In a recent LinkedIn post, I spoke about the familiar conversations I have with SME business owners each year — the hopeful “next year is going to be our year!” Without fail, I ask:
Why? What will you do differently to create a different result?
This blog is the follow-through:
 What does “doing something different” actually look like in practical sales terms?
Below is a clear, simple, and actionable framework that shows not only what to revisit, but also how each element connects to the next. When these pieces work together, your sales engine becomes predictable, targeted, and far more effective.

Targeting is your foundation. If it’s unclear or outdated, every other sales activity becomes inefficient.

How to revisit your targeting (practical steps):

1. List your top 10–20 customers.
   Not by revenue alone — include profitability, ease of doing business, speed of payment, long-term potential.
2. Identify common traits.
   Industry, company size, location, buying motivations, urgency, decision-maker type.
3. Check for market changes.
   Regulations, price increases, industry trends, competitor changes — anything that shifts what “ideal customer” means today.
4. Decide who no longer fits.
   Outdated markets, small margins, high maintenance clients.

Why this matters for the next step:

Once you know exactly who your ideal customer is, you can evaluate whether your current products and services still solve their problems… not last year’s.

This leads directly into Step 2.

Most SMEs skip this step. But once your ideal customer profile shifts even slightly, your offering might need to shift with it.

How to evaluate your offering practically:

1. Map each product/service against your ideal customer.
   Does it solve their current problem effectively?
2. Do a simple “stop / start / continue” analysis:
   1. Continue: high margin, high demand, low effort
   2. Improve: high potential but underperforming
   3. Stop: low margin, low demand, high effort
   4. Start: gaps your ideal customers consistently mention
3. Validate with real conversations.
   Ask 5–10 ideal customers:
   “What’s your biggest challenge right now, and what solutions are you actively exploring?”

How this connects to the next step:

Once you know what you’re selling to whom, you can now design how to approach the market intentionally — which is Step 3.

This is where SMEs often fall down: they approach the market randomly, reactively, or inconsistently.

Now that you know who you’re targeting and what you want to sell them, you can build a structured and proactive approach.

Practical steps to redefine your market approach:

1. Choose the channels your ideal customers actually use.
   Email? LinkedIn? Cold calls? Webinars? Industry associations?
2. Plan monthly activity rhythms.
   1. X emails per month
   2. X LinkedIn posts per week
   3. X cold calls per day
   4. X networking events per quarter
3. Measure real engagement.
   Don’t guess. Track:
   1. Response rates
   2. Meetings booked
   3. New conversations started
4. Trim what isn’t working.
   If you run a channel for 90 days with no measurable engagement, refine or stop it.

How this connects to Step 4:

Your outreach will only work if the materials prospects see (website, profiles, presentations) support your message. Which brings us to…

Once your targeting, offering, and outreach strategy are aligned, your materials must support that message.

Practical steps:

1. Update your website to speak directly to your ideal customer’s problems.
   Clear, simple language. Problem → solution → proof.
2. Refresh your sales deck.
   Ensure it reflects current offerings and market realities.
3. Update key team members’ LinkedIn profiles.
   Alignment matters — your prospects will check.
4. Collect or create 3–5 relevant case studies.
   Specific, measurable, concise.

How this naturally leads into Step 5:

With modernised materials and a clear message, you’re in a better position to evaluate how you compare to competitors — not just copy them, but differentiate deliberately.

Competitor analysis becomes valuable only after you understand your ideal customer, your offering, your approach, and your materials. Why?

Because now you can evaluate competitors strategically — not emotionally.

Practical competitor review:

1. Look at their messaging:
   Are they emphasising price, speed, innovation, compliance?
2. Check their channels:
   Are they running ads? Posting daily? Hosting webinars?
3. Review their customer promises:
   Are they promising things you can do better?
4. Identify opportunities they’re ignoring.

How this loops back:

Competitor insights help refine:

• Your targeting (are they focusing on the same customer?)
• Your offering (can you package differently?)
• Your materials (can you position smarter?)
• Your market approach (can you use channels they neglect?)

The system becomes self-reinforcing.

How It All Works Together (The Full Sales Improvement Loop)

To demonstrate the connection clearly:

1. Targeting tells you who to focus on.
2. Offering tells you what to sell to those people.
3. Market approach becomes the plan for how to reach them.
4. Sales materials become the tools that support that plan.
5. Competitor analysis becomes the insight that helps you differentiate and refine the first four steps.

This isn’t five separate ideas — it’s one continuous loop.
Each step strengthens the next.
Each decision becomes clearer because everything is aligned.

This is how SMEs build a sales engine that produces a materially better year — not just a hopeful one.

As I said in my LinkedIn post, “Next year will only be better if we do something different.”

This framework is the “something different.”
It’s structured, practical, interconnected, and proven.

If SME business owners focus on these five interconnected elements — and actually implement them — next year won’t just feel hopeful… it will be strategically stronger, more intentional, and far more successful.