4 Killer Templates for sales growth from our Framework Library that our clients used to help them achieve an average 140% increase in net profit
You've made a plan?... You’ve set a budget?...
...which has been communicated company-wide. Yes?
Your team all nod in agreement.
Now - roll forward 3 months, are you and your team delivering on the plan, or are you frustrated that you can’t seem to maintain the collective focus and momentum you need to execute effectively?
Knowing the direction you wish to go in and writing a plan is only one step in achieving accelerated growth.
Getting your team to effectively and diligently execute the actions required in a disciplined and timely manner is what separates growth businesses from same old - same old companies.
Below are 4 Killer Templates from our Company Shortcuts framework library that all our clients have used - helping them collectively achieve an average increase in net profit of 140%.
Templates and frameworks of course, only offer tools for you and your sales leadership to ensure that you effectively inspire your team, develop the culture and communicate effectively. Everyone (yourself included) needs to develop a disciplined approach to prioritising workload and maximising time for profit gain. However, these 4 frameworks are an important building block in ensuring everyone in your organisation is on the same page.
Although you will need to use all four to ensure your team are focused on delivering against your strategy - from an individual team member’s perspective THE 4TH TEMPLATE IN THIS LIST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT IN FOCUSING YOUR TEAM ON EXECUTION.
Strategic Year Planning Template & Reporting Standard >>
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In order for everyone to be focused on #1 thing that needs to be accomplished, each quarter the Management Team should identify 5 priorities and rank them for the quarter as individual performance indicators as well as the 5 Strategic Year Goals.
Our version of a Strategic Year Planning template, walks you through the thought process required to focus your team effectively for the period ahead.
Strategic single year focus for team (ppt) >>
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Now your key deliverables are set and your yearly ‘theme’ agreed, ensure everyone in your organisation understands their contribution towards the common gain.
This simple PowerPoint slide structure is yours to butcher to make it your own presentation to be shared internally. Use the slide headers to concentrate your thinking.
Individual Role Profile >>
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Ensure you have the correct allocation of resources amongst you team with clear and individual Role Profiles which in our Company Shortcuts version also include a % proportion of time against their overall role responsibilities - a great indicator of the amount of time someone should be spending in the different key parts of their role (we know how much people will enjoy gravitating towards the things they love doing - which are not necessarily the most profitable!).
An individual’s Role Profile once set should remain constant while they remain in that role, and only changed if they move jobs within your organisation, or the role itself changes significantly.
Clear Role Profiles build clarity within a team as to who does what, who is responsible for what, allows team members to understand each other’s boundaries, how they all fit together and where the differences in their role responsibilities lie.
Here is an example of a completed Role Profile for a generic Sales Executive
ROLE PROFILE
Title: Sales Account Manager, (Sales Executive Hunter Role) Department: Sales
Reports to: Managing Director / Sales Director
| OVERALL ROLE PURPOSE | ||||
| ||||
| ROLE ACCOUNTABILITIES:What are the main duties of this role? | % of time | |||
| 60% | |||
| 10% | |||
| 10% | |||
| 10% | |||
| 5% | |||
| 5% | |||
| KEY AREAS FOR DECISION MAKING:In which areas and to what level are decisions made before needing authorisation? | ||||
| ||||
| WORKING WITH COLLEAGUES:Does the role entail liaising, leading, coaching or managing? Please state how and with whom. | ||||
| ||||
| SKILLS & PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:What skills or attributes are required in this role? | ||||
| BASIC – ENTRY LEVEL RECRUITMENT | ||||
| Skills Required | Personal Attributes / Behaviours | Time Frame | ||
| Sales Skills | At least 3 year of sales in a similar sales role, or a role which shares a similar sales process / route to market | Immediate | ||
| Product Knowledge | Ability to learn and understand product lines and ask right questions on product issues | Immediate | ||
| Database Experience | Ability to enter and update data into an online database, as well as create report templates in support of activity management and marketing assistance. | Immediate | ||
| Problem-solving Skills | Ability to solve problems with own initiate | Immediate | ||
| Financial Skills | Basic numeracy and financial ability | Immediate | ||
| Leadership Skills | In Team motivation, shared workload, process management | Immediate | ||
| Excellent Communication Skills | Ability to communicate effectively with customers verbally and in writingAbility to listen effectively and extract relevant informationAbility to communicate effectively with colleagues as well as across other functions | Immediate | ||
| Project/Time Management Skills | Ability to manage own time successfully to meet deadlines and juggle multiple tasks simultaneously | Immediate | ||
| Type | For what purpose? | % of time | ||
| Word / Email | General administration | |||
| In house CRM system | Database management / updates | 80% | ||
| Excel | Spreadsheets | |||
| PowerPoint | Presentation support to Sales | 20% | ||
Individual Key Objectives - THE MOST IMPORTANT TEMPLATE >>
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Now for the most important template out of the four, the Individual Key Objectives template.
In our experience, no matter how often you communicate the ‘Big Vision’, the annual financial targets, the key projects to be worked on, the sales ambition - until everyone in your team has clear, concise, individual and measurable objectives, it’s still too easy for people to become side-tracked on a day by day, week by week basis.
Depending on the speed of growth in your company, these should be set, at a minimum annually, 6 monthly or ideally quarterly.
They should include no less than 3, no more than 5 clear objectives the individual team member needs to deliver on.
There is always so much to do in a growing organisation, sticking to key priorities can be challenging at the best of times, so these key objectives are crucial in ensuring everyone in your team understands what they will be held to account for in each period.
Some examples of how this can be used to focus someone in a digital marketing role, or a sales/account management role are below.
Note: these key objectives do not outline ‘how’ your team member will achieve their objectives, rather they are a clear and concise summary of what they must deliver. It is assumed they know what they ‘should’ be doing.
So for example, in the Digital Marketing Executive example below, the first objective is to Increase Prospect Reach, before clearly outlining the reason why this is a key priority, together with the agreed measures to which they will be held accountable. This means that all of the activity this person may choose to do such as:
- Digital Advertising with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.
- Re-marketing
- Blog and content strategy
- Referral marketing
- Exhibitions
- Marketing via 3rd party partnerships or other data
- Lead attraction strategies, including split testing offers, landing pages and the like
...and any other digital activities will either bring them closer or further away from achieving this objective.
By presenting their key deliverables in this way, although understanding the detail behind the numbers is important, it stops them becoming lost in the detail and helps everyone be clear on what is important.
The final 2 columns ‘weighting’ and ‘impact on company strategy’ are agreed with the individual as to the level of priority that should be given to the individual objectives in the period, and the order within which they directly impact overall company strategy.
So for example, again in the Digital Marketing Executive example, the second objective ‘Increase qualified leads’ is given the top priority in both the weighting for them personally as well as the company overall, yet the second most important objective as far as the company is concerned ‘Contribute to a reduction in marketing spend’ is given a 10% weighting for the individual in the period.
Finally, if it becomes apparent that a member of your team is unclear on what they must do in order to achieve their objectives, then clearly you have a training/coaching need, which is another topic for another post.