Today's modern sales team faces numerous and daunting challenges in a highly connected, networked business world. They’re wrestling with major changes in their markets brought on by information-empowered buyers and digitization within the sales channel. Growing competition, from established companies to tech savvy start-ups has placed even more pressure on sales margins and the effectiveness of sales teams to maintain clients or drive profitable net-new business growth.
What's your plan to drive new business growth?
With all of these forces at work, sales leaders must retool parts of the sales process around a new model, one which calls for new approaches, new positioning within the marketplace, new client experiences, and new business growth; all centered on a well-organized plan.
The reengineered sales team must be equipped to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions, digital business models and disruptive competitors. Most importantly, the team must be centered on bringing fresh ideas and new insights in a client centric manner.
What will distinguish your sales team from all the others in your marketplace?
What's your appetite to drive and accept change?
It starts with the sales team building a professional brand, socially surrounding the client base and integrating social prospecting methods. They must be able to leverage client networks in a way that helps them grow their business.
IT STARTS WITH INFORMATION
Sales teams have an unparalleled amount of information available to them, to the point where information in itself is no longer a competitive advantage. The competitive advantage is in plain sight and it's the sales team.
What gives your team a competitive edge? It's the insight into how to use all of this information to help solve business problems and challenges.
Trust, value and relationships... the new sales currency inside your sales team. It is how your team sells it and how they offer it that will set them apart.
What's your game plan?
The head coach of any major sports team has a game plan. What's yours?
5 KEY INGREDIENTS TO FUEL SALES GROWTH
NET NEW BUSINESS
Sales reps can actually increase sales by focusing less on acquiring new clients and more on their current clients? Call me crazy but this actually can work. Most sales teams fail to capitalize on the huge crowd of people which have already decided to become clients.
To increase net new sales, have your sales reps concern themselves with reducing the number of their current clients lost by providing to them an outstanding experience. In turn, and with mutual agreement, they get their clients to edify their work by introducing them into their networks. This opens up new relationships, new conversations and new sales opportunities.
New business growth fuels company profits!
GO WIDER AND DEEPER IN CURRENT ACCOUNTS
Often overlooked and one of the best sources of sales growth - retaining and growing the existing client base. It’s less expensive and more effective to retain current clients than it is to acquire new ones. Encourage sales reps to build multiple relationships with more than just the decision maker. Think influencers, end users, key department managers; cross pollinating relationships is mission critical.
When sales reps have built a genuine, authentic relationship with numerous individuals within their current account base, the opportunity for loyalty increases. The only way to guarantee a loyal client base is to create unbreakable bonds wider and deeper in these accounts.
Learn how your sales team can integrate social to grow net-new revenue by clicking on the graphic below...
Here are a few ideas:
- Set specific client expectations
- Become their expert and continue to bring insight
- Build trust through each and everyone one of the relationships
- Nurture the relationships online as well
- Listen - go above and beyond, don't break a promise
PROTECT CURRENT ACCOUNT BASE
Protecting the base means strengthening personal relationships and social relationships with current clients. Gone are the days of a single decision maker. Sales reps must interface with multiple buyers, influencers and end users inside the client base!
Sales reps who fail to build strong ties may see important deals collapse. Conversely, when sales reps socially surround multiple people in each account they create a network of hundreds of potential referral sources.
Make client obsession part of the culture. It is about building rock-solid relationships. Always look for potential blind spots within your current accounts.
TARGET THE HIGHEST VALUE ACCOUNTS TO MAXIMIZE PROFIT
High-value prospects offer the potential to generate growing and consistent revenue within in your organization.
If you want to grow sales revenues and maximize profits then you need to take the time to plan, update and retool sales tactics. Work strategically to implement a well targeted, buyer-centric account growth plan.
Be precision-like in proactively developing credible relationships with these high-valued prospects. Not only are these prospects 'big fish' they're attainable 'big fish'. With these targets in mind start reeling them in with a strategically designed prospecting plan.
LEVERAGE SOCIAL TOOLS
Fuel new business growth by integrating social into the sales process. Your clients use social, your competitors use social, quite frankly; social has become deeply woven into our everyday way of life.
The core elements of integrating social into the sales process can be accomplished by:
- Building a personal brand - establish credibility and help create visibility within the marketplace
- Listen and research - understand what your clients and prospects are talking about... What's important? What's top of mind?
- Engage in conversations - join and start conversations moving them from online to offline
Crushing new business targets means integrating social tools into prospecting while building better relationships to enhance client relationships
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
In the book, To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink, he writes about how we’ve gone from a "buyer beware" culture to a "seller beware" culture. There’s so much information available to customers today via the internet that customers are often well versed in their options and interests before the salesperson even enters the scene.
It's incumbent upon sales leaders that their sales reps must understand the client's world. They must add value, not to just show up, throw up and educate them on a product or solution.
Blending all of these growth ingredients is far more than just a few tweaks to the same old processes. It's a systematic, strategic transformation which hinges on embracing change throughout the entire sales team. In today’s crazy busy networked business world, a net-new mindset and sales approach is crucial for competing and winning in the marketplace.
I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way!
I'm writing a book. The title is Selling From the Heart! I'm pouring my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it.Enter your email address here in this hyperlink and you'll be updated as the book is released. You'll also become part of our launch team. As a thank you, I'll have some special bonuses waiting for you!
In 2016, I was recognized by ENX Magazine as, “The Difference Maker,” as someone who is making a difference inside the B2B office technology sector. I am passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image.
You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
Brent and I spoke for a few minutes last week and we reminisced about Charles and the awesome support he provided. I asked Brent if the current dealer reps go through a training program for all of the products that Carolina Wholesale provides. Brent stated that yes, and that’s something 
