from existing accounts lags the industry: Determine if your sales and service teams are doing what it takes to maximize the profitability of existing accounts. This gap usually indicates that your clients’ needs and expectations are not being fully met. The root cause could be a real product/service gap or it could be a poorly constructed sales presentation that overpromises what your company can deliver.
- High customer attrition rate: High rates of customer loss are the most troubling problem. Quickly identifying the cause and increasing customer retention rates is the single fastest way to increase sale revenue.
How do you address misaligned strategy and/or poor productivity in your sales team? These are some of the questions we address directly when we join forces with you as a sales partner. Contact us for more information about sales outsourcing.
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