10 Easy Sales Strategies for Small Companies
Strategy #1: Differentiate Yourself and Your Firm. To compete with a larger firm there’s got to have something different. Your product must higher quality, easier to use, more convenient to buy, or a better fit than the competition’s. Or you must be better able to help customer clarify their needs and craft a solution. Or you’ve got to be at the customer’s service faster. Or, better yet, all of the above.
• Strategy #2: Treat Your Weaknesses as Strengths.Customers may not know your firm (a weakness) but they don't have negative preconceptions either (a strength). You may not have an expense account for a fancy lunch (a weakness) but you can show your customer that you don’t waste money (a strength). Your firm might have meager higher prices (a weakness) but you’re willing to craft flexible terms (a strength.)
• Strategy #3: Exhibit Extreme Confidence.
People who sell for small firms can scuttle their credibility by trying to explain away the inexperience or size of their firm. Savvy customers smell that fear and see it as a signal to demand steep discounts or concessions. Convince yourself (and thence the customer) that a customer would be foolish or crazy to buy from anyone else.
• Strategy #4: Don’t be Afraid to Bail.
Wishful thinking can propel you into a world of wasted effort. Once it becomes clear that a deal doesn't make sense or will take to much effort to close, it's not worth pursuing. For example, if you can't meet with the REAL decision-maker, you aren't going to get the business. So move on to the next prospect, without regrets.
• Strategy #5: Be Your Company’s Brand.
A “brand experience” is the emotion a customer feels when buying or using a product. A sales rep working for IBM or Bristol Myers only needs a business card to create a brand experience. By contrast, when you're selling for a small firm, the “brand experience” consists of YOUR appearance, YOUR voice, and YOUR ability to solve problems.
• Strategy #6: Think Like an Entrepreneur.
Since your firm lacks the infrastructure of a larger firm, the only person you can trust to get things done is YOU. Be frugal with your time and resources, and constantly find creative ways to get things done more quickly and easily. Remember: “activity” multiplied by “hours spent” equals “sales results.” Make everything you do lead towards those results.
• Strategy #7: No Free Consulting.
When a customer asks you do to something for free, your response must ALWAYS be to ask for something comparable in return. For example, if a customer asks you to provide them with an RFP based upon 35 pages of questions, insist that you'll only do the work if you're guaranteed a meeting with the CEO to present your solution.
• Strategy #8: Have a Low Threshold of “NO.”
Never cave to a customer who's being unreasonable. Maybe your larger competitor can afford to kowtow in order to win the business, but you don't have the luxury of being anything less than the best. And the best in any industry NEVER truckle. Be cooperative but be constantly aware of your true worth to the customer.
• Strategy #9: Be Your Firm’s Greatest Strength.
Top executives don't have the time to sit with down with cookie-cutter sales reps, but they always have time for somebody who can redefine problems and devise solutions. If you can truly add value, you’re the most valuable person that CEO will meet with that day, maybe that month, maybe even that year.
• Strategy #10: Take Responsibility for Your Skills.
Big firms have the money to hire professional sales trainers, run sales mentoring programs, and employ sales managers to coach novices. In a small firm, it’s up to you (and you alone) to constantly hone your sales skills, learn new sales techniques, and develop your sales career.
Definition of Sales Strategy
A sales strategy is a plan by a business or individual on how to
go about selling products and services and increasing profits. Sales
strategies are typically developed by a company’s administration, along
with its sales, marketing and advertising managers. All involve
“pitches,” or key points to address when speaking with potential
consumers. Some of these pitches, such as those used by telemarketers,
may have to be memorized and communicated verbatim.
Identifying Markets
Sales strategies differ by industry, but no matter what you sell,
you need to determine the target market. For instance, it would be
unwise for a company that sells baby dolls to advertise its products in
men’s fashion magazines. But identifying a market goes beyond the
obvious. Things such as the location, age, gender and spending habits of
a company’s potential customers must also be established.
Setting Methods
All companies must determine how to go about selling and promoting
their products when developing a sales strategy. In other words, will
you contact customers through the mail? By phone? Or by sending out mass
marketing emails? Many companies use all of those methods--and more--in
their quest to meet a potential client face-to-face. In fact, much of
how a salesperson goes about pushing products and services is by, again,
knowing her market.
Knowing Competition
Any good sales strategy is built with the competition in mind.
That means understanding what has worked for opposing companies and
perhaps even integrating it into your own sales strategy. Or even
better, knowing what works for the competition and improving it, either
by offering a similar product at lower prices or marketing a product as
if it’s the best of its kind.
Analyzing Trends
Occasionally, a product will go out of style and need to be
updated, or replaced altogether. In other instances, the economy will
determine how much a consumer is willing to spend on a certain product.
Understanding these types of trends is a big factor in developing a
sales strategy. The best strategies prepare themselves well in advance
for when products become less popular or when financial markets
fluctuate.
Staying Organized
Organization is a major factor for success in any industry and
sales is no different. Therefore, sales strategies need to include
details on the role of those making sales, how accounts and territories
should be managed, and of course, commission and compensation.
Sometimes, strategies even outline incentives and bonuses for a
successful sales record.
A sales strategy is a plan by a business or individual on how to
go about selling products and services and increasing profits. Sales
strategies are typically developed by a company’s administration, along
with its sales, marketing and advertising managers. All involve
“pitches,” or key points to address when speaking with potential
consumers. Some of these pitches, such as those used by telemarketers,
may have to be memorized and communicated verbatim.
