Some basic indications to proceed into the right direction.

1. Goals definition

Define your starting position and the point (the objectives) you want reach.

Use the SMART method to define your goals. Your goal should be described through this five elements:

• Specific;
• Measurable;
• Attainable;
• Realistic;
• Temporal.

It is very important to know well the operating environment.

• Market analysis : important to know where is your company position, your competitors, yours and their weak and strenght points and the market opportunities. A SWOT analysis can help you on this point.
• Customers analysis : the best way to know your market is to know well your customers. This can be obtained through your agents / distributors reports, extracting info from your CRM or through market researches. This analysis will be helpful also to define the market strategy.
• Product Analysis : It is important also to know in details your product and its market. Comparation with direct competitors, price positioning, benefit of your products, if it is in line with current market trends. Collect all the information can give the exact picture of your Product status. To analyze external factors  that influence your business it is possible to use the PESTEL method. This tool provides an overview of your market environment :

1. Politics ;
2. Economic ;
3. Sociological;
4. Technological;
5. Environmental;
6. Legal.

You need to define these six elements related to your market, then determine the current and future aspirations in order to view the evolution of the environment around your company.

After the complete market study done on the former two points, it is time to define the action plan in considerations of the available resources (financial, human and technical).

To set up a company’s commercial strategy, it is always necessary to anticipate the means at its disposal to achieve its objective. They have a decisive place in the success of a mission and it is they who facilitate or complicate its fulfillment. So make sure that every action is perfectly consistent with your means and your goal!

4. Deploy the action plan

Your action plan should include several well defined points :

• Communication plan : identify exactly every channel and what kind of audience can reach.
• Prospecting plan : it will define the prospects (new customers) you want get. This will be used to organize and coordinate the various actions to guide your sales forces.
• Outsource commercial prospecting: Prospecting is a time consuming step in the business strategy and a lot of time spent getting often little results in the key. Now imagine it was just a memory and your sales have increased and you have more leads and more customers.
• The professional network : Your professional network is an asset that can help you achieve the goals of your business strategy. Thanks to him, you can discover new partnerships and solid advice. Building a professional network, like with Linkedin,  is essential to grow your business and it is necessary to maintain and expand it as much as possible.

5. Measure and adjust business performance

Use the right KPI more suitable to your reality. There are many performance indicators : productivity, quality, yield, competitiveness, value and many others. You can use each KPIs to compare with your forecasted results : you will analyze the performances of your business strategy. The received indications can be useful to adjust, fine tune or modify your strategy and avoid to discover that it was wrong only at the end.