As an entrepreneur, I spend a lot of time meeting with other business owners either for peer-to-peer to discussions or as existing or potential clients for one of my companies. What I notice in these meetings, is that a lot of these business owners share a consistent struggle with sales.
Where many make the vital error of only focusing on sales as and when revenue is low, others struggle with implementing an effective sales strategy that will aid consistent and effective growth.
But, why?
Thinking Too Small
When creating an effective sales strategy, so many business leaders think too small, setting limiting goals and targets that will make no difference to the growth of their company.
When thinking about sales, it’s so important to think big. Something that we do at Climb Online and regularly inspire others to do through our digital marketing bootcamps, is to make a regular ‘dream client’ list – the businesses and brands that seem out of reach but would be incredible to have on the books.
By focusing on this list, it not only transforms your mindset around sales, but inspires and motivates you to move beyond your comfort revenue zone into one that has the potential to transform your business for the long-term.
No Sales Team
In addition to my role as Managing Director of Climb Online, I work with and mentor several business owners from a range of industry sectors. Those struggling with sales have one key thing in common: They have no sales team. This may sound obvious, but it is a consistent error that I see time and time again, where the MD has hired and fired several salespeople, then believing it doesn’t work for their business. As a result, they become solely responsible for business development, meaning they don’t have any time to work on wider strategy for growth. Sound familiar?
Admittedly, good salespeople can be hard to find, but in reality, you just need to find one exceptional person that shares the vision for the business, who can then aid in you in training a wider sales team. If it hasn’t worked for you yet, you just haven’t found the right person – keep looking.
No Lead Generation Strategy
Business Leaders struggling with sales will have a limited lead generation strategy in place and will be reliant on one or two methods of driving new business enquiries, such as networking or referral.
Advances in technology means digital marketing is becoming more sophisticated and more targeted than ever before, meaning it is vital for business leaders to utilise and integrate as many lead generation tactics as possible to reach and engage with potential clients online. A comprehensive lead generation strategy will encompass strategies in SEO, Paid Media, Social Media Advertising and Video to increase awareness and engagement and direct customers to your website to ultimately convert into new customers.
Ultimately, a business cannot survive long-term without a consistent stream of new customers and/or clients. Without an effective sales strategy in place, this simply isn’t possible.
