6 Dimensions of Sales & Sales Strategy – Varasi Framework

For context, our client work is focused on Salesforce CRM implementations for mid-sized companies, that are growing or preparing themselves for growth. While no two businesses have the same areas of emphasis when it comes to sales growth, we have found it useful to start with a framework in our client work; one that captures our learnings and observations of leading practices when it comes to the topic of Sales and Sales Strategy.

The intent of the framework is to give structure to your thinking as you evaluate your needs for Sales Growth and how Salesforce CRM can be the engine to power it. Evaluate your needs in a holistic manner and work your way through the areas for improvement, identify the gaps between where you are and where you ought to be. The framework brings together six dimensions or lenses that we use in our work, to evaluate a client’s vision and needs.

You can also check out this video to learn about the framework!

Why the need for such a framework?

• We see that the investments into Salesforce CRM often come from the right place … to build a systematic approach to Sales. However, the temptation then is to automate the sales and related processes that one has currently in place. One of our key messages is to not jump into automating existing processes but to first design them with your plans and preparation for growth in mind.
• If you are revisiting a limited rollout or a failed implementation, don’t fall for the temptation of hacking your way out of it. Our take is that this is the time for stepping back, and looking at your needs in a disciplined, holistic manner. Our framework is an effective tool in such situations.

“The Salesforce CRM platform is a powerful engine at your disposal, harnessing best practices from sales organizations from around the world; but it is upto you to build the right levers around it. These levers should come from your unique design and game plan for growth; these levers should then guide how you configure, customize and integrate the system into your organization, champion it and adopt it”

Questions to ask yourself as you walk through the six dimensions of the Varasi Framework

Here is a list, by no means exhaustive, of some of the questions you would be asking yourself as you consider each of the six dimensions:

• What does it mean to align your Sales Strategy with the Organization’s Strategy? Is ‘make your quota’ the only direction for your sales teams …. or is there a strong sense of direction you have charted as a company and the sales teams are aligned to that?
• What future are you charting for yourself as an organization? How does that translate to sales goals today?
• What are the information flows and handoffs between Sales & Marketing processes in your organization going to look like? How would Salesforce CRM help you with processes at the intersection like managing leads, and campaigns?
• What is the scope of Sales Operations? What is the cadence of reporting, pipeline calls, and forecasts going to look like?
• What does it mean to tailor the sales processes of account & opportunity management, and territory management mean for your specific sales situations and your portfolio of products and services?
• Do you have ideal deal profiles and customer profiles? Are the value propositions, pricing of your offers and their relation to the value that customers derive, clear to your sales teams as they sell?
• What metrics and insights from your Salesforce CRM will help your sales leaders coach the sales teams? What metrics for the SDRs prospecting over the phone, the Direct Sales Teams?
• How does your growth plan translate to how your sales teams are configured, the guidelines for how the rest of the organization collaborates with sales?

We believe Salesforce CRM can be a game changer for you as you prepare yourself for rapid growth! It is up to you to build the right levers around it. Hope you find the Varasi framework relevant and helpful, as you think about what those levers are for your situation! Check out our video on the Varasi Framework for Sales and tell us what you think.