The implementation plan for the integrated multichannel selling models that I am presenting here is based on the previously discussed three steps i.e., protect, leverage, and build. It will first help you protect and renew your core customer base so you can effectively extend your core business. Second, it will show you how to leverage these assets to make inroads into adjacent markets. Finally, as you build new selling capabilities you will be ready to transform your business. The complete transformation, however, requires a close coordination between marketing and production. In this book, I am going to talk only about the sales and marketing and will highlight the points where the product development team can take the lead to help complete the transformation.
Figure 3.2: Implementation plan.
Figure 3.2 illustrates the process of manifesting the transformational strategy. This is a realistic, result-oriented, and well-organized way to get started. This flexible approach—equally applicable to large- and small-sized businesses alike—is based on the commonsense principle that if you collect the right information and involve the right people early in the process, you will acquire both the knowledge and internal buy-in you need to innovate and make go-to-market changes succeed.
The process is divided into four discrete steps and an on-going activity. They are:
- Baseline current go-to-market activities
The first step is to document the current beliefs and activities prevalent in sales and marketing activities. This breaks the disconnect among marketing, sales, operations, and finance and reveals the hidden opportunities—the ripe fruit—that can be capitalized on in the next three to eighteen months.
- Protect and renew the core go-to-market activities
Sometime ripe fruit is low-hanging, too, especially if you have been in business for a while. This ripe fruit comes in the shape of existing customers, dormant accounts, and competitive inroads. The question is why it was left hanging in the first place, so the next step is to protect and renew the core by establishing a process that not only captures existing low-hanging ripe fruits but ensures that you never miss them in the future.
The next three steps are to leverage existing capabilities and build new ones to transform your business for sustainable profitable growth.
- Map integrated multichannel selling models
As part of your team goes picking low-hanging ripe fruit, you should start working on creating the next generation of "pedestrian" trees—new capabilities that will allow you to reach ripe fruit effortlessly. This is achieved by developing a detailed roadmap that combines the right markets, right customers, right channels, right products, and the right value proposition in one explosive mix.
- Assemble organizational capabilities
Once you have pedestrian trees, your ladder will not work anymore. You will need to build new capabilities in terms of resources, personnel, processes and systems to successfully implement and execute your selling operations. This organizational context ensures the successful implementation of the new strategy.
- Implement and adjust new selling models
The last step is to build individual sales channels and communicate them to customers, partners, and associates. You also need to put in place a performance management system that integrates channels, marketing, sales, and finance into one transparent system that allows you to respond to emerging trends, new opportunities, and disasters in a timely fashion.
The implementation plan discussed here is not a onetime activity but a continuous process that you can repeat periodically, e.g. yearly. It weeds out all the inefficiencies from the selling process, resulting in reduced cost of selling, access to new markets and revenues, and loyal and happy customers. Let’s see each of these steps in detail. We'll start with step-1 i.e. Baselining current activities.
Related:
- Table of Content
- Red Queen Effect – An Introduction
- The Billionaire Code
- Cracking the Code
- Implementation Plan