A business does not magically grow overnight. Sales, revenue, and overall success takes time to develop. But what if you are spending time and resources on marketing and prospecting trying to grow your business and the orders simply are not coming in? How do you know where or what the problem is with your strategy? Understanding where the problem lies is the first step in modifying your strategy and increasing your sales. Rahul Varshneya, a writer for Entrepreneur, lists five reasons why your sales may be stuck in a rut. We highlight them below.
1. Not Having a Sales Process
Instituting a well-defined sales process is the first step in improving your lead conversions. Each business will have unique needs that must be considered in their sales process but there are certain steps that hold true for each type of company.
A solid sales process for any business begins with being able to identify key prospects and qualifying the leads. Qualified leads certainly have a higher probability of purchasing your product or service. Ensuring you are targeting key prospects and qualifying leads involves both Sales and Marketing working together and understanding the processes you have laid out. Make sure the process is clearly defined to both departments to make sure everyone involved understands how to move prospects through the pipeline.
2. Not Targeting the Right Customers
You may be generating engagement with your prospecting efforts, but the conversions just are not there. This may not be an issue with your sales process but with the audience you are targeting, or not targeting for that matter. Understanding the right audience to target is another key step in improving your sales.
It starts with defining a buyer persona - who needs the product or service you offer and why? You must recognize what pain points these buyers have and how your product or service benefits them by eliminating those pain points. Rather than focusing on flashy features or how great your product is, emphasize value and benefits through the elimination of their pain points.
Keep in mind, your product or service may not be for everyone. Keep track of the personas, businesses, or industries that are not interested in learning more and begin filtering them out of your target audiences so you can focus your efforts on those more likely to convert.
3. Not Providing the Requisite Training
Not every salesperson was born with a natural gift to sell. It takes training and development for salespeople to learn the ins and outs of your business and for them to be successful. Likewise, not every salesperson has experience with the sales-enhancing tools you have implemented for you team. You cannot assume each salesperson on your team knows everything about selling, even the most experienced veteran. It is important to hold training when onboarding new sales members to your team and continue that training thereafter to ensure proficiency and to increase efficiency.
In addition to ongoing sales training, your reps should be trained on the tools and techniques designed for your business and be provided information about the buyer personas you are targeting. The more information they have on the leads they are prospecting, and the more they understand about the product they are selling, the more successful they will be.
4. Not Having the Requisite Tools
It is 2020. There are bountiful sales-boosting tools and technologies available for your team. Not providing these tools can have serious consequences on your sales success. A tool, like a CRM, is an investment for your team. The more you put into the software, the higher your return. In fact, according to Finances Online, “a properly implemented CRM solution can yield an ROI of $2.50 to $5.60 for every dollar invested.”
Without having a tool like a CRM in place, your sales reps are left to manually track every note, activity, or meeting that hold. They must manage their pipelines through spreadsheets while trying to keep their sanity flipping amongst the workbooks.
A CRM creates 360 degrees of visibility into your sales pipeline, activities, prospects, and customers. The CRM software is on demand and your data is stored in the cloud, so it is accessible anywhere you have access to the internet or a mobile phone. Last but not least, a CRM can significantly streamline your sales processes through automation by automatically updating records and eliminating manual efforts from your sales team.
CRM technology is constantly evolving and there is a solution out there for your sales team, no matter the size. If you do not already use a CRM or other sales-enhancing tools, it is time to seriously consider adding one for your team.
5. Not Defining a Timeline
Create a timeline with a sense of urgency that prompts the potential customer to take an action. Even with something as simple as an upsell to the special at a restaurant, there is a sense of urgency that encourages the customer to purchase. That sense of urgency is important in the selling process as it is natural for the buyer to procrastinate and take their time making a final decision.
Think of ways to use this urgency to convert an interest in buying to an actual action. Some creative ways to spark that fire and generate sales is to offer a short-term free trial or sessions of your product. Let the prospect know, if they purchase by the end of the week, they will get a certain discount off their first month. There are plenty of ways to create this sense of urgency with the potential customer and make them feel like if they do not act soon, they might be missing out on the deal of a lifetime.
Let’s face it, generating and closing sales is challenging. Even if you are offering a superior product or service, if you do not have the right sales process, training, and tools in place you could get stuck in a sales rut.
AMPED wants to help you get out of your sales rut! AMPED is a cloud-based CRM software designed to make your sales team successful in all their prospecting and sales pursuits. See for yourself in a free trial at https://amped.ai/free-trial.