Recently I was asked to consider contributing to a "Master/MistressClass" on Developing Online Sales for a major publisher. This has kicked off my thought processes regarding matching up my current knowledge from working with new businesses at the leading edge with my prior knowledge of sales strategy, and the process of feeding into budgetary planning and corporate objectives.

So, what should I consider and how much would this bottom up information feed into corporate objectives, or are these clearly set already?

Here's my very first scope to cascade down from:-

People

User Behaviour - who is doing what, when, how, where etc and how do individual publisher audiences compare?

Customers - Consumer and Commercial - How well are they served? What sort of data exists and how is this managed by senior management to measure the efficiency of the business?

Employees - Who is responsible for new fast growing sectors? New roles/structures/teams?

Suppliers/Partners - Are they keeping up? Are their processes up to date? What is the scope for new ones?

What sort of Leaders are there?

Revenue

Forecasts for total Advertising & Marketing growth for 3-5 years (Important note that it's not just ad revenue to consider, as several sectors fall outside of markets measured (Email; Games; E-commerce; Apps; etc).

Comparison to existing publisher performance

Competitive Landscape - What's happening amongst the competition now and likely in the next 3-5 years

What are reasonable objectives and revenue/share targets in all sectors, and what innovation is required to achieve them?

Can costs be minimised without compromising service levels

Process

The Operational Landscape

What should a state of the art sales process be in 2012

Is it modular and flexible, or fixed and tied into key suppliers on long contracts

Where are there cross overs with other parties

What can be outsourced?