Monthly Archives: May 2020

Turning on your sales might not be as easy as you think…

I think it is safe to say that we have all spent some time at home recently. Some people have been working from their home office, others were furloughed and might now be coming back to work. The government has been promoting their lockdown exit plan which is designed to move the economy forward and get us back to work where possible; this means different things to different people but in my world, it means that we all have to get back to selling.

The Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist, Tiffani Bove rightly said that, ‘How you sell matters, what you process matters. But how your customers feel when they engage with you matters most’. This means that sales are difficult to just turn on because timing matters and makes the difference between failure and success. To engage with your target markets properly, you need to consider your approach, choose your messages, and build a campaign strategy, not to mention discussing this with your sales and marketing teams, providing training, updating your website, and creating marketing materials; the list goes on and on…

In other words, like most things, if you want to achieve success, your sales launch will need to be considered and planned and this will take time. The last thing you want is to come to a point where you find some great opportunities in the emerging market place but you are unable to go after them properly because you don’t have the right plan in place; especially as at the moment, many of us are time rich and cash poor.

What can you do to make this happen? Well, because we are a very helpful company, we decided to develop a new service designed to support your sales kickstart. You can read more about it here then give us a call to arrange your free target market workshop to kickstart your sales strategy.

Why is business development the next thing to look at?

Clear or not in terms of details, the Government’s new message is opening the possibility for more businesses to get back to work.  As the economy starts to move, you are likely to start considering your sales revenue again. A famous quote from the writer H. Jackson Brown JR said, ‘There is nothing more expensive than missed opportunities.’  Whilst it looks like business development and sales opportunities are hard to come by at the moment, sooner or later you will need to find ways of growing your pipeline again.

You might think that, whilst this is true, now is not the time to consider business development or sales as currently you are not even sure how you will get your staff back to the office. This is very true, but I am afraid that you might need to consider multi-tasking.  This is because turning your sales on in one swift move might prove challenging for a number of reasons:

  • Many new projects and pipeline opportunities might not be relevant or still on hold
  • Many of your existing clients might not be in a position to spend as much or at all
  • Your key product might not be relevant anymore and you will need to consider promoting other products
  • New business sales take longer to develop and require a period of nurturing and relationship building

Another problem you might find, particularly if you come to rely more on new business development, is that your sales staff can take time to get used to the new way of working especially if they have been furloughed for a few months. You may also need to consider a new sales process, sales collateral and marketing message.

In other words, like most things, if you want to achieve success, your sales launch will need to be considered and planned and this will take time. The last thing you want is to come to a point where you find some great opportunities in the emerging market place but you are unable to go after them properly because you don’t have the right plan in place; especially as at the moment, many of us are time rich and cash poor.

What can you do to make this happen? Well, because we are a very helpful company, we decided to develop a new service designed to support your sales kickstart. You can read more about it here then give us a call to arrange your free target market workshop to kickstart your sales strategy.