Key Strategic Tools for Sales Planning and Execution Smarter Ways of Working in a Digital World

1. Post COVID
Sales Planning and Execution
Strategic Lens and Tools for Achieving Success in a Digital world
2021

2. Sales - Origin
Today
Today
Proto-Germanic
source “salo”
1910
”Sales Representative”
Scandinavian source
such as Old Norse sala
1866
Word “Sale” Appeared in Text
Old English word
“sala - a sale”
Sale is a commitment between the buyer and the seller for a commodity to be exchanged for monetary consideration
Today - Sales as a skill is a Commodity

3. B2B Sales Value Chain
Stakeholder & Activities
Gather
Intelligence
Design
and Build
Pricing
and Position
Engage Prospective
Buyer Sell Deliver
Service
Post Delivery
Marketing
and Presales
Product and
Marketing
Marketing
and Finance
Sales, Presales
and Marketing
Sales and
Presales
Delivery
and Product
Delivery
and Support
Expenses
Revenue
Activities
Stakeholders
Business to Business Sales Value Chain
Feedback
to Innovate
Marketing
and Product

4. Post COVID
Dynamic Demand Profile Impact
B2B Sales
• Enable Remote and Virtual Sales
• from 10% to > 35% virtual engagement on the rise
• field sales sentiment dropped to 42% from 63%
• Enable Sales Analytical Capabilities
• focus on quality than volume of pipeline
• historical analysis is of little help
• Buyers need more help
• because they are struggling with new engagement
• need discovery and dialog from sellers
• Buyers are revising the buyers map
• catering for change in engagement model
• Buyers risk appetite has jumped from 20% to 33%
• trying new revenue generation channels
• resilience and continuity of operations driving the rollout
• ex digital workplace or securing remote working
• Marketing team is in a state of flux on how to position
• because engagement model has changed
• Sellers need to prepare demand profile and validate it with buyers
• because future is uncertain and no one knows what is ahead
• collectively walkthrough short, mid and long term needs
• get commitment to ongoing initiatives
• Domain Skills in Demand
• automation, cloud, agile delivery via Scrum and DevOps
Source: HBR, Gartner, Sales Academy, Forrester, Mckinsey, Forbes, BCG
Pre COVID
During &
Post COVID
Virtual Sales
Engagement
10%
35%
Buyers
Risk Appetite
20%
33%

5. • Economic activity is subdued, demand profile is skewed, slow recovery to begin in
next 1-2 quarters
• Sales Team to chase Need and Quality Based Rev.
• Sales based Revenue to be a no go zone
• Decoder & Yes Man type sales rep will do well
• Trusted advisor will prepare for pent up demand
• Sales rep with below par performance in past will struggle to survive, most reps will
miss targets
• Economic activity to rise sharply with pent up demand
• Some verticals to have “V” shape recovery
• Sales Team to chase Need and Sales based revenue
• CX is non negotiable for portfolio mix
• Consensus Builder and Decoder will do well
• Trusted Advisors to facilitate in meeting pent up demand
Low High
What
Sales
How
Product
Features
Differentiation
Sales Experience
Commercial Insight
Pre Covid
Post Covid
During
Pandemic
• Economic activity was upbeat, demand profile was bullish
• Sales Team chased Sales based and CX based revenue, suffered in quality
• Need based Revenue became 2nd
priority
• Consensus Builder and Yes Man type Sales rep
in respective zones did well
• Trusted Advisor created new territories
• Sales rep with below par performance survived
or shielded
Source: Gartner, Sales Academy, Forrester (Death of A B2B SalesMan), HBR, BCG
§ Ongoing pandemic has created a challenge for B2B Sales
Team in positioning their offerings, to go for innovation
or align with conserve cash sentiment.
§ By analysing What vs How Sales are executed, Sales
team can elevate the Sales and Buyers Experience with
Commercial Insights and instilling Confidence and
making it simpler and easier for Buyers to Buy.
Buyers
Experience
Ease
Solution
Aggregate
B2B Sales – Post COVID
Driving Acceleration

6. Post COVID
Key Strategic Tools for Sales Planning and Execution
Smarter Ways of Working in a Digital World

7. Strategic
Canvas
Corporate Business Sales
Post COVID Strategic Tools
Sales Account Planning and Execution
Corporate
Strategy
Spectrum
Dynamic
Competitive View
– VRIO
Persona
Mapping
Game Theory
Key Message
• In a Post COVID World, the interaction between Sellers and Buyers has moved from
in-person to online or video or a digital platform. It's paramount; Sellers adapt to this
new engagement model.
• Sellers and Buyers can leverage the following strategic tools to overcome the lack of
human interaction driven intelligence gathering and planning.

