A Sales Strategy is comprehensive and uses a methodological approach to make sure you get your products and services in front of the people who need them. It becomes your operating plan for your sales organization. These posts can aid you.
Nearly every sales leader dreams of raising the bar. Being the one everyone else chases. Surpassing the records.
But only a few – the elite – actually do it.
Researchers recently looked at what separates the best sales leaders from the rest. Here’s what was revealed in the 2019 World-Class Sales Practices Study from CSO Insights, the research division of Miller Heiman Group.
Mention sales productivity and nearly everyone in sales has the same thought: Let’s increase it!
But that’s clearly a struggle: Nearly half of sales executives say boosting sales productivity is a top challenge, according to ongoing research from The Bridge Group. Sales pros constantly want to maximize sales results while keeping tabs on cost, time and effort.
The challenge is real. Consider all the things that can – and do – get in the way of salespeople actually selling:
There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. – Oscar Wilde
Same goes for sales.
Salespeople want buzz around them, their products, service and company.
Customer testimonials are one of the most effective tools to create buzz. Two out of three organizations use testimonials and referrals in their strategies to attract and impress customers, according to the Koyne State of Customer Marketing Benchmark Report.
Stories and honest words from your customers can turn more prospects into buyers.
Money talks. But all that talk won’t buy you a motivated sales team.
Motivation runs deeper than numbers.
Sales leaders need ways to ignite salespeople’s inner desires to win, have fun, do better and be praised.
Salespeople like money, so you must compensate fairly, with understandable structure and predictable frequency. Beyond money, use frequently changing, motivational tactics tailored to salespeople.
These 21 ideas will deliver
You know you’re better than the competition.
So what’s the most effective way to help prospects and customers see that, too?
A solid value proposition.
Your value proposition is often the first thing prospects see or hear that differentiates you from the competition. It should also be the one consistent message throughout the buying journey that propels prospects to loyal customers.
I’ve got your back! That makes for great relationships.
And the sooner you can establish the I-got-your-back kind of trust with prospects, the more likely you’ll close the deal.
So how can you prove to prospects you truly have their back when all the other providers who claim the same?
Smart sales professionals are in prime position to offer personalized pricing. But how do you know when personalized pricing is the smart move?
With personalized pricing, you can take a detailed look at their customers – everything you know about needs, revenue, demands, behaviors and influencers. Then use that information to offer at a price you think will close the deal, benefiting customers and you.
Effective pricing gives loyal customers better deals than customers with no history or relation to the salesperson or company. Plus, you can change terms when needs, demands and the industry shifts.
Companies agree there’s value in personalized pricing: Nearly one-third say there are maximizing opportunities in personalized pricing, a study in Retail Systems Research found.
Cold calling is useless. Social selling is the only way. The more leads, the better. Buyers know everything.
Hogwash!
Chalk those claims up to some of worst myths in sales.
They may seem true at times – especially when no one answers your cold calls or buyers say they’ve already researched you.
But research and experience prove the biggest and most believable sales myths wrong.
Here are 12 myths and the research that debunks them:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has changed nearly everything – and Sales is no exception.
It affects how customers buy – and how salespeople need to sell.
AI fuels buying choices we make every day – from the shows we watch and the routes our driver takes to the next item we order online.
Recommendation, location and association algorithms are our behind-the-scene buying influencers – and they make AI creepy and cool: Creepy that our devices know and connect so much about us. Cool that what it does is actually helpful.
“The power of selling is moving away from the individual and toward the machine – machines that can now prospect, follow up, present, and propose without human intervention,” says Victor Antonio, author of Sales Ex Machina: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the World of Selling. “In some cases, the machine will obliterate sales functions, while in others it will dramatically shift the locus of the focus further into the sales cycle.”
As with any industry evolution, some changes are good. Some will have a negative impact.
Here are 16 ways AI is changing sales – and how you can adapt with it.
You can – and probably do – grab new leads every day.
But do those leads really want what you have?
Without a demand generation plan, they may never realize they do. With an effective demand gen plan, they’ll pay attention, engage with you and – if you get it all right – become a customer.
A demand generation plan should be the perfect marriage (or as perfect as any marriage can be) between the marketing and sales funnels. Ideally, it’s a long marriage – bridging everything from the first interaction with prospects to the point a qualified lead becomes a customer.
Here are four components of a demand generation plan and in-depth tips and tools on making them effective.
