What if…your non exec told you where your sales growth is coming from?
As a business strategist I’m constantly gobsmacked at how little thought CEOs and senior sales people give to where – and how – they will get business growth.
Apply the rule of 4 and set a strategy in place to:
- Sell existing products and services to existing customers
To do this you need detailed records of what they buy and what they value. In my experience as a business coach, clients only purchase about 10 per of your products and services because they don’t know you offer the other 90 per cent. - Sell existing products and services to new customers
Do your sales people have the knowledge and skills to sell the full range – and are they incentivised to do that? Are your sales people builders or farmers – and do you know the difference?
Sell new products and services to existing customers
How do you target new customers? Are they in new sectors, are they bigger operations than you currently deal with – or are they a combination of both? Do you also have powerful sales and marketing material, equipment and support to get that vital foot hold with prospects?Do you have pioneering sales teams with the necessary skills and experience to execute this strategy? Are they motivated people who enjoy opening new doors and landing that initial order?
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Before sending them in to pitch, give them the best training. Avoid their confidence taking a hammering if the first presentation does not go well as reluctance to try again can result in lost opportunities. Successful companies devote a whole day to sales training and role play sessions so that the critical pitch feels familiar and achieves the desired goal.
- Sell new products and services to new customers
As with point number 2, define a plan to identify and then target them and, as in point number 3, ensure your sales people have comprehensive training and top class marketing materials. Make sure everyone in your organization is on top of their game and ready to blow the socks off the new customers, any slip up in execution of the order can be the death of the new opportunity and a real set back to the business.
What are your sales strategy top tips for growing sales? I’m keen to hear your thoughts on this through the blog. You can also email me richard.bosworth@whatifspecialist.com, follow @richardwhatif on Twitter and find me on LinkedIn under Richard Bosworth.
