6 Proven Sales Strategies to Increase Revenue

Sales play an important role in business. It is a lifeline of any running business. Without it your business will suffocate and die. Sales strategies are the process followed by various companies to increase revenue by selling their products and services among target customers. Before we go through the different strategies, let’s first understand the different types of sales that are generally seen in most of the organizations:

• B2B Sales
• B2C Sales
• Direct Sales
• Multilevel Sales
• Digital or Online Sales
• Inside & Outside Sales

The way consumers make purchasing decisions is constantly changing, so it’s important to find that perfect balance between being persuasive but not annoying. Below are some of the most effective strategies that make sure you close the deals and boost your sales.

Be a Consultant

Do you remember the time when salesman used to randomly visit our home or office to sell their products? There were only few peoples who used to purchase from them. But now the time has changed. No one likes that any person randomly comes to him and sell his product cleverly. Nobody wants to be sold on. The thing that matters is our buyer’s perception of the value our services bring to resolving their pain points.

We can only succeed by becoming problem-solvers and instilling confidence that our value proposition matches their business goals. So, it’s wise to become a consultant instead of salesman. Try to help your prospects by analyzing their need and problems instead of reinforcing your products.

Dig Deep Enough

You already have got an idea of how consultative selling is important instead of being a typical salesman. In order to be a great consultant, try to extract all the necessary information related to your products and services. I’ve found that exhibiting exceptional knowledge of your product and how it fits into the broader context of your prospects will generate confidence and makes them more likely to work with you. This approach will really help you while pitching your services in front of prospects according to their actual requirements.

Listening to the prospect is a key to conversion. You can ask questions to engage the customer and make your product or service the obvious solution of his problem. Listening to the answers and then being honest about how you can help is always an effective approach. We should remember that when trying to make a sale, the customer needs to come first. Do a little research on consumer behavior including his need, interest, problem and goals.

Competitor Analysis

Knowing the areas where you are more specialized than your competitors can lead to quick conversion. Again, this is all about preparation. Do your research and make note of something that you are doing but your competitors are not. Go through the marketing strategies, Google their brand name, check their website and aware of the technologies they are using. This allows you to uncover the online strategy in terms of marketing and advertisement. Find the ads that have been running for the longest and emulate those.

By doing all these analysis, you will also get an idea of how much they are investing in brand building and growing their business. It enables you to understand how your competitors are positioning themselves within a particular budget bracket. Boat has utilized the lack of bigger brands in the realm of Audio devices and made their brand the top selling one in that budget segment.

Personalized & Customized

Brands are increasingly moving away from the vicious cycle of commoditization. And consumers are more conscious about what’s being marketed and what they actually need. The trend of ‘One Size Fits All’, is long gone, customers feel delighted with Customization and personalization.

With information available at the fingertips of any consumer, being able to connect on a personal basis can be one of the main factors in driving conversions. You can craft a pitch that tells a purposeful emotional story with your potential customer at the heart of it. Always remember that customer’s name is the sweetest dessert to him. Even while sending an Email or SMS to positive leads, you can start your message by mentioning their name. You can also send a customized proposal of your packages as per their unique requirement. It will reduce your efforts and helps in cost optimization.

Be Transparent

Customers want transparency and trust in the people they purchase from. The key to closing sales is to be clear about why you feel that your solution is perfect for the client’s needs. Sharing the pros with the potential cons always creates trust. A client can sense if you are being genuine during the sales process. In other words, it’s important to convey to the client that you care about their business and not just the deal.

Selling is a personal interaction between one human and another, which is a powerful thing. Salespeople have the advantage of being able to glean personal knowledge and pitch their offerings as per the requirement of their audience. Excellent salespeople are those who not only make the sale but create a long-lasting impact on the customer. Long term relationships lead to repeat buys, referrals and increase the sales by recommendations and word of mouth marketing.

Identify KDM

No matter what industry you are in, identifying the decision maker is very crucial in closing deals. Your task can become easy and chances of conversion are more when you will be able to identify the key Decision Maker i.e. the person who has capability to take decisions. It can also help you to customize your sales pitch according to the interest of that person. Pitching your services or products among a person who can’t decisions will be a waste of your important time.

Sometimes the secretary of chairman possesses more power than the director or VP of that organization. So, first you have to understand the hierarchy of that organization. Then you can easily recognize the KDM among all the persons involved in buying cycle – initiator, influencer, decider and buyer.

Understanding your industry and the most common problems of your target consumers is the key to choosing best sales strategies for your business. But you should also take care of marketing strategies as it supports the sales function and increases the recall value.

The Process of sales is now more about conviction and less about communication. It depends on how much are you emotionally, mentally and spiritually connected with your offerings. It is the transfer of your enthusiasm. When you are really convince about your product, you just have to enthusiastically present it.

It doesn’t matter whether you work in a large organization or in a four-person startup where you’re responsible for the entire sales process, these sales strategies will definitely help you in growing your business.