Ten questions to build sales now

Every business starts as a hypothesis: "We think this market needs this product/service/innovation/angle." 

Through research and experience, you develop a strategy. 

If your business has drifted away from its roots, or you're struggling with strategy, here are 10 questions to help you build your go-to-market plan. Each step will help you figure out how to build the capacity to survive in -- and eventually dominate -- your chosen market.

1.     Who is winning in our marketplace, and why?

2.     What are our customers’ most unmet wants and needs?

3.     What are we really, really good at?

4.     What is the intersection point of what we're good at, what’s working now, and what our customers need most?

5.     What additional insights, skills and resources can we call on from within the organization to press our advantage?

6.     What additional resources, capabilities and contacts can we draw on within our personal and business networks to seize  market leadership?

7.     Bearing in mind all these resources, how can we create maximum value for our clients and prospects in a new way that’s uniquely ours?

8.     How can we test these assumptions in the marketplace this month?

9.    Who will take charge of this initiative? What resources can they draw on?

10 What’s the best way to communicate our new positioning in one or two short, compelling sentences?

Key factors to help you win this battle: Know everything about your customers.

Collaborate. 

Add value. 

Unleash your imagination. 

Move fast.