Every time two business leaders, entrepreneurs or CEOs meet together, the subject of “what shall we do in such stagnant market, and the continuous underlying economical and political factors” take over their conversation.
Some people follow the school which believes that, in such times, it is best to reduce cost, while others argue that it is best to invest with a very well calculated solution.

But both strongly agree that this time, what’s required is more than any traditional cosmetic fixes. What’s needed is a new perspective to the solution.

In sales context, what does a Traditional Sales Legacy do?

In such difficult times, companies run to:

1. Increase the quantity of sales effort: by adding salespeople or redesigning their commission scheme to boost their motive for more activities.

2. Improve the quality of sales effort: by investing in coaching and training.

3. Add additional products on the portfolio to up-sell.

The New Scientific Way:
In fact, and in stagnant market, hiring additional salespeople would be more to a cost, unless your sales resource is understaffed.
On the other hand, adding new products to your portfolio is not your best shot since in stagnating economy, market penetration would be a very challenging aspect.

Thus the best solution is to focus on the 80/20 rule, which is to optimize the allocation of your sales effort. Salespeople can work smarter, not only harder, by dividing their time more appropriately among customers, products, and sales activities. Sales effort allocation has a large positive impact on sales and profits as well, sometimes better than increasing the quantity and/or quality of effort.

We thought of sharing the below HEED Matrix© in a white board (but black in color) that could guide you on how to optimize each segment within your sales model.