Getting
sales results is more about possibility thinking rather
than “We can’t..” or “That won’t
work” statements.
When developing a sales or marketing strategy, negative
statements and thinking shut down the creative part
of the brain, limiting the ideas we can come up with.
This is caused by the fear of being seen as “way
out there” or “just plain stupid”.
To overcome this, the team needs a friendly environment
where “risk taking” is supported and encouraged.
One of the keys to getting massive results in sales,
is to think “outside the box”. Getting creative
and asking positive questions rather that limiting statements.
We worked with a bakery that was having trouble selling
its new bread cob. They discounted the price from £2
to £1 and still were unable to make it a success.
With a bit of lateral thinking, we instigated a “trade
in” strategy, where if you bought in your old
bread, we would trade it in for £1 when purchasing
the new cob.
Not only did bread sales go through the roof, but the
local press came out to see what was causing all the
commotion!
The point is…don’t make the statement “That
would never work for us”, rather ask the question
“How could I apply that to my business?”.
With that in mind, I have included some questions that
I have used in the past to “break” my traditional
thinking and get creative. Please use them and add any
others that get your creativity going. Remember…no
idea is a bad idea until it is proven otherwise….
Questions to ask yourself in developing a sales
and business development strategy:
- What is my objective?
- What is the target we would like to achieve?
- If we needed to double the businesses revenue, what
could we do?
- What other strategies no matter how outrageous could
we consider (list at least 20)?
- What are the obstacles that we need to overcome?
- What outside assistance do we need?
- What structures can we put in place to measure the
effectiveness of the strategy?
- How could we determine if the idea would work?
- Considering that we are in the people business,
what can we do (outside of gaskets) for our customers?
- Knowing our business the way we do, what are our
customers looking for (outside of the price/service
area)?
- What are our customer saying about …
o Their other suppliers
o Their Jobs
o The industry
o The market
- For each strategy…
o Who are our target market?
o Where do they go?/What do they read?
o Which clubs or groups are they involved in?
o How do we target them?
o When is the best time to contact them?
o Why do they need us?
These are just a sample of guiding questions. Your
limitations are based on your current thinking, in a
“safe” environment creativity can boom…and
so can business.
Did you find this article useful? If so why not see how Andy can help your sales team
by contacting us for a free telephone consultation?
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