Sales bring in the money that enables your business to survive and grow - they are vital elements of marketing. The right sales strategy and effective selling techniques can make the difference between a business that gets by and one that thrives.
Your sales strategy will be driven by your sales objectives. Whatever these are, they are likely to focus your efforts on the products and customers that offer the highest margins and the greatest potential to increase sales.
A typical objective might be to sell more of a particular product to a group of customers. Another could be building sales quickly after a product launch. Your strategy will describe how you are going to achieve these objectives.
As with any marketing, a successful sales strategy depends on understanding your customers. You need to know who they are and what they want. You also need to understand when, where and how they buy. This allows you to identify the best sales channels and sales techniques to use.
Unless you sell exclusively through mail order or online, your sales strategy is likely to rely on your sales force. It's vital to recruit the right salespeople and manage them effectively.
You'll need to ensure your sales team has the skills it needs to generate leads and negotiate sales. As a minimum, employees are likely to need sales advice to ensure they understand the strategy and how to approach customers. More formal sales training can pay dividends, and effective use of technology and other sales tools can significantly boost efficiency.
You can identify sales expectations and key activities for the months ahead in a detailed sales plan. A sales plan like this helps you to tie sales and marketing activities together: for example, with both sales and promotional campaigns to support a new product launch. Sales budgets can be used to both forecast cashflow and track sales performance, helping you to motivate and reward successful salespeople.