Most of the time, if not all the time, strategic alignments our strategic plans imply the need for change, or the introduction of new things and new reflexes in the company's ways of doing things. 

The vision, the objectives and initiatives to be carried out must be clear, must bring value and be endorsed by the company's management team.

Despite all the goodwill and intelligence deployed in the strategy statements sessions, it is in the execution that magic happens. Action plans must therefore be rigorously managed, followed, and executed.

Based on the growth intentions and ambitions, my approach integrates discussions on the ideal customer, the prioritization of geographies and segments to be covered, the allocation of the necessary resources, and the documentation of value propositions in order to build a solid sales playbook, to support sales and customer relationship management.

These sessions conclude with the documentation of clear and precise action plans, which also identify those responsible for their execution within the timelines decided for their implementation.

What percentage of your time do you spend coaching your team?

• The environment and the number of team members will certainly require an adaptation of the effort to be invested, but the rule of thumb is that a sales manager should spend about 20% of his time coaching and supporting his sales team. 
  
  
• In a strategic or more global alignment approach, this rule could very well be applied to the different areas of a company's management and operations teams.

I propose a selection approach that first documents and maps the business processes, in order to allow the understanding and communication of the objectives to the team members, and the best possible selection of suppliers who can meet the expressed needs. 

Detailed requirements templates will support the process. The process includes; detailed analysis, vendor review, selection of a short list, summary and detailed demos, and discussions on the integrator's fit and the project proposed pricing and deployment timetable.