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Sales for Life

    Sales for Life is a global sales training company that can help you transform your sales process from analog to digital.
    Added on 09 March 2020

    Why it is Important to have a Sales Strategy?

    09 March 2020

    Sales strategy is a business plan developed by a business to sell its products/services to increase its profits.

    There are two types of sales strategies:

    Outbound:

    In this case, the sales teams base their sales strategy on seller actions. They monitor the sales pipeline with the help of manually entered data. The sales and marketing departments function independently.

    Inbound:

    Inbound sales strategies are buyer-based. The sales pipeline is monitored by automatically capturing buyer and seller data. Inbound selling strives to offer the customers seamless experience by aligning the sales and marketing teams.

    Before we delve into how sales strategy can be devised, let us take a look at how the buyer behavior has transformed in recent years.

    Not so long ago, buyers were totally dependent on sellers while making purchase decisions. They took decisions based on the information provided to them by sellers. But not anymore!

    The buyers of today have information available on their fingertips. They prefer to do their own research before making a purchase decision. As per CEB Global, “Before a seller contacts a buyer, he or she is 57% of the way through the sales process.”

    Where does that leave the seller?

    It is necessary, now more than ever, for sales teams to align themselves with the needs of the modern buyer and add value to the buyer beyond the information already available to the buyer. Only then will the buyer engage with the seller.


    The buyer’s process comprises three stages:


    Awareness

    The sales teams can help the buyers become aware of their potential problems or opportunities.

    Consideration

    The sales rep can help the buyer weigh different options for resolving his pain points or needs.

    Decision

    A good sales rep can help the buyer make the purchase decision.

    Selling is no longer limited to just convincing the buyer to make a purchase decision but it is more about building long-term relationships with the buyer. The seller aims at conversions and retention of customers. Therefore, he needs to win the trust of his buyers.

    How to build a sales strategy?

     

    Establish organizational goals

    Any strategy begins by establishing what you expect to achieve with the strategy.|

    Understanding your customer

    When you are strategizing your sales, you need to identify your customers. You need to find out everything about them, the size of their company, key decision-makers, their buying process, etc.

    Market specific products

    Once you have understood your target market, you need to market the products that address the pain points of your target market.

    Hire the right professionals

    You will need a strong sales team to drive sales in a highly competitive market. You can identify the criteria for the selection of your sales professionals.

    Training

    The selected sales professionals will need to be trained extensively to understand the features of your product. They need to be aware of how your product differs from that of your competitors.

    In addition to this, the sales team will also need to be trained on the best sales techniques. In fact, sales training should be an ongoing process for an organization to ensure that the sales team is up-to-date with the latest trends.

    Generating demand

    You can generate demand for your product/service by creating awareness. Some ways of creating awareness are by hosting events, webinars, etc. You can also create e-books, etc. Paid social acquisition channels are also an effective way of increasing awareness.

    Tracking the performance

    The result of any strategy can be evaluated by tracking it. You can evaluate how effective your sales strategy by establishing performance metrics and comparing these metrics. For instance, the performance can be measured in the form of quarterly KPIs, weekly reviews, etc.

    Taking corrective action

    Based on the results of the previous step, the areas that need to be focused on can be identified. The sales team can work on improving their performance in those areas.

    In Conclusion

    In a highly competitive market, a sales team needs to have a well-planned sales strategy that is focused on their target market.


    About

    Sales for Life is a Canada based training platform that caters to the needs of modern sellers. Since inception in 2004, we have been striving hard to help the sales team accelerate pipeline & revenue. More
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