Optimize Your Sales Processes in Seven Steps

Posted: 09/19/16

By Richard Rutigliano, PriMedia Inc.

Have you taken a close look at your sales techniques lately?

Buyers are more demanding than they used to be, and it is easier for them to scrutinize you on the Internet and explore alternatives. Sales teams need to raise their performance level to compete effectively.

Here are seven steps you can take to improve your sales processes immediately.

1. Know your objectives. Review your own objectives and paths to success to make sure you are chasing the right goals. Identify which activities are most profitable for you and what kinds of relationships do the most to feed your bottom line. Adjust your marketing and sales strategies to promote those sales that benefit you the most. Share your thinking with your team and make sure everyone is prioritizing the same objectives. 
   
   
2. Think like a customer. A difficult truth that all companies face is that buyers make their own decisions on their own terms. Review your sales and marketing techniques periodically and anticipate how your clients or customers are thinking. What questions might be on their minds? What might their priorities be? What are they really looking for? By focusing on the customer’s mindset, you can prepare your salespeople to ask effective questions and make meaningful connections.
   
   
3. Manage leads effectively. Maintain a strong online system for tracking and managing your leads, and require your salespeople to use it consistently. Share access to the lead-tracking application as needed to ensure that anyone who speaks with the would-be buyer has the customer file at their fingertips. Use the system to send alerts to the sales manager and representative to promote quick and thorough follow-through.
   
   
4. Engineer the customer experience. Work with your marketing agency to map out an ideal purchasing experience for your would-be buyers. If you are aggressively soliciting sales using pay-per-click advertising, create great ads and landing pages that work for the customer and make you look smart. Plan how the preliminary phone calls and face-to-face interactions will unfold, down to every detail.
   
   
5. Prioritize sales training and management. Invest in training so your sales team is prepared to outperform the competition. Make sure you have an excellent manager overseeing the sales operation who sets ambitious targets and tracks progress closely.
   
   
6. Create a great information repository and leverage it. Buyers have questions, and they prefer companies that provide helpful answers. Ask your agency to map out and create an online repository of information and links that exudes industry-leading expertise and knowledge. Maximize ROI by blogging about the articles, posting them in social media, and using them in your newsletters and e-blasts. Create USB flash drives and or printouts to share with prospects.
   
   
7. Create compelling bundles. Buyers love creative marketing that makes sense. Find ways to package your products and services that support your goals while meeting the customer’s needs. Offer the most favorable pricing on the packages that drive the buyer choices that work best for your business model and bottom line.

PriMedia helps sales teams succeed with great marketing tools and strategies, including websites, online applications and LeadPro, our exclusive lead tracking software. To learn more, please give me a call at 800-796-3342 or email me at rrutigliano@primediany.com.