Companies everywhere are experiencing the same problem - sales are down. The reason for this varies from business to business, but common factors include rising costs, tighter budgets, more competitors, or still rebounding from COVID. No matter the reason, what size your company is, or whether you have the budget or not, there are steps you can implement to help improve sales. In this blog, we’ll share insights and tips on how to adjust your sales and marketing strategies to help boost sales.
Before You Start
Before we dive in, there are two things you must do. The first is to fix your sales problem, and then implement a process that prevents this from happening again. We’ve compiled four key areas to address when creating a structure. Before we get into that, there are a few questions to consider.
- What is and isn’t working for your sales and marketing teams?
- Can you increase the budget or will you reallocate the existing budget?
- Where are you going to invest your current or new budget?
- More employees?
- Automation?
- A combination?
- Outsourcing?
Evaluating your current efforts and budget will help pinpoint areas that need improvement.
4 Areas to Help Boost Sales
Now that you’ve assessed your current efforts, we can look at where to start. The four key areas to address are:
- Increase the Volume of Activity
- Increase Consistency
- Improve Overall Messaging
- Implement a Dependable and Reliable Process
Want to learn more about these key areas in greater detail? Watch our video below, where we discuss each area in depth.
Increasing the Volume of Activity
After evaluating your current marketing efforts, you probably noticed that you need more than your current level of activity. In general, you may not be getting enough out the door. A great way to combat declining sales is by increasing the volume of marketing activity.
Multichannel Marketing
If you are marketing through multiple channels, evaluate how effective they are. If you’re not using multiple channels, why not? Do you not have the internal resources and experience to leverage various channels? If not, this is when outsourcing comes in handy.
We can’t accurately predict when and where prospects are going to respond. So, by leveraging multiple marketing channels, you can access prospects through outbound calling, email, Google ads, social media, and SEO.
Content Marketing
Are you leveraging content marketing? Adding blogs, videos, infographics, and/or webinars is a great, simple way to increase awareness. This is also a key factor to ranking on search engines, and the content created can be shared through multiple channels.
Touchpoints
Are you hitting the market with enough touchpoints? Many surveys state they know the average number of touchpoints needed to make an appointment. However, the correct number depends on the industry, time of year, the content, and more. But, no matter what, awareness is key, and the goal is being at the right place at the right time. The more touchpoints you have, the more likely you’ll be at the right place.
CRM, Sales, and Marketing Automation
CRM platforms such as Salesforce and HubSpot are crucial when it comes to increasing and tracking volume. These tools leverage automation and processes to effectively execute the volume that you need. A CRM system helps you manage lead nurture programs, follow-ups, and customer communications; empowering sales managers and their teams.
Interested in implementing or optimizing a CRM software such as Salesforce or HubSpot? We are partners of both platforms and would love to help. Let’s talk.
Increasing Consistency
It’s very common for companies to launch a big campaign and not have a new one ready or a follow-up process. Improving your marketing consistency helps combat declining sales. To increase consistency, you must have both the right people and the right technology. Make sure you’re well-equipped with knowledgeable people and helpful marketing tools.
To help provide consistency across your departments, ensure your sales and marketing teams are aligned. These two groups need to work collaboratively and have the same goals and objectives.
Improving Messaging
Having the right messaging is critical, as it’s influential in helping you meet your business goals and acquire new customers. Even with all the new technology at our fingertips, the written and spoken word are still extremely important. You won’t see any benefits from increasing your activity or consistency if you don’t have effective messaging.
Keep in mind the 3 C’s: creative, compelling, and consistent. Other points to consider:
- Understand your audience and their pain points
- Keep it clear, concise, and short
- Have consistent messaging across all channels
- Highlight benefits, not features
- Add customer testimonials and case studies
- A/B test these messages
- Add personalization
Implementing a Process
The final key area to address is implementing a process that can help increase volume and consistency, and effectively deliver the message you created. When you start thinking about your process, think of your entire sales engine. This includes managing data, developing campaigns, lead nurturing, KPI management, and more. The hub that manages all of this is, of course, is a CRM - see a trend here? CRM experts ensure the process is happening when and how it’s supposed to.
Everything we reviewed requires planning and strategy, effort, and the right technology. If you need assistance in any of these areas, Concept is here to help. We help customers generate leads through our CRM, Sales Development, and Digital Marketing teams. With our expertise in unique strategies and the latest tools, we’ll help boost your sales. Contact us.