Map Your Way to Sales Growth

 

The same is true in building your business. In all likelihood, you have clearly defined growth and production targets pointing to where you want to be at the end of the quarter or the end of the year. How are you doing? Are you lagging behind? Do you know why you are lagging behind and what to do about it? The first step to improving your situation and increasing sales is to take a long hard look at where you are right now, and try to understand how you got there. Once you have a good handle on this information, you can easily create a map to help you arrive at your preferred destination.

Here are six helpful questions to help you build your Map to Sales Success. As you study these questions, write down your answers so that you can make well-informed decisions to obtain positive sales results. This will help you visualize what your company has already accomplished and may reveal what techniques you need to implement for higher sales results.

1. What actions have you taken thus far to properly market your business?

Make a list of all forms of marketing that your company uses. Is the list lacking in some areas? Are there markets your company is not reaching?

2. Where do the majority of your leads originate?

Leads are potential customers who might visit a website or store location. Think about which of your websites, flyers, mailers, or blast e-mails are attracting the most potential customers to your business. Do you track the source of these leads? Doing so will help you see the most effective ways to maximize your advertising budget to increase sales.

3. Where do your actual sales come from?

Not all leads produce sales. One website may attract 1000 visitors but have no actual sales. Only 100 people might view another website, with 30 people deciding to buy. If this is the case, understanding where your sales originate helps your company more effectively allocate advertising resources.

4. What is the number of leads you receive on a weekly basis?

It is critical for business owners to know the number of leads their business receives because sales do not always accurately reflect the number of leads a business has. If your sales are low, do not assume that you are not receiving leads. Rather, you need to understand why the leads are not staying with your company to buy. If business owners understand how many leads they have, they will not waste time or money ineffectively. For example, do not spend money trying to attract potential customers to a website or online store that looks unprofessional or is not user-friendly. Instead, spend the money making the website easy to use and professional-looking; then, those potential customers who come to your website will stay to buy.

5. What is the weekly conversion rate on your leads?

Weekly conversion rate calculates how many of your leads turn into actual paying customers. Understanding this ratio gives you insight into how effective your company is in persuading customers to buy. It can also show where your company is lacking in converting leads to buyers. Look at your numbers. Do you have 1 sale for every 20 leads, or only 1 sale out of 1,000? Strategize on how you can do a better job of converting current leads into customers.

6. Do you have a measurable marketing goal?

The obvious goal is increased sales. Does your company have a realistic strategy for achieving this goal? What steps have you taken to reach it?

Think about your business goals. Are you striving for more leads? Do you have plenty of leads but are aiming to close more sales? Are you trying to turn current customers into repeat buyers? Writing specific goals helps you to devise clear, efficient strategies for exceeding your target sales.

Once you have answered these questions, you can stick a big arrow on your business plan that says WE ARE HERE, here is how we got there, and here is what we need to do next to reach our ultimate goals. Now that you have your map, the trip to sales success will be much smoother and more exciting.

 

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October Sales Quick Tip of the Month – The 80-20 Rule of Sales Success

There seems to be an 80-20 rule to cover just about every important relationship process in life. For sales, the rule goes like this: 80% of your customers generate 20% of your profits, and 20% of your customers generate 80% of your profits. What does this tell you about where you should be investing your time and energy? Too often, marketing and sales plans focus on casting a wide net in order to draw in an every increasing number of prospects. There is nothing wrong with that. But in the meantime, your key to long-term growth may really be in cultivating stronger and deeper relationships with your most profitable existing customers. Companies are recognizing the value of developing strategic partnerships with these accounts, exploring ways to deliver new products and services to them that will grow the bottom line of both companies. If you are looking for ways to build your business, this may be the place to focus. People who are already spending money with you are much more likely to spend more money with you than a new account you have to develop from scratch.