8. Conglomerate
Corporate Strategy Spectrum
Business
Strategy
Investment
Strategy
Corporate Strategy
Sharing of
Activities
Transfer
of Skills
Manage Uncertainties
Low Cost, Low Value
Exploit Uncertainties
High Cost, High Value
Restructuring
Portfolio
Management
• Corporate Strategy – ABC.. leverages Portfolio Management to grow its conglomerate
• Scope of business - Predominant (95%) focus on Retail Industry
• Nature of Resources - General instead of specialised
• Control – Financial is applied as it’s a mature business and uncertainties can be managed
• Corporate Office Size - Small
• Integration – In the mass grocery retail industry there is a move to be vertical so that cost and 3rd party contracts
can be managed. In other areas its horizontally integrated
• Online and Mobility – Leveraging economies of scale to reach and respond to changing customer behavior and
needs, online and mobility enablement has been provisioned
ABC…
Key Message
• Corporate Strategy Spectrum is the starting point for preparing any sales account plan.
• This will enable the Sellers to know how an organisation operates in that industry, where they are
heading in the future, and how the power structure works when it comes to execution.
• It can reduce the need to meet people in-person to know how the power structure works.

9. Competitive Advantage
Dynamic View
Resource/
Capability
Valuable Rare
Difficult
to Imitate
Difficult to
Organise
Competitive
Consequence
Performance
Core
Supply Chain
Competitive
Disadvantage
Comprehensive
Offerings
Market Share
Temporary
Competitive
Advantage
Above normal
Innovation Above normal
Brand Image
Competitive
Parity
Normal
Product pricing Below normal
Key Message
• Sellers needs to get a Dynamic
view of the Competitive Landscape
to know the market and its buyer's
position in the market.
• Since this is a Dynamic view
compared to the static view of
SWOT, this enables Seller's to
prepare their business plan and
focus on areas where they can
penetrate and compete.

10. Game Theory
Industry Interplay
30,70
20,70
25,70
Tesla Volkswagen GM Toyota
Tesla
Volkswagen
GM
Toyota
How to Find and Manage the
Market Equilibrium
?
Key Message
• Game Theory analysis is vital to know the next strategic move of Buyer and how the
market forces and their competition will respond.
• This analysis is key for predicting Buyers strategic direction, their spending profile for
CAPEX & OPEX.
• Knowing this will enable Sellers to target the wallet share of their Buyers.
• Buyers can embrace this view for a go-to-market plan or make a decision tree for a go-
no-go decision.

11. Sales Planning
Persona Mapping
Element
Behaviour in Sales
Fire
Action
Earth
Calm and Stable
Air (Wood)
Resourceful
Water
Emotional
Space (Metal)
Perfection
Buyer bold, data driven
relentless,
strategic
journalist in action price peddler
seeking
excellence
Seller
rainmaker, the lone
wolf
advisor,
bondsman
broker, challenger turtle in action advisor
Upside
passionate,
charismatic
determined,
patience
creative, intellectual storyteller
logical,
organised
Downside
Impulsive,
undiplomatic
lazy, deceptive
wasteful, take credit
of others
oversensitive, poor
decisions
deceptive,
arrogant
Risk Appetite high moderate high extreme consider
Win Desire high high extreme moderate moderate
Deal Loss loses cool
confusion,
worry
passes the blame cry, isolates aloof, denial
Engagement Style top down bottom up top down bottom up hybrid
Sales Approach hunting farming hunting farming farming
Comms Style
swift, visuals &
data driven
slow, structured swift, argumentative expressive, soft
emotionless,
clarity
Negotiation Style competitive accommodative collaborative avoiding
Deal Preference short term long term short term long term long term
Procurement decentralised centralised decentralised decentralised centralised
Marketing Control annual plan efficiency strategic profitability strategic
Individual Collective
Receptive
Sales
Engagement
Expressive
Turtle in Action
Water
Broker
Air
Sales Rep
Advisor
Earth
Rain Maker
Fire
Metal
Key Message
• Without the intelligence of the Buyer's persona, the sales execution effort will be challenging and
profoundly inefficient and ineffective.
• In a Digital World, it reduces the need for in-person interaction for knowing your Buyer's preference.
• Persona mapping is vital in addressing the risk of losing a sales representative.

12. My upcoming Book is Available for Pre Order at - Amazon.com
30% of Sale Proceeds will go to
The RCH Foundation

13. End of Document
Thank you
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parties.
Mr Vishal has more than 21 years of experience in Business and IT Advisory, focusing on providing advisory services to clients, securing lucrative
client engagements, and ensuring successful business transition. An able strategic advisor & business evangelist enthused by the potential of new
emerging business trends and technologies to deliver expandable and streamlined business solutions with a greater return on assets and investments.
Vishal provides commercial insights with a focus to create new growth areas and untapped market segments.
For further information or feedback, please contact:
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