 Regardless of your industry, one thing makes the business world go round: SALES.
If you don’t have a sales team that sizzles, you’ll struggle mightily. Poorly managed sales staff and a lack of a systematized sales process are among the biggest problems I see business owners struggle with. The solution is to implement a sales management system. Here are five pointers on how to set it up. 1. Develop Key Performance Indicators for Your Sales Team: First things first, you need to know what specific numbers your sales team needs to hit in order make your business thrive. You need to base these numbers on actual, past results, so that you’re not creating goals that are either so high that they’re unattainable, or so low that they don’t stretch anyone. 2. Tie Employee Compensation to Performance: When your staff has a vested, financial interest in their results, their output will soar. Some business owners shy away from this but I’ve found that almost nothing you do will prove more powerful in terms of increased effort and productivity. 3. Create an Environment Where Your Sales Staff Can Thrive as Individuals. One of the best things you can do is have everyone create a “Vision Book” that outlines in specific detail what he or she is really working for. I have a FREE Vision Book template I’d be happy to send you; (simply e-mail me at [email protected] and I'll get it to you.) Make sure the work environment is positive but includes some friendly competition. Create contests with fantastic incentives. Give generous bonuses when people meet and exceed their sales objectives. Make working for you a rewarding experience—and you will be rewarded handsomely. 4. Provide Your Staff the Resources They Need. Make sure your sales team has everything they need to be successful. This includes Customer Relationship Management technology that makes it easy for them to track and manage all their accounts, solid scripting, high quality leads, and ongoing training to help them hone their skills and improve their results. 5. Hold Sales Staff Accountable for Their Performance. More than any other department, you need to keep your eye on the sales team to make sure they’re meeting their objectives. Review their numbers weekly. Coach them as necessary to help them improve. Next post: Manage Your Time (Excerpted from my eBook 6 Keys to Rapid Business Growth. Click the title for a free copy.)
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 Let me share two simple keys to creating and implementing an effective marketing program: Measure effectiveness and focus on results.
First, establish a system for measuring marketing effectiveness. Every ad, blog post, postcard or letter should ask your prospect to do something as a direct result of seeing or hearing your message. This allows you to track the precise result you get. Once you know which ads are effective, you have the information you need to save (and make!) a lot of money. Simply use those pieces that bring in leads and disregard those that don’t. Second, use results to focus on high-impact, low-cost marketing tactics. Here are five of my favorites: 1. Ask for referrals: If you're like most business owners, anywhere from 50%-80% of your new customers come from referrals and word-of-mouth. And yet, many companies have NO formal, incentivized referral system in place. 2. Create a rewards program: Reward customers for buying frequently. Create a membership or rewards program that helps your customers feel more involved and encourages them to come back more often. 3. Understand why people leave: Take great care to track your customers so that you can become aware when they’ve stopped coming back. If possible, speak directly with them and ask what you could have done to retain their business. This information will be invaluable as you make systematic improvements to increase retention over time. 4. Invite inactive customers back: Remember: you can't get what you don't ask for. Send periodic invitations and special offers to customers who haven't been in for a while. You'll be amazed at how much more responsive a list of former customers is than a cold list. 5. Send an email newsletter: If you want to maintain a relationship with your customers, even when they don't have an immediate need for your products and services, you need to communicate with them. One of the best ways to do this is through email newsletters. Send them interesting, informative articles they can use in their daily lives. If you don't have time to create a newsletter, check out Elance.com or Guru.com and search for copywriters and content writers. You can usually find affordable providers who will take on the burden of your newsletters so you don't have to. Next post: Implement a Sales Management System (Excerpted from my eBook 6 Keys to Rapid Business Growth. Click the title for a free copy.)  When discussing the key to growing their business, 90% of owners say the same thing: “We need to spend more time and money marketing our products and services.” My opinion? Hogwash. Now don't get me wrong. Marketing is important. In fact, I love marketing! I've developed many successful marketing programs in a variety of industries. But here's the simple truth; trying to grow your business by pouring more time and money into marketing that is already ho-hum is like a boxer who steps into the ring leading with his chin: You're gonna get knocked out in the first round! Some will say, “In order to get new customers I need leads. And in order to get leads, I have to advertise, or at least do something!” Perhaps, but in a majority of cases, the solution isn't doing more—it’s doing a better job. And to do that, you need a strategic marketing plan. Before I get into the nuts and bolts of improved marketing, let me introduce a simple diagram I call The Profit Equation. It demonstrates how small, incremental improvements in a few critical areas actually lead to dramatic growth in business over time.  By achieving a mere 10% improvement in each of the areas above, you’ll reap amazing results. And note that most of the improvements are marketing-related:
So how do you do it? I’m glad you asked. My next post will address how to create and implement a strategic marketing program. (Excerpted from my eBook 6 Keys to Rapid Business Growth. Click the title for a free copy.) |
AuthorDwight Grant is a seasoned businessman with over 30 years of leadership experience. He lives in CO where he enjoys whitewater rafting, mountain biking and spending time with family. Archives
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