At the end of the year, while we all getting into celebration mood, it is a time to reflect on the past 365 days and to set the right goals and tasks for the next year.
Everyone wants to grow. It’s not just nice to grow and see more revenue coming your way. Let’s put it simply. I you don’t grow in such competitive times, other proactive, ambitious and determined companies can take your place on the market and push you out of competition.
Many consultants advise on the growth but often fail to explain clearly what a company actually needs to do in order to achieve higher growth results. Some say you need to bring more leads, market you company well, position your product and solution correctly, explore social media phenomena, and all of this sounds right. However, unless you capable to execute the sales and close on leads coming your way, all this marketing efforts would only bring additional cost, not revenue. It’s all down to old fashion sales techniques with the new and innovative twist on the sales strategy.
The set of the next questions is designed to provide a quick health check analysis of your growth efforts and will help you to adjust and set up goals for the next year.
1. Know Your Customer
Do you really know whom you are selling to and why customers are buying from you?
Perhaps, you need to bring additional investors and create additional interest on the market. Do you know how to pitch your products and services?
2. Understand Customer’s Needs
Do you know what drives you customers to buy from you? Do you know how to generate their interest towards your products and services? Do you realise how to get the conversation going? Can you pick up a phone and speak to your prospective customer?
Do you understand the customer’s budget?
Do you know who is controlling the budget – the people who will sigh the potential contact? You need to bring them into your communication circle.
3. Provide Right Content
Once you understand clearly what kind of customer comes to your door, do you provide right content and product/services information that the customer and most importantly, budget controllers can understand to make conclusive buying decision?
4. Focus on Performance
If you have several leads coming your way, do you prioritise your efforts and prospects, analyse their buying probability to segment them on the most likely to buy and the ones you need to nurture.
5. Analyse Sales Result and Track Sales against Financial Forecast
Do you perform financial forecast vs sales forecast analysis? Let’s face it, the cost of marketing and sales, can be expensive. Do you ensure your marketing efforts and sales incentives are affordable?
6. Negotiate well
Do you know how to negotiate the contract? We all know from Brexit negotiations that it may go wrong if you are not prepared well.
7. Assemble the Team
Be sure you can recruit and, most importantly, on-board new sales and support team who can help to drive results up or simply, up-skill existing people with new sales skills.
8. Provide Effective After-Sales Customer Support
It is extremely important to care for your existing customers but do you use customer relationships as a unique opportunity to re-sell and up-sell to new products and services?
At Sales Expand Ltd we help companies to expand sales and growth by providing the balanced mix of sales skills training and coaching based on your needs analysis. This year, in addition to our sales training portfolio, we have introduced GROWTH support programme. This is an affordable, subscription-based programme, that is aligned to you quarterly needs and forecast analysis and combines several training sessions and one-to-one coaching. Please connect to enquire more information and the way how you can enrol. Alternatively, we can provide individual sales training for you including Effective Pitching and Messaging, Negotiation Skills and Managing Team for Performance.
We wishing you a successful NEW YEAR! Let year 2018 bring more growth your way!
