Table of Contents
Introduction
Entrepreneurs are predictably impatient, especially when it comes to sales. After all the hard work of developing their product or service, or acquiring their new company, they want sales to skyrocket right away. I get it. I’m an entrepreneur myself. I once held the title of VP Sales & Marketing. A catch-all phrase that put me in charge of seemingly everything, everywhere, all at once!! Looking back, I wish I had the wisdom that experience brings, and that I had a formal system or strategy that I could follow – especially in the early years.
Through lots of trial and lots of error, I did end up developing a strategy that I think is worth sharing and can give some budding entrepreneurs a blueprint to help them develop their own sales systems. It’s called the FAST method and it’s an acronym of course! It stands for Foundation, Alignment, Support, and Tracking and it’s a great way to wrap your arms around the entire sales process.
Foundation
Much like everything else that we preach here at LVT, setting a great foundation is the most critical step in the entire process. This phase is all about understanding your product and market inside and out.
Know Your Offer: Start by having a deep understanding of your product or service. What problems does it solve? What are its unique features? Knowing your product’s USPs (Unique Selling Propositions) is critical. Knowing your competition is also critical. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your product versus your competitor’s? I believe that this is the best video ever created on this topic – Simon Sinek’s Start With Why talk.
Identify Your Target Audience: You can’t sell effectively if you don’t know who your ideal customers are. Full stop. Research and create buyer personas to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points.
Know the Sales Journey: Have a deep understanding of the various stages within your sales process and what information your customers and prospects need to have at each stage of their journey.
Set Clear and Achievable Goals: Define your sales goals, both short-term and long-term. These could be in terms of revenue, market share, or customer acquisition. Having clear and achievable objectives provides direction and motivation. In the early phases, sales goals can also be setting up meetings, demos, or even just connecting on LinkedIn. Regardless, make the goals crystal clear.
Alignment
This phase, focusing on sales and marketing alignment, is particularly important. Ensuring that your entire organization is aligned with your fundamental sales strategy can be the biggest sales job you have.
Sales and Marketing Alignment: Successful sales depend on effective marketing. Ensure that your marketing efforts are consistent with your sales goals. This alignment ensures that potential customers receive a cohesive message from your brand and receive the right piece of information at the right time.
Training and Development: Invest in your sales team’s training and development. Equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to represent your product effectively. A well-prepared sales team is more likely to build meaningful long-term relationships with prospects and customers.
Technology Integration: Utilize sales and customer relationship management (CRM) tools to streamline your sales processes. These tools can help you track leads, manage contacts, and evaluate sales performance. This is an absolute must. This also ensures that your institutional knowledge remains with the company and not with individuals who come and go.
Support
Having robust support systems are essential for maintaining the momentum of your sales efforts and your entire sales flywheel. This applies to everything from pre-sales prospecting to onboarding and governance. Ensure that you have clear documentation and processes for everything.
Content Creation: Create content and resources that help your sales team communicate your product’s value proposition effectively. Sales enablement content can include sales scripts, product documentation, decks, landing pages, and case studies.
Documentation: Ensure that you have documented all of your sales support processes. Many CRM’s can be set up to handle this and have resources and sales enablement material that can guide an account representative through an entire customer journey.
Tracking
Lastly, tracking your sales efforts allows you to measure your progress and make necessary adjustments.
KPIs and Metrics: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) for your sales efforts. These could include conversion rates, revenue generated, and customer acquisition costs. Regularly monitor these metrics to evaluate your sales strategy’s effectiveness.
Feedback Loops: Encourage feedback from your sales team and customers. Their insights can provide valuable information for improving your sales strategy and product. Make necessary adjustments based on this feedback. At LVT, we like to call this the Pivot.
Continuous Improvement: Sales is an ongoing process. Regularly review and refine your sales strategy to adapt to changing market conditions and customer preferences.
Conclusion
The FAST method—Foundation, Alignment, Support, and Tracking—is a comprehensive approach to supercharging sales for small businesses. I’ve used it, I’ve coached it, and I’ve applied it successfully throughout my career. Like most systems out there, this methodology was created using best practices learned from trial and error and cherry-picking other proven methods. Here’s a great resource from one of my favorite content creators, Hubspot, for viewing some other methods.
By establishing a strong foundation, aligning your organization, providing essential support, and maintaining vigilant tracking mechanisms, you’ll at least have a strategy that you can point to when the going gets tough.
If you’re building a sales team or are in charge of developing a sales enablement strategies, try using the FAST blueprint to keep you on track.
