5 Key Strategies for 2010 from McKinsey, Stanford, and more...

The past year has proved challenging for some sales and marketing organisations, but others have seized the opportunity to rethink their plans, out-execute their competitors and win market share.  My own observations, backed up by the latest research from the likes of McKinsey, Stanford, the HBR, CSO Insights and others, have identified 5 strategies that seem to be particularly relevant as we enter 2010. 

These strategies are already enabling top-performing teams to eliminate wasted effort, increase revenue predictability, and improve the return on their sales and marketing investments.  I'm pleased to share them with you here, in the hope they might prove relevant to your own situation:

IDENTIFY Your Most Valuable Prospects

The most successful organisations have made a point of systematically identifying the common characteristics of their most promising prospects, and have focused their sales and marketing efforts on targeting them. Learn more about identifying your most promising prospects here... 

ADDRESS Their Most Important Issues

Once you have identified your most valuable prospects, you can turn your attention to their most important issues - the ones that they cannot afford not to deal with - and show how your capabilities can address them. Learn more about understanding your prospects' most important issues here...

FACILITATE Your Prospects’ Buying Process

The top performers have been able to sell and market smarter.  They understand how and why their prospects choose to buy, and focus their sales and marketing activities on facilitating their prospects’ buying process. Learn more about facilitating your prospects' buying process here...

INSIST On Evidence-Based Pipeline Management

This past year, fewer than 50% of forecasted deals actually closed on time and at the expected value.  But organisations that implemented an evidence-based approach to pipeline management did significantly better than their peers. Learn more about evidence-based pipeline management here...

MOTIVATE and Reward Appropriate Behaviour

The top-performing organisations have been able to implement thoughtful incentive schemes that align all employees around common goals and motivate and reward appropriate behaviour throughout the workforce. Learn more about motivating and rewarding appropriate behaviour here...

How do these strategies match your priorities for 2010?  I've love to hear from you.  By the way, I've captured these strategies in a 15-point checklist which you can download here.  Let me know how you get along!