eBusiness Weekly
Robert Gonye
With 2020 almost coming to an end, planning for next year is then key. The what, when, and how will you achieve your plans and goals is the topical discussion? Whether you’ve set personal or business goals, you likely created a plan to achieve them. Without clearly defined steps, it can be difficult or even discouraging to tackle the goal you have set.
One example of a situation where planning and strategy come in handy is during a job search. Let’s suppose you have spent weeks or months scouring the internet for a new sales job but none of the job postings seem to match your skill set or career interests.
Have you taken a step back and thought about a specific type of sales job you want? And did you consider the most important qualities you are looking for in an employer or career?
Your online job search will become less tedious and disheartening if you have a clear set of objectives to follow. While you might get more search results for “sales manager”, you will find jobs that are a better fit for you if you clarify by searching for “senior sales manager — medical devices”.
With your new search strategy, you have identified a seniority level and the industry you would like to work in. And the next steps you set for yourself are to periodically repeat this search and only apply to the roles that seem like the best fit for you and your career aspirations.
Thinking strategically helps you narrow down your search and use your time more effectively. Plus, you will increase the likelihood of landing a job that is a great fit for you.
Once you aced your interviews and landed the perfect sales job, you will find that these types of planning, strategic and tactics, are used by many businesses and sales teams to set themselves up for success.
Strategic vs Tactical Planning
Strategic planning lays out the long-term, broad goals that a business or individual wants to achieve. And tactical planning outlines the short-term steps and actions that should be taken to achieve the goals described in the strategic plan.
A strategic plan provides the general idea of how to reach a goal, and the tactical plan is where you lay out the steps to achieve that goal.
Since the objectives set in the strategic plan are more general and evaluated over a longer period, strategic planning typically occurs at the beginning of a year, quarter, or month. And strategic plans should be reviewed every quarter at least.
Tactical planning occurs after the strategic plan is outlined, and the tactical plan can be re-examined on a more frequent basis — if need be.
Here are some high-level examples that touch on the difference between the two types of planning.
Strategy vs Tactics
Let’s consider the perspective of a hypothetical company mulling different strategies to improve different aspects of its sales operations.
Sales Recruitment
Strategy — We want to develop repeatable evaluation criteria for hiring the right salespeople.
Tactics — We will pin down the specific qualities the company wants out of its salespeople, draft appropriate questions to shed light on those qualities, and train recruiters to conduct interviews based on those key tenets.
Sales Marketing
Strategy — We want to improve sales and marketing alignment.
Tactics — We will clearly define the qualities marketing needs to find and consider a lead and SQL, encourage collaboration between departments on the creation of sales content, and hold interdepartmental syncs to address results and planned campaigns.
Technological Infrastructure
Strategy — We want to build a more sound, the technological foundation for our sales operations.
Tactics — We will adopt a CRM, incorporate a conversational intelligence tool for improving sales calls, and pursue more virtual sales enablement resources.
Taken together, the strategies and tactics a sales organisation employs — like the ones listed above — comprise what are known as sales plans.
Sales Plans
A sales plan encompasses both strategic and tactical planning and contributes to an organisation’s overarching sales strategy. It outlines the broad goals your sales team and reps should strive for, and it creates an action plan to reach them.
The strategic plan sheds light on the mission, objectives, and future goals of the organisation or individual. Managers, VPs, and executives typically create strategic plans for an organisation, but this type of plan can also be used by individuals to achieve personal or professional goals.
These are the key components to include in a strategic plan:
Mission and background of the business or situation: Where do you currently stand? And where do you want to be in the future?
Goals and objectives: What would you like to achieve?
Directly responsible individuals (DRIs) : Who are the people responsible for these goals?
Strategic planning and tactical planning provide guidelines for businesses, teams, and individuals to follow. And the tactical plan outlines exactly how they’ll achieve the final result.
Tactical Planning
Tactical planning occurs after a business, team, or individual has created a strategic plan that outlines general goals and objectives. A tactical plan describes the steps and actions that must be taken to achieve the goals from strategic plan.
Once you have created your strategic plan, it’s time to determine the tactics you will use to reach your goals. This is where the tactical plan comes into play.
It’s used to outline the steps a business or individual will need to take to accomplish the priorities that have been set. Here are a few things to consider when developing your tactical plan:
What is the timeline for achieving these goals?
Are there tools or resources that are necessary to accomplish these objectives?
What specific actions should be taken to achieve the intended outcome?
Your tactical plan will provide the answers to these questions to help you meet the objectives of the strategic plan.
So, what do strategic and tactical planning look like in practice?
Tactical Planning Examples
While strategic and tactical plans can vary by company or industry, there are some that can apply to many sales organisations and teams.
Robert Gonye is a business growth expert and influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. For comments and views: [email protected]
Common examples for sales teams and reps can be one of the following as outlined below.
1. Fill my pipeline with more leads over the next two weeks.
• Spend an hour prospecting each day.
• Leverage social selling and join five LinkedIn Groups that your prospects belong to.
• Attend an industry networking event.
2. Close more Enterprise deals each month.
• Enroll reps in a hands-on training session in your Enterprise product offerings.
• Set a goal for each rep to schedule at least three demos with enterprise-level prospects this quarter.
In conclusion, the ability to differentiate the two and then using them together as a value add will empower your decision making.
Robert Gonye is a Business Growth Expert and Influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. For comments and views: [email protected]
