5 Tips for Building a Sales Strategy
Before gaining new clients, it takes rigorous inside sales planning, repetition, adaptability, and dedication. The biggest challenge for most people: where to begin? It can be easy to be overwhelmed with the task of developing a plan of action and sales strategy for lead generation that is responsible for net-new business, but we’ve developed 5 proven steps that will guide leaders on their b2c and b2b sales strategy journey to growing their client base.
Develop Strategy on Sales Cycle & Define Goals: Begin with a simple outline, then develop a comprehensive lead generation marketing strategy (including target market). Segment your target marketing into categories of cold, warm, and hot leads (this will help you further develop budget, especially if budget is limited, you will know which targets - hot leads - to pursue first) with each group, based on the order of importance. Consider if the best ways to reach your target is direct contact through phone calls, social media outreach, personal and marketing emails, or (yes, even) regular or certified mail. Are there certain conferences to attend or exhibit at to reach your targets? Are there industry Associations to join? In these days of Covid-19, conferences are being derailed. Be creative and find ways to meet your prospect ‘where they are’ to engage in face-to-face interactions. We’re confident that human connection is very key to build and keep relationships. Dating apps are great but eventually you will need to go on an actual date to progress the relationship.
Know Your Target: Develop your top target companies and collect data on each one so when you’re ready to make contact you’re prepared. If you don’t have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, consider this investment as its key to have a sales system in place. Get to know if it’s a cyclical business or if your targets mostly work on a crisis basis, as this knowledge can help you leverage when working on marketing messages and plans for the coming weeks and months.
Develop a Detailed Plan to Reach Target (and be open to change): It can be easy to get stuck in the planning stage but don’t let that stop you from starting, even if it’s small. Figure out the platforms of communication (phone, online, digital, printed) and expand that plan to start. Start somewhere, even 30 days. Thomas Edison said, “Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” Reviews are often set farther out than 30 or 60 days, but we’ve found that the ability to continually assess how much progress is being made must come in smaller increments.
What is your target saying? And more importantly, what are they not saying? What is important to them and their target market? What are their company goals and how can you help them achieve them? How do they grow their customer base? What have you found out from your research about their challenges and celebrations? Use that knowledge to help you form your individual plan as you communicate directly.
Be an expert: People typically will buy from people who are smarter than them. Being an “expert” means having the best solutions that solve their problem(s). The best way to work towards loyalty is to become a true asset to your prospects. If your solution provides the expertise that truly helps a business grow, and that cultivates loyalty and partnership. In closing, when you make your prospect or client a company hero, you’ve gained a long-term customer. But you already knew this, right?
The ability to grow sales depends on several factors we’ve outlined and some we have not outlined. Say you’ve worked for a few weeks on your sales plan and implemented three months of it and there is a pandemic, such is the nature of our current situation with COVID-19. If you’ve done your homework, remain flexible, and are reassessing your sales plan continually at the onset, you may have a greater ability to recognize the challenges of your customer quickly. This ability could potentially give you the edge over your competition during normal times and challenging times.
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Do you need help with your inside sales? InsideOut can help you ignite the processes to really build a pipeline. Email contactus@insideoutsalesgroup.com or call 770-776-8579.
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