Reaching your sales objectives can sometimes feel like an impossible task. Targets that may seem easily reachable when you get them soon start to move into the distance, and you always need to exert more effort for even the smallest of gains towards your goals.
However, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. While sales isn’t a field for everyone, if you genuinely love your job, there are ways to reach your sales objectives without finding yourself burned out in the process.
Are you wondering how? Read on for some helpful advice!
Ask For Referrals
One of the biggest challenges that many salespeople face is figuring out how to drum up new business. After all, existing clients will only make so many purchases.
New clients, on the other hand, have unlimited promise.
That’s where referrals come in. While asking clients for referrals may seem awkward at first, there’s a good reason that you should still build the courage you need and take the leap. Referrals are a cost-effective way of drumming up new leads.
Additionally, you’ll also be able to find potential clients who need your services rather than spending time on cold calls in the hope that one of them will pan out. Furthermore, referrals can become a cycle, leading to new referrals constantly – which will help you reach your sales goals in no time.
Upsell
If you work in a niche industry, one way to reach targets is to upsell to existing clients.
Add value propositions to each sale you make. You may see this as an insignificant move, but the benefit will blow off afterward. Clients who bite the bullet will end up spending more, and you’ll soon find that your sales goals and objectives are far easier to attain than you ever thought possible. When upselling, make sure to propose value adds that are relevant to each client’s needs, as this will increase the likelihood of you making the sale.
Shorten Your Sales Process
The sales process poses two major challenges:
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You risk spending a lot of time on a client who will ultimately not make a purchase.
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The sales process is so long that a prospective client decides to walk away.
Both of these challenges can be attributed to an overly long sales process. However, if you figure out the inefficiency and shorten it as much as possible, you’ll find that meeting targets is much easier. Not only are clients more likely to make a purchase, but you also free up time you can spend on genuine leads instead of wasting time on a prospect that will go nowhere.
Prospect
Even with referrals, your circle of potential clients will be limited to existing clients, people and businesses they know, and other leads that your business may already have. However, this is rarely the sum of the people who constitute your main audience.
Make the time to prospect for new clients. By identifying and chasing new leads, you increase the chances of reaching out to people and businesses who need your products and who are willing to make purchases without you having to spend significant amounts of time on actually making a sale.
Prospecting does not necessarily have to be limited to cold calls. You can also look for prospects in an existing, larger account, follow up on leads that your marketing team may have identified, and see if you can identify promising prospects through connections such as LinkedIn.
Additionally, consider looking for prospects in new industries. Unless your product is hyper-specialized, there is a chance that it will be useful to businesses in industries that you do not yet serve. By identifying and reaching out to these people, you increase your prospect pool – and, therefore, the chance of a conversion.
Be Persistent
Many sales professionals today simply take the first ‘no’ and note down a prospect as a failure. However, it’s essential to stay engaged with potential clients as much as you can.
Continue connecting until you get a definitive no. Even after the refusal, make sure to send check-in emails to the other person every quarter (or every two quarters, depending on the product you’re selling) unless they specifically ask you to take them off your mailing list.
By staying in contact, you ensure that the possibility of a future sale is left open. If the other business is ever in a situation where they need the product or service you’re selling, your contact with them will ensure that you and your business are the first people they think of.
If you’re in sales, you need to understand your prospective clients in order to be successful. Learn to identify their needs and recognize non-verbal cues, and figure out ways you can meet their requirements. If you do so, you’ll soon find that being in sales is much easier than you initially thought!
