How do you sell?
I mean what approach do you take, in fact what approach is right for you and your business?
There are many versions of selling, high value, low value, new business acquisition, account management, in person, over the phone, via email, online, automated, and the list goes on, but which is the most effective way or combination of ways for your business, product of service?
Let me highlight a word I used there “Effective” I didn’t say efficient, and I didn’t mean cost effective either, I mean which is the method that brings in the highest amount of sales at your asking price (or close to it), I am not just talking about the highest number of orders I am asking what method brings in the most amount of money. Remember that in accounting sales is just another word for revenue.
Managing your operations to maximise profit is a whole other kettle of fish and yes it is linked to the price at which you sell, but once you know that price you need to know how do you bring in the most sales at that price?
Actually, let’s take a step back, to clarify what I mean, I am talking Sales not Marketing, my definition of Marketing is anything that attracts a potential customer to interact with you, once they are interacting with you, you have moved into your sales process, this just makes it easier to find any bottle necks or areas for improvement. For me, this is just a way to make it easier to separate the two when you are seeking improvement in your revenue streams.
How much do you really know about why people buy from you, really know, not guess or assume, how much research have you done into how people make decisions when purchasing from you and what you can do to influence this?
It often surprises me how little a business focuses on the one area that is critical to revenue, sales. Your business is there to make money and the only way you make money is by selling what you do, this then is surely a critical area that deserves a lot of thought and consideration.
As a rule, if a business has been trading for over 18 months it has usually proved it is at least good at what it does, so if that’s you then you are already good at what you do, this is a kicker though, so is every single one of your competitors, so if you want to outperform them you need to out sell them.
Understanding how people buy, and why they don’t is a big part of being able to maximise your sales, and yet the sad fact is that 90% of the businesses I speak with are spending 10 times more effort, money and time trying to be a little better at what they do (which they are already good at) and none at all trying to be better at selling more of what they do.
That doesn’t seem the right ratio to me.
If you want to talk about your sales get in touch.
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