If your business is lacking in the sales department, or your sales are drying up, it may be time to update your sales process – before it starts costing you money.
There are lots of signs that it is time to give your sales process a tune-up: Losing former customers, failing to bring in new prospects, losing leads after your sales pitch, or stressed and overburdened sales staff are all signs that your sales process may be lacking.
Here’s how to examine your sales process to make sure you’re winning sales leads and converting prospects into satisfied clients.
Examine Then Update Your Process
Although they vary from business to business, there are a few basic steps to the sales process.
Prospecting clients, discovering their needs, providing the solution/pitch, and then closing the deal. There may be more or fewer steps depending on your business model – but this is the basic sales process.
First, think about how you’re bringing in sales leads. What marketing campaigns are you currently running? Are they reaching the right audience? Are you even using the same platforms as your target audience, or are they being won over through marketing channels you aren’t taking advantage of?
If you’re bringing in leads but failing to convert them to customers, take a look at how your sales staff is approaching interactions and representing your brand. If initial contact is fine, but you’re losing them on the pitch, you may want to ensure that sales staff are communicating your marketing messages consistently.
You can also look at current customers – see what went right in those sales and which parts of the sales process seemed to win them over so that you understand your strengths as well as points for improvement.
Have Consistent Sales Training
Don’t allow each salesperson to do things their own way just because they are experienced. You should base your sales process on the information you use in your marketing campaigns. Make sure salespeople are using consistent messaging and communicating your company’s branding when speaking with prospects. Each team member will bring their own flare to customer service, but should not put an entirely new spin on your processes or stray from what’s in line for your company.
Train your staff on how you want your sales process to go with specific, realistic goals in mind. The key is to teach it to your staff not just once, but to have frequent meetings or training where they can continue to develop their skills.
Don’t forget to take feedback from your staff so you know what is working well and what isn’t. To consistently develop your staff and allow your business to naturally expand, you have to strike that balance between implementing a strict, evidence-based sales structure, and having the flexibility necessary to move on when something isn’t working.
Tips for Optimizing Your Sales Process
You want your sales process to hit all the basic points, as it is a guideline for introductions. To make that process better, here are a few of our best practices to include in your sales process upgrade and staff training sessions.
- Teach your staff about the company’s goals. Communication goes a long way and you want your staff to be focused, well-informed, and happy to represent your brand. By developing their understanding of the big picture, they will see how they can better contribute to it.
- Make sure your branding is on point and you have a well-defined message. This should be both at the forefront of your branding efforts and on the minds of the entire team. If each staff member doesn’t quite understand what the company is trying to do, they are likely to unintentionally misrepresent the business and splinter the brand’s message. Build a strong brand, develop goals and a message, and share that with your staff, so that clients clearly know what your brand is and what you do.
- Understand your customers’ personas. Know your customers! It’s one of the most important rules of sales, and digital marketing makes it easier than ever to understand your customer base down to the finest details. Use reporting on marketing campaigns to understand who your messages are reaching, and how you can best serve them.
- Customer service is king. Your sales staff is a necessary part of the overall customer service in your business. They should work in tandem with your customer service department to answer questions and resolve any issues quickly. Even if you make a mistake, the ability to rectify it quickly and professionally will go a long way. If you don’t have enough staff to respond to questions, concerns, and issues, you may lose out on sales.
Get A Partner To Help Meet Your Sales Goals
Advanté-BCS’s proven marketing strategies help connect the most qualified leads with your business every step of the way. Whether you need to attract the attention of new leads, convert those leads to customers, or maintain your reputation as a service provider, our qualified team is ready to help along every step of the marketing journey.
Call Advanté-BCS at 804-788-0048 or get in touch online to experience the difference of a marketing partner who delivers results.
