Need Revenue?
Immediate Ways for Sales leaders to grow profitable sales
Business growth has rarely been more difficult to achieve than in today's
turbulent economic climate. Last year, sales leaders were given a short-term
reprieve from growing their top line to focus on strengthening bottom line
margins. Unnecessary expenditures were eliminated, processes were streamlined,
and resources utilization was fundamentally improved. Now, sales leaders are
once again focused on growing the business from the top down.
Where companies decide to place their bets and budgets provides insight to where
they believe their best growth opportunities exist. They are finding that the
ability to grow sales is falling into seven key growth buckets.
1. Products
2. Service
3. Price
4. Communications
5. Distribution
6. Customer Relationships
7. Sales Effectiveness
Sales leaders are in the best position to impact the last three of these seven
key areas. They are the critical drivers that every sales leader will not only
effect within their organization, but will likely be held accountable for by
senior management.
Distribution - Expanding existing channels
or developing new channels are reasonable approaches to driving sales growth.
Both strategies are focused on increasing the number of customer interactions
and improving the probability of a sale. Companies count on their channel
partnerships to maximize profits, increase market penetration, and enhance
customer satisfaction. Businesses must take channel relationships to the next
level by creating mutually beneficial solutions that focus on win-win
strategies.
Customer Relationships - Increasing the
depth of existing relationships and expanding the breadth of customer
relationships can lead to additional opportunities and secure future
commitments. Marketing can support this activity via loyalty programs but the
sales organization is ultimately responsible for improving customer
relationships.
When looking for revenue opportunities, sticking close to home has its
advantages. Who better do you know than your current accounts? You know their
business issues, you know why they decided to do business with you, and you have
established relationships.
When new leads - and oftentimes resources - are scarce, the ability to drive new
revenue from existing clients can be a great way to help ensure success. Fewer
new opportunities in the marketplace means that you must uncover the full
potential from your existing client base.
Maintaining strong relationships with current accounts provides two key
benefits; you retain the existing business, and you uncover new opportunities.
This is not accomplished through just periodic check- ins or great customer
service after the sale. It requires an ongoing commitment from you to continue
to win the business. If your competitor was trying to get the client away from
you, as they increasingly are when opportunities are scarce, what would your
weaknesses be?
Sales Effectiveness - Improving the
effectiveness of the sales force can directly drive growth. Insuring that the
organization is aligned to execute on the company's strategy; making sure that
the sales force is equipped with the skills and tools to win business and
satisfy clients; and providing the sales force with the right reward and
recognition systems are clear examples of how improving selling effectiveness
can lead to profitable sales growth.
Salesperson effectiveness is becoming increasingly important to clients. It
outranks product quality and features in importance to business customers,
according to The HR Chally Group, a leading benchmarking and sales development
firm. A salesperson's ability to understand a client's business issues and craft
solutions that help the client succeed are valued and rewarded. A sales
organization must differentiate itself based on its ability to contribute to
solving a client's organizational issues.
Taking a pro-active approach and thinking ahead about your clients' future in
order to make an impact with them where and when they need it most will add
value and boost your credibility, resulting in growth for your sales
organization and for your client. Taking more time to understand the distinct
benefits of your solutions and how they address the business issues of your
clients as well as focusing on your communications with your customers to
determine whether they are still facing the same challenges will allow you to
address their current needs and to remain one step ahead of them. Never before
has the way we sell been more critical and zeroing in on the three key areas of
distribution, customer relationships, and sales effectiveness can make a
significant impact on winning the business. Sales organizations will survive and
flourish if they can be the key strategic asset their company calls upon to
achieve growth.
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