Route to Market – is your Sales Organization Optimized? 

When was the last time you reviewed the structure of your Sales Organization? How has the marketplace changed since then? Many Companies review their business strategy on a regular basis, but very few pause to look at the selling environment they are competing in and the appropriateness of their Selling Organization for this new reality.

This is the final installment in a series of 5 Blogs that will look at how a change in your competitive landscape can impact your Route to Market.

Have your Competition Changed their Route to Market?

Your competitive set is constantly changing.

  • Is your Sales Organization proactively positioning itself for success?
  • Has one of your Competitors changed their strategy and moved from using Brokers/Agents to investing in building their own Direct Sales organization?
  • How will this impact your organization?
  • Is your Sales team on top of the change and aggressively taking advantage of the opportunities that often arise during a time of transition?
  • Will some of your Competitors key Customer relationships be in jeopardy?

When I was in the Wine industry we switched a number of our markets from using an Agent to our own Direct Sales force. We were able to build a very strong team very quickly by attracting some of the best people in the industry away from our competitors which enabled us to have a very competitive team almost instantly. What are you doing to retain your top people so that they are not lured away to this competitor? Change always presents threats and opportunities. Your ability to proactively prepare for these possibilities will set you apart from your competitors. Maybe the reverse has happened.

Has your Competitor reversed course and eliminated their sales team and has moved to Brokers/Agents?

  • How does this change in strategy affect your strategic thinking?
  • Will this increase or decrease their coverage?
  • Will key relationships open up? How fast is your Sales organization reacting to the change?
  • Did they have sale people that you coveted?

You need to act fast to take advantage of the opportunities. How might this impact your own Route to Market (RTM) thinking?

Has your Competition expanded into Channels where you have not?

Have they seen an opportunity that you haven’t, or have they just beat you to the punch? If this had not been part of your strategic thinking why isn’t it? One of the roles of your Sales organization must be competitive intelligence. There should be no surprises, with the possible exception of timing.

Consolidation is affecting every industry.

  • Have any of your competitors merged with another company?
  • Has this made them stronger or weaker?

Every change will have an impact. It is imperative that your whole organization understands how these changes might impact your business and develop action plans to proactively deal with them. In many cases the biggest impact may be on your Sales organization and your existing RTM.

Your competitive environment is constantly changing, is your Sales Organization proactively adapting to these changes? It often takes a fresh set of eyes to determine if the current model is appropriate. If you need an objective perspective, contact me at; [email protected]