The document provides guidance on developing a strategic plan for a publication/brand called CSN. It recommends gathering the team to conduct a SWOT analysis, create a vision/mission, and key goals/initiatives. For the strategic plan, it suggests outlining the target customers, value proposition, competitive strategy, financial strategy, and immediate priorities. Sales team strategic plans should include a SWOT analysis, goals/initiatives, top clients/forecasts, prospects, and resources needed for implementation.

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6. Collaborates
 Create a space where individuals can collaborate collectively to share ideas.
 Foster engagement.
 It is important that everyone feel they are an integral part of a process.
 Create ownership and a greater sense of value within the team.
Cooperate
 Achieve long term goals by utilizing the strengths of each individual
Communicate
 Share a clear vision

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9.  Introduce myself to the team, internal departments, and processes necessary to
identify areas of attention and growth. Assess CSN team members’ condition: their
focus, their energy, their routines, and their productivity. Relationships with each
other. Check relationship between the CSN team and other key internal groups—
finance, production, editorial, marketing, channel partners.
 As a team how is the brand interacting with each other and other areas of the
company? What’s working, What’s not working, What immediate issues should I
address with this group? What do I need from them? What do they need from me?
 Attend events, CSNews Fuels & Tech Summit will be held Dec. 8-9

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11.  Research history, where did they come from?
 Read a number of articles of work by each editor
 Meet face to face. What do you enjoy the most about your job? What are your interests
outside this office? How do you see our image in the market? What are our readers saying
about us - and the product? Is there anything urgently on your mind that you'd like to talk
about right now? What sorts of things motivate you? What do you see as your greatest
challenges? Where do you see the greatest growth potential for our business? For our
brand? For our market?
 What content areas can be further developed?
 Issue planning?
 What sets us apart from our competitors?
 What are the critical issues of our readers?
 How often do you do reader calls? Sales calls?
 Introduce and plan to meet editorial advisory board

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13.  Background
 It's about getting to know them. What do you enjoy the most about your job? What are
your interests outside this office? How do you see our image in the market? What are your
customers saying about the brand? Is there anything urgently on your mind that you'd like
to talk about right now? What sort of things motivates you? What do you see as your
greatest challenges? Where do you see the greatest growth potential for your territory? For
our brand? For our market?
 What market trends are they seeing?
 What sets us apart from our competitors? Have they done competitive analysis?
 Have each sales person give a detailed run down on each of their top key accounts, top shut
outs
 How are the sales people contacting their clients? Email, calls, visits?
 Where are they connecting with new prospects? LinkedIn?
 What percentage of their time is spent focusing on developing new business?
 Physical and mental condition
 What packages are they putting together? Are they putting together integrated packages?
 What obstacles or impediments do they see as limiting their productivity or growth
 Sales cycle, yearly, quarterly, monthly

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15.  Learn CRM capabilities
 Forecasting, last 12 months forecasts and actual, how often, what format?
 Collect reports, new business by account and revenue in the past 12 months, business by
account for the last 4 years revenue spend,
 IMS territory reports, Brand SOM, top missing advertisers, looking for types of accounts,
territory SOM
 Are we identifying and closing sales at a rate sufficient to hit projected sales and
profitability goals?
 What is our conversion rate from the first stage to the last stage of the pipeline?
 Are we adding new opportunities quickly enough?
 Understand 90-day opportunities already in pipeline
 What’s our win/loss ratio?
 Are the open opportunities in our pipeline evenly distributed by stage and by product?
 Gross revenue amount in pipeline
 Are any pending deals in trouble?

16.  NACS show directory
 How are sales entered and tracked
 Who is collecting materials
 Become familiar with staff functions and capabilities
 What brand marketing is currently being done?
 Audience development efforts being done
 Product scope
 Revenue and contribution by product, P&L
 Performance metrics for product scope
 Are they accessible and accessed by sales
 Web metrics, top content areas
 Do you have an internal social network?

