It’s rare that I discuss politics in public… I am not a politician and have no desire to be!
It would be remiss of me to ignore the impact of Brexit, Covid 19, European Wars and recently, the cost-of-living crisis and looming mini recession on business health. Businesses are concerned more than ever about the impact of these events on future sales in their business. Especially on how to optimise sales funnels.
I thought for this Sales Blog, I would collate some of the best questions I have been asked on how to optimise sales. And, I have answered them with my recommendations for this moment in time. Questions you are probably thinking about yourself on ways to optimise sales in this current economic storm.
Because let’s be honest… who knows what’s going to happen next? Further supply shortages? A full-on recession? If we don’t focus on optimising the sales function in our businesses now… turnover and profits and ultimately cash could erode in 2023.
Q. What 1 thing should I be doing in Sales to ensure I hit my targets?
Make sure you are diligently following up on all your quality leads and ongoing opportunities, focusing on sales conversions. For each opportunity ask yourself, “what do I need to move this to the next stage of my sales process?”.
Work hard, but don’t be distracted by spending too much time on “non-sales” activities. Instead, focus mainly on sales generating activities, structure your time effectively on converting existing and finding new sales opportunities. I wrote a blog about being a busy sales fool, it may be useful – read it here.
Q. I am stuck at the proposal phase of my sales process, how do I get them to commit to buy when there is so much uncertainty about?
Get your sales process working for you at all the stages! This is a great way of how to optimise sales funnels in this economy. But this particular question is all about the back end of the sales process, these are three ways to deal with slow decision making at the last hurdle. If you’re looking for strategies to close more sales click here.
1. Make it Easy for them– Take away any obstacles, things they need to do to progress. Examples could be:
- Say you will talk to the decision maker/ relevant people to support them progress
- Fill in the forms for them etc.
2. Squeeze – What can you do to speed things up and create an urgency? Examples could be:
- Running out of delivery times/engineers to hit their timeframe
- Price going up .. keep the price for a limited time – also relevant!
- Availability of equipment/supplies – which is true at present!
3. Flush & Nurture – recognise they are going nowhere at the moment, stop wasting your time on them and focus on more probable opportunities.
- Add them to a nurture campaign , like a newsletter & see if they are or when they start engaging with it.
- Send them stuff randomly that you think they might find useful.
- Create a task in your CRM to follow up in the future
Q. Should I increase my prices?
If you have incurred price increases in your supply chain and can honestly justify a price increase, then you should. Your customers don’t want to be part of your demise!
Q. Where can I cut my sales & marketing costs and continue to generate a good number of quality leads?
How to optimise sales in this economy, if the number of your quality leads that are coming into your business are decreasing? You should Increase your sales and marketing activities and only spend where you are being successful.
1. Measure & test – Optimise your sales & marketing activities in your sales process by measuring the outcomes and adjusting accordingly. For instance:
- Sales: Would a teams call be as effective rather than a visit? If you are qualifying a new lead or having a meeting with someone you have a good relationship with then teams call will do. If you are having a discovery meeting, or you want to build a relationship with someone then a face-to-face meeting is important.
- Marketing: Should I keep adverting for leads? This is a good time to take a good look and challenge the performance of your lead generation
2. Focus on getting in front of your target market delivering value and support during these difficult times. By doing this, you will be in a perfect position to offer solutions if this is right for them.
If your worried about sales in your business or want to how to optimise your sales funnels in this economy or sales & marketing strategies in general – please reach out and get in touch.
