Booming business growth and financial success go hand in hand with making more sales.
When it comes to increasing a business’s sales, for most products and services being offered, less is more.
Back To Basics
If a company is looking at expanding its sales, it could come down to something as simple as understanding the basics of the business and working from there.
By implementing straightforward strategies, sales become uncomplicated and easy to achieve and master. Applying a simple but effective sales strategy that works well will allow you to streamline and increase sales over time.
The Power of Networking
Firstly let’s unpack where a business can successfully gain prospective clients for sales.
This will depend on the type of business and the resources, connections and tools at its disposal.
Networking is of utmost importance, and when done right, it holds an uncapped amount of potential.
Networking is an invaluable skill that all individuals in business can master skillfully. Opening doors to more connections and opportunities, this increases sales successfully through establishing new leads and landing new clients.
Local Connections
Some local tried and tested examples of great networking channels to make connections are BNI, Friday Club and Chamber of Commerce.
These connections open you and your business up to new opportunities for career development, guidance and mentorship.
The value of networking groups like these comes in with the power of making connections that last and lead to other contacts. The opportunity of having access to other successful individuals and their wisdom, advice and lessons is invaluable.
Making good connections through networking is key for your future growth. Using this space as a platform to not only share your skills, knowledge and advice, you learn from others and exchange a great deal of useful information.
First Things First: Trust
The first thing that is needed when making a sale is trust.
With the customer or client trusting you, you will be able to sell any product or service to them.
Sales and Trust in Client Relationships
By understanding the client’s needs, one is better able to provide them with a product or service that meets precisely that.
Trust is formed by not only meeting their expectations but exceeding them.
This is something BaseCloud strives for and constantly upholds in all we do. It is a strategy that goes the extra mile, truly providing the customer with so much more than is expected.
Types of Sales
A Note on The Target Audience
Sales are classified accordingly depending on who the business is aiming at targeting. Sales can be conducted either business to business (B2B) or business to customer (B2C).
B2B sales are generally less emotional, and B2C are generally more emotional.
B2B Sales: “business-to-business” sales entail companies selling goods or services to another company instead of individual customers. The sales processes here are longer and more complex, resulting in more transactions.
B2C Sales: “business-to-customer” sales entail companies selling goods and services to individual consumers. An example of this is retail sales, where the processes are more straightforward, effective and direct. The sales processes here have a shorter cycle due to the streamlined customer reach and typically lower price points than B2B sales.
As touched on previously, there are distinct types of sales that can be identified. By understanding the type of transaction in question, one can better understand how to conduct business.
The types of sales in a business are:
Transaction Sales
Solution Sales
Relationship Sales
Partnership Sales
Further Categorisation of Sales
Going further than these categories, there are goods vs services sales depending on the transaction in question.
Then we also have inside vs outside sales, which are relatively self-explanatory.
A team typically conducts inside sales within an office space, while outside sales are conducted from outside the confines of an office.
Other types of sales to be identified are:
eCommerce Sales: Conducted using online stores.
Online Sales: Conducted through online channels.
Offline Sales: Conducted using offline channels such as physical stores.
Consultative Sales: Conducted as sales to meet the customer’s needs, which are understood before a product is promoted.
Telesales: Conducted by selling over the phone.
Affiliate Sales: Conducted through sales made by other people under your business, they earn a commission, and in turn, the original business gets a bit of every sale.
Outsourced Sales: Conducted through contracting outsourced third-party sellers.
Making More Sales
Sales Strategies
So how do leads come to you?
This is where a sales strategy comes in. Without a solid plan and direction, you lower the chances of an increased number of successful sales.
Sales can happen in person, online, through website submissions, referrals, and many other channels. By knowing what strategy works best for your business and product, you are able to optimise all sales processes.
When looking at how long it takes to make a sale, this will naturally differ from case to case.
Factors to consider are the type of product, target market and financial goals, as well as the number of potential touchpoints along the way.
A touch point is considered to be any given time a potential lead or customer makes contact with the business. This includes before, during and after a sale is made, being any interaction between the client and the brand.
Making A Successful Sale
Sales Tips:
Firstly, understand the client you are dealing with and work from their point of view. By understanding what truly motivates your customers to buy, you can understand where to come in with a sales pitch that will work.
Dig deep by asking genuine questions and actually listening to the client. Understand their needs or demands and work from there to create a sales strategy.
Allow yourself to showcase your abilities and use your full potential to secure the sale. Work from a position of assuming the client has already taken the deal. This will elevate your confidence and allow you to work from a point of conviction.
Sell your product or service by creating a visual story around it, allowing the client to get the full picture from the get-go. Do not worry about revealing too much too quickly; instead, establish trust by being transparent and laying out the pitch.
Create a pitch that stands out and sets you apart from your competitors. By setting your business apart, it is easier to overcome potential objections that clients might have.
Sales Tool: BaseCloud CRM
A good CRM system is a sales tool that can do it all, with all your analytics, results and insights accessible at the click of a button.
Having an automated structure to your sales funnel and pipeline is an innovative way of ensuring accurate processing and reporting of all business actions.
BaseCloud CRM software is a tool that goes the extra mile to make sales as streamlined, easy and successful as possible. Implementing CRM software for sales allows you to gain full access, control and oversight into all business workings on a daily basis. If this is something you are after to increase your sales and grow your business, get in contact with us today.
