Have you ever thought of what really drives sales in your business? Most people associate their answer with marketing or new leads or the product itself. But if you take a closer look at it, a successful sales strategy is what gets a product off the shelves.
Reports have it that more than 80% of the sales in an organisation are made by just 20% of their sales force. It’s time to get your whole team on board and an effective sales plan and strategy is what will help you get there.
A sales strategy will help you build a culture that focuses on efficiency and empowers sales reps to put their best foot forward. A strong sales strategy will also help you add value at every step of a customer’s journey with your brand.
Devising a sales strategy is not a one-time event but a continuous process that must take place regularly. It is a process that’s unique for every business, one that benefits any type of organisation, irrespective of its size.
In this blog post, we will take you through:
- What is a sales strategy?
- Why do you need a sales strategy?
- 5 examples of sales strategies that you can devise in your organisation
Let’s get down to the basics.
What is a sales strategy?
A sales strategy is a long-term plan that will help you achieve specific sales goals.
Over 40% of sales reps identify prospecting to be the toughest part of their job. Having effective sales strategies in place will not only motivate your sales teams but will also power them to approach leads and convert them into customers.
It is a set of decisions, actions, and goals with clear objectives that act as a guide for your sales reps to follow. For instance, a sales strategy could include a plan to find new leads, plus find ways to screen them and identify those who will turn into buyers.
The best sales strategies will help you answer the following 3 questions:
What do you want to sell?
Who do you want to sell it to?
What methods should you use to sell your products and services?
Why do you need a sales strategy?
A lot of businesses spend a considerable amount of time on product development or their marketing plan but devote very little time to building a sales strategy. This may turn out to be a costly mistake. Building a marketing and sales strategy that complement each other is the way to go about it.
Let’s look at how sales strategies will set your business up for success:
- Address customers’ needs at every stage of their buying journey: Each customer has a different need depending on where they are in their buying journey. A new customer may need information on your product features whereas an existing customer may be looking for technical support. A good sales strategy will help you address the changing needs of a buyer.
- Increase your return on investment (ROI): A sales strategy will help you take stock of which sales tactics are working in your favour and which are not. This will enable you to maximize results and increase your team’s ROI.
- Get the right people on board: Having the right people on your team is important if you want your business to reach new heights. A sales strategy can help you pick the right people who will help you achieve your goals.
Examples of sales strategies
Here are 5 proven examples of sales strategies that will not only help improve conversions but also align your sales and marketing teams.
a) Build your ideal customer profile
Pursuing leads who will not buy anything from your company is one of the most unproductive and time-consuming things that your sales reps can engage in.
Instead, your reps need to have a good understanding of the kind of customers who interact with your business the most. In fact, 93% of businesses that meet their revenue goals are those that have their customer database segmented by customer profiles or buyer personas.
While defining your ideal customer profile, consider all the characteristics of your customers that make them an ideal fit for you.
What patterns do you observe? Take into account factors like location, industry, demographics, revenue, etc. This way, you ensure your reps use their time effectively and focus on those people who are most likely to become your customers.
Follow these 3 steps to building a solid buyer profile:
- Firstly, you need to define what your company is about and what it wants to focus on selling. Is there a particular service or product that you want to highlight?
- Secondly, prepare a list of your existing customers who have bought this particular product or service
- Thirdly, make a list of the characteristics that make them the perfect fit for the ideal buyer profile
b) Adopt the consultative selling approach
Another example of sales strategy is adopting the consultative selling approach. It helps build long-lasting business relationships based on trust. In this approach, a sales rep gains a holistic understanding of the customer’s needs and then tries to provide a customised solution to meet those needs. According to reports, 62% of buyers want to hear from salespeople when they are at the stage of actively looking for solutions to solve a problem. Meaningful solutions make customers happy and turn them into loyal customers.
To be successful at consultative selling, they must be able to lead conversations and tailor them around customer’s needs and pain points.
For this your reps must:
– Ask the right questions at the right time
– Make the prospect feel confident that their needs are understood
– Craft the right solution specific to their needs
c) Clearly define the results
After your reps have successfully captured the attention of potential buyers with what they will gain by using your solution, it’s now time to clearly explain how that will happen and what they will get by opting for it.
For example, let’s assume you are selling accounting software to small and medium-sized businesses which have never used one before. You will have to explain and show them how the platform will work, how much time they will need to invest in taking it forward and what kind of online support they will have access to etc.
If you sell a product or service that involves an upfront fee or a complex rollout, this example of sales strategy may be ideal for you.
Prospective buyers need to know what they stand to gain in terms of deliverables, what are the milestones, and the overall impact this solution will have.
d) Automate tasks and increase conversion.
Sales reps end up spending 66% of their time on administrative tasks – this makes them lose out on precious selling time. What will bring about the difference? Automation.
For example, you can install an automated chatbot to initiate contact with leads who have the best potential for conversion.
e) Collect insights on your core competitors.
What sets you apart from your competitors? Asking this question is usually the job of the marketing team. However, just like understanding customer pain points, you are in a unique position to find out how you can fill the gaps left open by your competitors.
There are two occasions in your sales conversations where you can gather information on your competitors and understand the gaps in the market:
- At the start of your sales conversation, where you can ask prospects – which company’s product or service they currently use. This is a golden opportunity for you to understand what attracted your prospects to you and why they are unhappy with the current supplier.
- At the end of your conversation, right before you close the deal when the customer states that “the competition XYZ does this and you don’t”. This is a great opportunity for reps to figure out how to better position their products in the face of competition and how they can wisely tackle such objections.
Over to you
To build an effective sales strategy, you must understand who your ideal customers are, what their pain points are, and how you can come up with a solution to solve their problems.
Learn from every interaction with your customers, understand what motivates them to buy or not to buy from you.
If you’re on the lookout for a new strategy to keep your sales team motivated, sign up on Unomok today – the leading sales gamification platform.