ThinkSales

expert contributors

ANDREW HONEY, CEO of ThinkSales Corporation, is a sales strategy and execution expert who has consulted to a number of South Africa’s leading CEOs and Sales Directors, assisting them with sales turnarounds that deliver results to surpass targets despite today’s economic conditions. He is the architect of a diagnostic sales engagement process and the 5-Pillar Strategic Sales Organisation Framework and AssessmentTM . BEN DURST is a consultant at SBI. Prior to SBI, Ben spent his career in a variety of strategic roles in both consulting and corporate strategy. He uses a data driven approach to tackling complex business problems while utilising his diverse industry experience and strategic background. Learn more about Ben at www.salesbenchmarkindex.com FRANK CESPEDES is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and the author of six books, including Aligning…

the business tornado era

Disruptive forces are simultaneously converging on every company across all industries, B2C and B2B, creating the perfect storm for your company. What are these forces and are you and your organisation equipped for this tornado? FORCE #1: THE BUYERS Fact 1: Due to the Internet, technology and a globally connected marketplace buyers have more choices than ever. Fact 2: Buyers have more knowledge and insight into their options. Fact 3: Your company may be competing, or will be very soon, against a competitor on another continent who can deliver goods or services to a buyer’s door at half the price you are charging. Fact 4: Buyers do not need you; they can get third-party online validation on the Internet without leaving their desk or making a call. If they have a problem…

the profit multiplier strategy + innovation

“All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”— Sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist and general from the 6th century widely recognised for his work, The Art of War, a treatise on military strategy noted. INTRODUCTION BY ANDREW HONEY, CEO, THINKSALES LOW GROWTH INDUSTRY CHALLENGE The Business Tornado, driven by the four buyer forces unpacked on page 4, is further impacted by a business landscape littered with low-growth or no-growth markets that are impacting the ability of companies to deliver sustainable profits. Profitability is a major challenge for many companies in more and more industries. Companies face further disruptive forces when non-competitors enter their markets with product and service offerings targeting their customers. STAGNANT ECONOMIES In South Africa and several other…

strategy drivers

PRODUCT FOUNDATION: Products and services to be sold by the company must deliver value for customers at the right price. PRODUCTIVITY FOUNDATION: Time is a valuable resource. Ensure the Sales Organisation spends maximum time on leading activities. Limit unnecessary organisational redesign that delivers no tangible improvement on productivity and performance. OPERATIONAL FOUNDATION: Ensure a seamless flow across all upstream and downstream divisions of the Sales Organisation. From R&D and product development to marketing; from sales to operations and finance. Place the customer at the centre of operational design with a mantra of ‘Do it Right, the first time, on-time, every time’.…

how innovation drives preferable futures

1 How does an organisation position itself for driving innovation? Innovation is baked into the cake, not sprinkled on top. You can’t delegate innovation to an individual, a department or an outside consultant. 2 Are there innovation tools and planning frameworks you recommend or use? As a futurist, I recommend foresight models to help organisations conceptualise, design, and build preferable futures. Foresight methods involve anticipating probable and possible futures (based on extrapolating the current reality); conceptualising preferable futures and executing an action plan to transform probable futures into preferable ones. 3 Describe the three key drivers of successful innovation. 1) Is based on solving a real market need (don’t try to find a need to fit a preexisting innovation, innovate to solve a need) 2) Has potential for compounding (rather than linear) growth 3) Is adaptable to…

how a differentiated sales organisation strategy drives revenue growth and margin improvement

DEFINING A WINNING STRATEGY How do you define strategy? It’s a process that requires an executive or group of executives to make a set of choices about what the company, division, functional unit or product will do and will not do. Second, it includes key components such as a goal, a decision on where to play, and a conclusion on how to win with respect to capabilities, management and systems. Finally, a strategy should be responsive to risks and opportunities in the environments in which a company functions. How is strategy applied to a functional unit such as sales? The Company’s strategy cascades down to business units, and may include specific goals, decisions on where to play, and a conclusion on how to win. Strategy is sometimes viewed as a complex process. Is this assumption correct? If a…