Subramanian Chandramouli, Sales Trainer and Author, explains the difference between sales tactics and sales strategy. Sales strategy is a long term process wherein sales tactics focus on the immediate goal, he says.
“Sales strategy is for the long term run, say for 6 months, 1 year or even for 5 years, whereas sales tactics are on the ground,” said Subramanian Chandramouli. He explains sales tactics with an example. If an entrepreneur’s product is priced very competitively and one of his strength is the speed of delivery, when he meets a customer he should first understand his customer thoroughly. Comprehend what the customer is looking for. A customer might not look at the price of the product, instead, he or she will be looking at how fast the entrepreneur can deliver. At that point, the entrepreneur should talk more about the speed of delivery and can charge it in premium. The customer will be ready to pay for the premium as he is only looking for fast delivery. Entrepreneurs should always understand their customer in that particular situation and should be able to change the tactics, he states.
Sales strategy is a long-term vision with more clarity on who your customer is, from where he/she hails, and how you will be reaching him or her, he added.