Recognise these? How well are your teams and management equipped to deal with these scenarios?

SURVIVE & THRIVE
You are a CEO or MD. You have taken over at the helm as the worst recession since the 1920's really starts to bite. You have no experience running a company in a recession and neither does your board. All key performance indicators are heading south. Your company and career is in danger of failing.

Corporate Attack
You are the Sales Director of a FTSE 100 organisation. A number of your oldest, largest and most important clients have been approached by your most troublesome competitor. The competitor is running a focussed and effective campaign against you and is promising to deliver the same product & improved service at a price that is 25% lower than your offering. You cannot match this price. Your sales force is under attack from a credible competitor and they are being out sold.

Counter Attack
You are a FTSE 250 organisation offering software products and services, SI and outsourcing. A customer that was once the biggest in your division now delivers less than £100k per annum, 1% of revenue 5 years ago. You are aware that the customer 'hates' your organisation. Your competitors are entrenched in the account. Your new CEO has told you he wants the revenue back to where it was 5 years ago. You have been attacked and lost and now you need to counter attack.

Global freshen up
You are the new Global or Regional VP of Sales for a large organisation that it is truly global. Revenue and profit is heading south. SG&A costs are spiralling. Each of the in country sales forces is doing their own thing. There is inconsistency everywhere. You need to quickly reverse those KPIs.

The 3 R's
You need to recruit really key sales people up to and including executive level. A lot of your previous sales recruitment decisions have proven costly disasters. You can’t get these decisions wrong any longer, everything else is going well but Sales needs better people. You need to Reduce Recruitment Risk and get this right so your business flies.

VCs PLACE YOUR BETS
You are a Venture Capitalist looking to invest a considerable amount in a business that certainly appears to have the potential to grow rapidly. However your most recent investments have not been successful. The £20m or £50m of sales revenue never showed up. Lots of excuses did. You want to avoid making the same mistakes with your next investment. Does this ring any bells? Financial Times Letter

WHERE’S THE EXIT?
You have invested considerable capital in a number of start up or early stage businesses. Sales have not been as promised or hoped for. Market conditions have prevented you from selling these companies. You need to address the cost base and drive sales to make the businesses profitable in order to be able to exit and recoup your investment.

SME ATTACK
You are an SME wanting to generate a new revenue stream by winning business with a FTSE 100 client. You have no present or historical relationship with this organisation. Previous attempts to break in to big accounts have failed and proved costly. If your business is to grow it must succeed in achieving this goal.

MAKE OR BREAK
You have built some great relationships at the CxO level with your biggest client. As a result you have had a tip off regarding a potential future deal. After some initial qualification you are confident that there is a huge, transformational opportunity there for your business. You recognise however that the deal is not just for your traditional products and services and that you do not have the skills or experience to approach the sale with any confidence.