As a business owner, you wear many hats. One of them is VP of Sales and Marketing. This role is responsible for lead generation and turning prospects into clients. Sales are the fuel which keeps your business engine running. For this reason, sales – needs to be a non-stop endeavor.
How well do you perform in the VP Sales and Marketing role? Just ask yourself these questions:
- How are you doing with your sales plan for 2017?
- Do you have a “sales system?”
- How good is your “sales system?”
- Does your “sales system” help you and your team – create the level of success you want?
- How well does it measure?
Are you 100% satisfied with the way you answered these questions?
The problem is that many entrepreneurs don’t have a sales process in place that creates success. In particular, one that fills the funnel and the pipeline consistently, even when they are busy with current customers or clients. Here are six things that will make your sales process work better in 2017.
- Know Your Number(s):
Numbers are a problem if no one understands them or they are so big that no one can get their hands around them.
Say you want to sell another $1,000,000 in the next year. Ok. But what is that? $1,000,000 equals:
- $250,000 a quarter
- $20,000 a week
- $4,000 a day ~ $ 500 an hour
2. Measure and Track.
Not just the big number but all the little things that you do as well.
- If you are supposed to connect with 50 existing contacts a week – track it.
- If you are supposed to attend 4 networking events per month – track it.
- Whatever you plan calls for – measure and track it. .
Always know where you are; It helps you know what is and what’s not working; If it’s not working – fix it. If it is – do more of it.
3. Fill the Funnel (Lead Generation).
- How are you going to generate enough leads going forward?
- Do you have a goal for the number of leads you need?
- What are the sources for leads?
- How many leads is each lead generation process going to create?
- How many leads should be closed from each process?
- You need to understand these answers.
- If your lead system is not working – it should be no surprise when the funnel is empty.
- If you do this, you quickly see what is working and what is not and you can take the needed action.
- Again, fix or dump what is not working.
Put more time, energy and money into what is working. Continue to do so even when you get really busy again.
- Success is always in the “Follow Up”.
- What is your follow up process?
- When you meet someone – then what?
- If they are not a lead now – what do you do next?
- If you cannot get hold of them, what is the next step and when?
- How do you stay in front of them? What is the frequency?
- How long to you go after them and at what level of effort?
- If you don’t have a next action, then why are they in your database?
Many entrepreneurs never do much follow up. Or don’t do it well. If you do, you will be amazed.
- Qualify, Qualify, And Qualify.
- How do you qualify a lead?
- What makes this person a qualified lead?
- Why are they a potential referral partner?
- What makes them someone you should stay connected with?
- If you don’t have a good qualification system you will spend your life with unqualified leads.
Take time and define this ~ you’ll be amazed
- Action.
- Sales will work if you take action and do what you said you would.
- Notably, a poor sales plan executed with passion and persistence will out do the best sales plan that is still sitting on the table.
- How are you managing your time?
- What actions will you take? When and how much?
- To emphasize, next time you think you need to plan some more – just “DO” something instead!
- “Right Action” creates results – plain and simple.
There you have it. Is this complete? No. These are just some of the pieces of the sales process which should be constantly running in your business. Keep it running nonstop. Watch what happens to your funnel, and to your closed sales. They all go up, up and up.