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18.  Relationship building with customers.
 Ride with each sales associate, holding territory review,
meeting current accounts and key prospects.
 Reader calls
 Assist in closing any business already in the pipeline
 Become more involved in the industry by attending any
events, seeking out groups or committees in the market,
Tobacco summit

19.  What are your impressions of CSN?
 Who is your target market?
 How do you see the market changing?
 What have you done so far? what has been successful? What still challenges you?
 What research could help you do a better job?
 In what areas can you company offer thought leadership in the market?
 What else can you tell me about what you are looking for?
 How do you usually plan your marketing is it by the year, quarter, month? Do you ever leave
room for key opportunities that come up during the year?
 What is your budget for this campaign?
 What other options are you considering? What have you liked, and not liked, about what
you’ve seen so far?
 Is there someone else besides yourself making this decision? What can I provide to you that
will make it easier for you to present to them?
 What is your time-frame for making a decision?

20.  What are some of the biggest trends making waves in the industry? How will these changes
affect your day job?
 From a state of the industry question, what keeps you up at night?
 What are the biggest professional challenges that you face on a daily basis?
 What was the latest feature that you read in CSN? What were your thoughts? What industry
websites do you regularly visit? How often do you visit them?
 What is your go-to resource for new industry information?
 What content do you find most valuable/useful?
 What content do you regularly read/watch? Why?
 What are your biggest pet peeves or annoyances when visiting an industry website? What
needs to go?
 If you could customize your daily news and information, how would you do it?

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22.  Build and Communicate Our Strategy for CSN
 Gather team in person preferably
 SWOT, for brand, for competitors, for products
 Create a vision and mission
 Key goals and initiatives through which CSN will achieve
those goals.

23. Strategy:
• ƒTarget customers: Who are our target customers? Who are not our target customers?
• Value proposition: What value can or do we bring to target customers? What is our sales
message? What is our “elevator pitch?”
• Competitive strategy: How will we deploy our salespeople? How will we compete for
target customers’ attention and money? How will we create value through our sales
process to differentiate ourselves?
• Financial strategy: How will we price? What costs will we incur?
• Immediate priorities: Set immediate priorities. Which are the most immediate critical
targets or activities that we want to focus?

24.  ƒA one-page SWOT analysis as a summary of the plan.
 ƒKey goals and major initiatives through which the team will achieve those goals.
 ƒYear over year revenue growth and profits by brand and by product line.
 Top clients for the current year and expected revenues for those clients by product.
 ƒ12-month forecast or pipeline
 ƒCompetitive strategy, identifying major threats and tactics for overcoming them.
 ƒSales territory, key accounts, and shut out plans
 ƒDetailed description of the compensation plan and/or any non monetary incentive or
recognition systems.

25.  ƒA one-page SWOT analysis as a summary of the plan.
 Competitive strategy, identifying major threats and tactics for overcoming them.
 Six to eight key goals and major initiatives through which they will achieve them.
 Top clients for the current year and expected revenues for those clients in the coming year
by product
 Top prospects to develop.
 12-month forecast and a current pipeline.
 Resources or support needed from the organization to implement the plan.

26.  ƒ A summary SWOT analysis of the relationship.
 ƒ A list of the client’s key business issues and drivers.
 ƒ Organizational charts that outline decision-making processes.
 ƒ Six to eight key goals with the activities to achieve them.
 ƒ A 90-day list of actions that will be completed to execute the plan.
 ƒ A sales forecast by product and account.

27. Each seller to also present Top shut out account plans
 ƒ A summary SWOT analysis of the relationship.
 ƒ A list of the client’s key business issues and drivers.
 ƒ Organizational charts that outline decision-making processes.
 ƒ Six to eight key goals with the activities to achieve them.
 ƒ A 90-day list of actions that will be completed to execute the plan.
 ƒ A sales forecast by product and account.
All Plans would be reviewed and updated quarterly

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