Business continuity and the role of sales and S&OP

Business continuity: The role of sales during (and after) a crisis

Depending on the type of crisis, sales will be part of the solution. Their role needs to be part of any business continuity plan. Managing the information and having the right set of data is probably the most crucial element in times of crisis.

Whilst it’s important to monitor the calculation and pay-out of incentives, during a rapidly shifting landscape, sales leaders need the ability to maintain an agile incentive compensation programme.

Business leaders should also pay close attention to data such as:

• The effectiveness of specific promotional campaigns
• The impact of trade marketing spend on sales performance
• Marketing expenses, sales forecasting and promotional budgeting

Building and maintaining a relevant sales model that is completely understood, is the most important way that companies respond to rapid market changes. For sales leaders, having a clear pipeline view of all deals will help identify where to put effort, and optimise the sales efforts.

It’s critical to adapt any sales models in the way customers make purchase decisions. Understanding how the customer buys is key, especially during a crisis. Senior leaders must set the foundational conditions for change; designing a sales model that aligns buying and selling.

Sales leaders should identify the customers and prospects that are at risk and put mitigation strategies in place. Checking in with both customers and prospects and showing empathy is a way of maintaining a healthy relationship with them. It also gives the salesperson an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that they are facing and how the business is being impacted.

Following a crisis, the effectiveness of the sales efforts will be of strategic importance for the organisation. According to HBR , Effective selling requires an understanding of where customers are, how they navigate between various streams of activity, and when to interact with them.

Encourage collaboration and maintain communication channels between the sales members, especially if the situation is changing rapidly. It may happen that the usual way of performing tasks becomes ineffective, so it’s critical to focus on effective communication.

Leaders should consider a tool that delivers:

1. Real-time information to assess sales performance relative to target, to be able to take immediate corrective action if numbers start moving below target
2. Insight into changes in customer buying patterns
3. For CPG organisations the ability to track critical category performance feedback
4. The ability to provide industry insights to sales people
5. Historical customer and market spend information to track longer term trends and identify underlying issues

There’s never been a more important time to consider S&OP as part of your continuity plan

At a time of constantly fluctuating consumer demand, ongoing business disruptions and increasingly volatile raw material prices, S&OP is perfectly positioned to bring cross functional stakeholders together and align the different functions behind a common plan.

Planning activities have traditionally been a supply-chain topic. However, digital and advanced analytics are now unlocking the ability to make complex trade-offs among functions such as sales, production, and the supply chain that will become more critical in the coming years.

“S&OP is the single most important and critical cross-functional process. If S&OP is done properly, it leads to significant returns, including increased revenue and profitability.” Micheal Youssef, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner

Disruption can be a forceful motivator but being prepared for the next business disruption is far from the only reason to evolve the S&OP processes. Existing planning capabilities won’t be sufficient for organisations to keep pace over the coming decade.

Technologies such as analytics and machine learning will be a major component, but to be truly effective, they must be supported by new processes, talent, and governance. When executed effectively, the leadership team can strike the right balance between customer service, working capital investment and total cost.

For further information, including best practice tips, download our business continuity whitepaper here