Top 3 Sales Strategy Questions Every Leader Must Answer

Are You Asking (and Answering) the Right Sales Strategy Questions?
Across industries and markets, three critical sales strategy questions consistently separate high-performing sales teams from those that struggle to grow profitably and sustainably. Answering these questions isn’t just a theoretical strategic planning retreat exercise — it’s the foundation for aligning your sales team’s focus, energy, and behavior with the realities of where you will play and how you will win.

Too often, organizations invest enormous time and resources in sales activities without first defining a clear, actionable path for success. Without that strategic clarity, even the most talented sales teams can drift, chase the wrong customers, pursue low-value deals, or operate with conflicting priorities.

High-performing sales leaders do the opposite. They chart a deliberate course, ensuring every salesperson understands where to play, how to win, and how to help customers achieve meaningful results. This clarity doesn’t just drive consistently profitable revenue growth — it also boosts engagement, confidence, and satisfaction among both sales reps and clients.

In short, effective sales leadership starts with asking — and answering — the right strategic questions.

The Top 3 Sales Strategy Questions Leaders Must Answer
From sales leader simulation assessment center results, here are the top three sales strategy questions every leader must answer if they want to set their sales team up for success. Our organizational alignment research found that clear answers to these questions accounts for 31% of the difference between high and low performing sales teams.

You will know you are on the right track when your sales team believes that your go-to-market sales strategy is clear, believable, and implementable enough to consistently win.

1. Target Market: Who Are Your Best Buyers?
   Define exactly what type of organization, buyer, and situation comprises your ideal target client profile where you should win the majority of the time.  Identify target customers by a combination of industry, size, situation, location, and title. This provides clear direction and focus to sales and marketing and greatly reduces misdirected efforts to chase and qualify every potential prospect — regardless of potential and fit.

   If your win rate is less than 50%, take a hard look at where you are trying to win.

   Target buyers should also be defined in terms of the unique problems that they face that your offerings are able to solve. You should agree upon a clear list of buying triggers that create good opportunities for you.  For example, do you have more success with growing companies whose resources are stretched to the limit or with more mature companies looking to mitigate risk?

2. Differentiation: What Specifically Sets You Apart from the Competition?
   Here we come to your value proposition and how you differentiate yourself from the competition. What is it that you can do for the customer that no other company can match?

   Done right, your unique value proposition should be meaningful to your target clients, and you should be able to back it up with research, demos, client case studies, testimonials, and references. Both your sales force and your target clients should agree on what sets you apart.

3. Solution Set: What Core Products/Solutions Does Your Company Offer?
   Regardless of how many products and solutions you offer, your sales reps and your customers want to know the core offerings that matter most.  Some call these “sales plays” others call them “solution sets.”  Regardless of the nomenclature, you need to articulate the critical few offerings that matter most to your target clients that fit your unique value proposition.

   Remember, the solution set question is not about you, your features, or your benefits.  That is a internally-focused approach best suited for a transactional-oriented sale, not a complex solution selling opportunity. The focus should be external on how what you have to offer can help your customers (and their customers) to be successful.

The Bottom Line
Without a clear and compelling sales strategy and a differentiated message that matters to your target market, your chances of building a high performance sales team are slim. Start by answering these three sales strategy questions.  Then align the sales culture, structure, processes, technology, capabilities, and support required to help your sales team to make it happen.

To learn more about setting your sales strategy up for high growth, download 7 Ways to Stress Test Your Current Sales Strategy