The very reason for starting a business is to sell a product or service. The astonishing thing, however, is that most businesses tend to put their focus on product development and marketing strategies, neglecting the need to adopt a sales strategy. While these two are important to ensure you have products to sell and people are aware of your business, you stand to lose out in making good profits if you lack a sales strategy.
Ideally, a good sales strategy spells out the tactics you will employ to acquire new customers, sell more products and services, and strengthen the relationship with existing customers. All three are critical if you are to increase your profits that will take your business to the next level.
With that in mind, here are 5 reasons why it matters to have a sales strategy in place for your business.
1. It Helps In Bringing In Sales
Money is the lifeblood of any business. Without it, you will have no growth to record, which can lead to the death of your business. We all know that the number one source of money for a business is through selling its offering in the market. This is to say that without sales, there will be no customers, no cash flow, no growth, and eventually no business.
That is why your number one goal should be to increase sales and hence profits. Unfortunately, you can’t tell where to start selling your products without a sales strategy. A sales strategy can be compared to a road map that gives you direction on where to start, which markets to target, and how to convert leads to actual sales.
2. It Helps In Identifying the Skills That You Need
A sales strategy clearly defines your sales goals. That is how much sales you need to make in a particular period and from a particular market. In addition, it defines the actions that you are going to take to achieve those goals. Of course, you will need a sales team to help you achieve these goals.
The good thing is that you can clearly tell which skills, experience, and personalities you will need for your team currently and in the future when you have clearly defined what you expect of the team. Furthermore, it’s also important to note that you need to question how they will be contributing to workplace diversity and culture, both very important for a versatile and productive workforce in general.
3. It Helps In International Expansion
The advancement in technology has done well in eliminating geographical barriers for businesses. Today, the world is one large pool of customers for any business to leverage. If you are a business focused on growth, expanding your offering to other markets should be somewhere in the cards.
However, this is not to say that your product or service will be accepted worldwide. You must make deliberate efforts to identify which markets resonate with your offering. You must also define how you are going to make sales in those markets. A sales strategy lists all the potential markets with actionable solutions of how to make new customers in those markets, and sell your products.
Pro tip: If you plan to sell your products in Germany, for instance, consider penetrating that market through a PEO in Germany. Such an organization can help you set up business compliantly in that country with or without a legal entity. It will also help you recruit your sales team and take care of all your HR needs.
4. It Helps In Handling Customers’ Needs
Customers’ needs vary depending on how far they are with a business. For instance, new customers mostly ask for knowledge about your products. They want to know how your products are used, and the features in each one of them. On the other hand, existing customers have bypassed this stage. They mostly ask for technical support or assistance with other aspects of your business such as payments and the like.
This only means that your sales team needs to adopt different approaches when dealing with customers in different stages. A sales strategy defines the ideal strategies that can be taken in all possible stages your customers are in. Without it, you will be handling customers’ needs blindly, which sets you up for failure.
5. It Gives You a Benchmark
In every strategy a business adopts, it is important to sit back and take stock. You need to be able to benchmark what you are doing against what you want to achieve. Having a sales strategy allows you to assess all the efforts that are being employed with the set goals. That way, you are able to tell if you are making progress, which strategies are working, and which ones are not. It helps readjust your strategies to achieve sales growth.
Conclusion
From the above points, you can clearly tell that you will be setting your business up for failure if you lack a good sales strategy. So, get down defining your sales goals, the customers’ journey before and after the sale, and ways to improve customer satisfaction among other aspects relevant to selling your products. In addition, include actionable solutions that will help you achieve those goals.
Featured image credit: Unsplash.com
Nancy Cambeel is a digital marketing manager at her father’s company. She designs, builds, and maintains your social media presence, so she can contribute to marketing effectiveness by identifying short-term and long-range issues that must be addressed!
