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Sales are the backbone of a company and are a significant revenue driver! Its functions revolve around reaching a customer and convincing them to purchase your product! The power these days are in the hands of prospects who always research the company before making any purchases.
The prospect or a customer, first analyzes the company, its products, and its authenticity before making a purchase decision.
However, oftentimes, sales reps are faced with challenges that can hamper their success with poor lead conversions. Sales reps around the world have one lingering question at the end of every week, month, or quarter – Did I achieve my sales target? But for them to achieve their goals and celebrate their wins, sales reps must overcome challenges that negatively impact their sales results!
When faced with a challenge, look for a way, not a way out – David Weatherford
Sales are considered to be 80% execution and only 20% strategy! Therefore, sales reps should be equipped with skills, technology, tools, and resources for the smooth implementation of well-thought sales strategies!
Some of the most common challenges and solutions to tackle them are as below:
The first step to sales is establishing your business plan, market potential, revenue goal, and ensuring that they’re real! Once these boxes have been ticked, you can move on to assessing your sales team and their capabilities, which will, in turn, help you evaluate your sales goals and train your team to achieve them accordingly.
Solution: The Harvard business review quoted, “When 10%–20% of salespeople miss goals, the problem might be the salespeople. But when most salespeople miss, the problem is their goals.”
Align your goals with your existing resources – human resources, financial resources, available tools, and tech stacks.
“Sales goals, when implemented, can help increase revenue by 25% every year.”
Marketing and sales teams in an organization function independently and are yet interrelated in activities that help contribute to a company’s success and revenue. When the two major revenue drivers of a company merge with their actions, they can drive better results and execute a highly efficient execution strategy.
While marketing focuses on building brand awareness and generating a steady lead flow, the sales team focuses on building trust and gaining customer loyalty. Thus, a collaborative effort between the two is of utmost importance.
Solution: Matt Gorniak, the senior vice president at Salesforce, says, “I do believe the modern sales leader has to be a marketer.”
Embrace Social Media and use it as a powerful tool to engage and influence potential customers.
“Generate 208% more revenue by aligning marketing and sales.”
Businesses often stick to traditional methods of researching their audience and fail to understand the importance of going the extra mile. With information present everywhere on the internet, businesses must make an effort to learn about their customers from reliable sources. One such source that can guide enterprises to research their target audiences is reputable B2B data providers.
They connect you with your target audience and give you a marketing list of high-value contacts. It would provide businesses with a bird-eye view of their various customer segments. Sticking to traditional research methods might prove futile, so companies must be open to exploring new research methods!
Solution: According to Bill Gates, “Your most unhappy customers are the greatest source of learning.”
Utilize facebook audience insights to understand audience preferences of over 2.2 billion active users per month.
“Address specific business issues that your product solves through personalized marketing and experience a 48% increase in sales.”
There are various methods that businesses adopt to generate leads and often have lead targets that they achieve daily, weekly, monthly, bi-annually, or annually. Lead generation requires an extensive process and an efficient sales team’s efforts, but the process after lead management is just as essential and rather vital in converting the generated pool of prospects. The ability to move prospects along the sales funnel begins with efficient lead.
Solution: The ex- CMO of webex, Rick Faulk, says, “You can’t make a sale without a qualified lead.”
Develop a consistent sales process with better follow-ups without wasting time on data entry by deploying a CRM system and ensuring accuracy and maintaining healthy relationships between a business and its consumer.
“Businesses with an efficient lead management system can witness a hike of 10% or more in revenue within just 6-9 months.”
Lead nurturing enables businesses to educate, inform and build trust with their audience as they move from the top of the buyers’ funnel to the bottom of the sales funnel, where they’re prepared to make a purchase. Businesses need to create and maintain relationships with prospects and customers and be present on channels where your audience mostly engages.
Nurturing your leads is much more important than generating an excessive lead flow. Without nurturing, your leads could become cold and leak out of the sales funnel, which can impact sales by losing potential revenue-generating opportunities.
Solution: “80% of bad leads in B2B go on to make purchases within the next two years”, says SiriusDecisions
Get inputs from customer support teams and utilize those insights and customer queries to refine campaigns and personalize communication for increased customer engagement.
“Companies generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower costs when they excel at lead nurturing.”
If you hadn’t already, now you have! Reach out to our executives and refine your sales strategy with expert advisors and industry professionals today!
Rejection can be emotionally and psychologically tough on Sales reps and demotivate them from pursuing other sales opportunities. Most sales reps should focus on developing resilience to rejection and bounce back from it quickly to analyze how rejection can help them redirect and develop more skills.
When a customer says no, he means no, for now, not no forever, so ask if you can check back for later! In that gap between their first no and your next customer engagement, curate relevant rotation of content that strikes a balance between non-promotional content and one that genuinely highlights your company’s credibility and experience!
Solution: ‘No’ is not rejection; it is redirection!
Follow-ups are crucial for a ‘No’ to turn into a big ‘Yes.’ Continue to follow-up and remember that most sales do not convert on the first meeting! Re-evaluate and refine frequently, but most importantly, understand that rejection is part of the game.
“80% of non-standard sales take 5 follow-ups to close!”
Communication is considered to be the heart of sales and plays a vital role in sales management. Effective communication is a critical skill that Sales reps must pick up and should frequently assess their sales skills. Being an impressive speaker does not guarantee success. Being able to listen and cater to your pitches to resolve your audience’s pain points can prove to be effective in closing deals.
Learn to see eye-to-eye with your prospect and first focus on establishing honest communication, which plays a vital role in future sales. Being in sales is synonymous with adapting to ever-changing trends and upskilling yourself to suit current industry requirements.
Solution: “There is only one rule for being a good talker – learn to listen”, – Christopher Morley
Be respectful of your prospect’s time and prioritize adding value to their day rather than wasting their time! Ensure that the few minutes of their time are enough for you to leave an impression about your product and how your company treats prospects!
“Businesses that prioritize effective communication can improve a customer’s experience, thus driving revenue 4-8% higher than in other industries.”
Technology is advancing at a fast pace and is transforming businesses and industries worldwide. Sales rep now have access to a wide array of tools ranging from data analytics tools, sales software, big data, automation tools, web content management, CRM systems, and cloud technology to drive profitability, productivity, and competitive advantage.
Technology is accessible, can be made interactive, and is effective in today’s market space, and can prove to be a boon for businesses with advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, paving the way for successful sales going forward!
Solution: “What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want to be done.” – Tim O’Reilly
Embrace social media platforms and mobile technology in sales to establish an online presence to stay connected to prospects and customers continually.
“55% of consumers purchase within an hour of browsing online.”
Sales is undoubtedly a challenging field, but with the right guidance, solution, and sales techniques, one can excel and even exceed sales targets. Sale is a field that continuously pushes you to evolve, learn, and adapt to changing circumstances.
It is also one of the most rewarding experiences as you directly engage with people and build a relationship with your customers! While working on your weak points and upskilling yourself, it’s also essential to acknowledge small wins and celebrate significant achievements. Keep yourself driven, and the rest will evolve with you.
Happy sales to you!
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