Sales Strategy for Small Business

Do you have a sales strategy?

A marketing strategy and sales strategy are not the same thing, but a sales strategy can be based on your marketing strategy. Marketing is getting your business or product name out there where a sales strategy is about how you gain that customer and seal the deal. So, let’s learn more about how a sales strategy can benefit you and your business.

Still not sure if you need a sales strategy? Not sure how a sales strategy will benefit your business? If you want profitable revenue growth, you need a great sales strategy. It will pinpoint the places you need to hone in on for specific sales goals, both long and short-term. By creating a sales strategy, you ensure you are targeting the right market and approaching the right customers. And that’s exactly what you need—the right customers to create growth!

Here are a couple of key points to remember before you start creating a sales strategy. You will want your sales strategy to be unique to each of the products or services you sell in order for it to be the most effective it can be. Also, it’s important to revise and update your sales strategy regularly. But how exactly do you create a sales strategy?

• Analyze the previous years sales, revenue, and marketing trends. Do you know where your sales and revenue came from last year? How about last year’s website traffic or online and offline leads?
• Define your sales vision for the next year. Write down where you’d like your sales and your revenue to be in a year. Dream big!
• Set your goals for the next year. Write down what roadblocks you need to break through to reach your goals and set aside a few of them to be worked on in the first quarter. Identify how you will measure your success towards these goals.
• Check out your competitors and identify what sets you apart from them. Look at how your competitors have changed their website, check out their social media pages as well as their LinkedIn profile, scour the internet looking for press releases and news articles. Also, ask some of your customers why they choose you and your business over that of your competitors.
• Review your marketing material, including your online presence (website and social media). Make sure your copyrighted material is still up to date. Make sure your online content is educational and relevant. If your website is just an online brochure, consider adding helpful, valuable content on a regular to keep your audience coming back.
• Identify any problems in your sales and marketing. If you can’t identify problems, you can change them. Figure out how to break down barriers to sales growth.
• Track and revise your strategy. Be sure to have regular meetings to track how effective your sales strategy is. Make changes as needed to increase your sales potential.

By creating your sales strategy, you’ll identify areas that need your attention and increase your sales potential. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. These changes can take a while before you start to notice their value. There is quite a bit of work to do here, but it’s worth it!

If you have questions about developing a sales strategy for your company, I can help. Email me anytime.