Every sales leader wants to do more than just meet their goals – they want to exceed them. Have you set your goals for the second half of 2021? Here are eight ways to take your sales team to the next level and reach greater heights this year.
- Determine Your Needs and Identify Gaps
The first step to meeting your goals is to set the right ones. The way to set reasonable goals is to determine what you need to do. Where are the gaps in your organization? Do you want to increase brand recognition? Do you want more exposure? Do you want more sales? Spend a little time thinking about what you really need to do this year.
Once you’ve identified your needs, you can then use analytics to find the gaps. Where is your current strategy falling short? Analytics help you assess traffic and social media data. Analytics also helps with testing and refining your process.
Once you know what kind of goals you should be setting, you’re ready to start with SMART goals.
- Set SMART Goals
You can’t exceed your goals if you’re aiming for the wrong thing. You need to set SMART goals. These goals are –
- Specific
The goal should be clear and concise. It should have identifiable objectives. It should be clear how important the goal is, who is necessary to make it happen, and where things will happen.
- Measurable
Every goal should be trackable. You should be able to quantify the results and measure your success.
- Achievable
There’s no point in aiming for the impossible. All your goals should be challenging, but you should make them achievable. Only set goals you have the resources to accomplish.
- Relevant
The goals you set must be relevant to your needs. What are you trying to accomplish? Is the goal relevant to that? If not, then it’s back to the drawing board.
- Time-Bound
Don’t set open-ended goals. It would be best if you had plans that have a specific time frame or deadline. When will you achieve your goal?
The key to setting a SMART goal for your business is to put real and measurable numbers down and hold yourself accountable for getting results. The results you yield will guide you through the process. These results help improve your strategy over time to reach even further heights.
It’s all well and good to say that you want to grow sales, but that can’t be your only goal–you need to be specific. Without specific metrics, there’s no natural way to measure your success or recognize if you’ve failed. How many sales is “more”? Do you want to double your sales figures? Set a SMART goal to give yourself something concrete and realistic.
- Solve Problems Rather Than Pitching Products
Sales workers have a never-ending temptation to pitch products to customers simply. When you’ve got deadlines and targets to meet, it’s all too easy to tell people to purchase what you’re offering. However, this isn’t the right approach to take. Aim to be more helpful and solve problems for customers. Strike up conversations with them. Talk to them about how your product’s benefits align with their needs. Listen as they talk, learn what they need, and explain how your products and services can help them. Rather than giving people a sales pitch, engage them and show how your products are the solution they need. People don’t buy products – they buy solutions.
- Identify Your Unique Selling Position (USP)
Identifying the Unique Selling Position of a product, service, or company is what sets apart the best salespeople. Your team should identify critical assets and leverage them as much as possible, applying them to meet your customer’s needs.
The Unique Selling Position for your business is what sets it apart from the competition. It’s the one thing that you have that no one else does. One thing you can do to exceed your sales goals is identifying the USP, defining it in clear and straightforward terms, and communicating it clearly to your target. Once you know the USP and how to best leverage it, you can create a seamless sales process that highlights it to customers to increase engagement and sales.
If you don’t have a clear and straightforward answer to the question “What’s your Unique Selling Proposition?” then you need to get to work. Don’t stop until you can answer that question. The answer should always set you apart from your competitors.
Once you have your answer and have identified your USP, you can start emphasizing it in marketing. You can take advantage of it when selling products and explaining to buyers why they need what you have to offer. Even if you sell the same products and services as someone else, you know your selling proposition is unique. Some customers will be a better fit for your USP–or your sweet spot. You need to identify those customers and draw them to your business.
- Improve Your Market Share
As you start adjusting your sales strategy and goals and set more realistic and specific goals, you’ll undoubtedly begin to gain a more significant market share. You’ll notice that more people come to you rather than the competition, which gives you a better market share and opens the doors for more sales.
Don’t let yourself become complacent. Keep working to push this new market share even further. Refine and expand your goals to further improve your market share. The more people you have coming to you, the more sales you’ll make.
- Create Urgency
People have a natural fear of missing out. They want to be part of the next big thing. If everyone has something or it won’t be around for a long time, people naturally want in on that. Creating a sense of urgency with customers makes them feel they have to participate sooner rather than later.
- Focus on Existing Customers
How long it takes to go from initial contact to a final sale depends on various factors, including the sales cycle and pipeline. It’s better to pay attention to the customers you already have rather than convert more. It’s good to get new sales, but spending all your resources on potential customers and neglecting existing ones is one of the most common mistakes salespeople make. Ensure your current customers know you care just as much about them – if not more – than potential new ones. Retention costs less than acquisition in most cases.
- Become a Trusted Advisor
Establishing excellent relationships is often the fastest and easiest way to meet and exceed sales goals. You need to make determined efforts to understand what clients and customers need and become a trusted advisor to them by exceeding their expectations. The key is to build strong client relationships and brand loyalty.
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