WHAT IS AND WHY DO I NEED A SALES STRATEGY
It’s surprising how many people in business simply do not have a clearly defined and written strategy for how they gain new and repeat sales of the products or services that they sell.
In the boom years businesses could just about get away with this because there was so much business sloshing around that few people really had to work very hard to make a reasonable living.
But the world is a very different place since the pandemic and it’s unlikely to ever return to a less competitive environment which is why now more than ever, it’s absolutely imperative that you have a solid bullet proof plan of action to magnetise customers to you instead of your competition.
To begin we must start by better understanding what the main challenge is, before we can focus on developing a solution of building a sales strategy that works.
Noise, (competition and speed of life)
You are someone’s customer aren’t you? Think about your average working day and what runs through ‘your’ mind from the moment you wake up until your head goes back on the pillow…
Family, food, car, journey, office, e-mail, STUFF, phone calls, more STUFF, car, journey, gym, home, family, food, chores, TV, Bed……
You me and everyone have so much noise and ‘stuff’ going on in our lives each and every day that when it comes to buying stuff or services, all we want is someone who will make the buying process easy by giving us what we want at a good price and who will do what they say they will before we agreed to buy… Don’t we?
OK so if that is all we want, then clearly, this must be what everyone wants right?
You bet!!
Yet you know as well as I that despite every single company out there advocating ‘we promise great service at a great price’ very few actually deliver, so how are you at delivering the dream? Are you really any different?
This is where you have to have, a sales strategy that really is different to all of your competitors, one that starts differently, runs differently and does something they (your prospective customer) expects but is unsure they will receive … you’re going to have to ‘really’ deliver!, so that your customers can see, feel the difference that will have them become a raving fan and incredible referrer to other people.
A SIMPLE 6 POINT SALES STRATEGY
1. Start by making a list of every customer and contact that you know and have in your CRM system (Database) that’s the easy part…
2. Put your contacts into 4 groups
a. Mature clients – Those who buy from you over & over again
b. Clients – Those who have bought from you twice
c. Customers – Those who have purchased from you once
d. Prospective customers – Those who are yet to buy anything from you
3. Make a planned schedule to contact and meet them all if possible, beginning with your active clients. (This consistently builds both long term rapport to inspire repeat and referrals). Once this stage is robustly automated, gradually work out to the people you know least well.
4. Make a list of your contacts that sell products or services into the same target market as you, meet them & collaborate with them to share introductions & run joint marketing campaigns. Again always work out from those you know best, it’s easier and you’ll get faster results.
5. Plan to make at least 3 x Serving NOT Selling telephone calls every day to your people on your customer database.
Remember that sales is not marketing and marketing is NOT sales, if you want to make more sales you’re going to have to talk to more people, no amount of e-mails will ever generate the income that talking to and then meeting people will.
While this is a great ‘big picture’ overview of what a well defined sales strategy must look like to begin with, obviously you’re going to need to build on this to create a truly exceptional sales strategy, one that wins more business more often to create an extraordinary business that affords you the perfect work life balance.
There are thousands of books and training courses on building a sales strategy which seasoned sales professionals invest in to stay on top of their game which is why it is highly recommended that you invest in sales training at least once every year if you are to achieve your true potential in business.