What is sales strategy?
Sales strategies are business plans including goals and methods of implementing sales activities to serve business purposes.
Sales strategy will provide specific sales goals, sales process definition, product value as well as competitor analysis.
An effective sales strategy will be able to help businesses position their brand as well as gain a competitive advantage to attract customers and increase conversion rates.
Most sales strategies include a detailed plan of sales activities as well as the most effective processes devised by managers. In that plan, the customer element should be placed at the center. Therefore, a sales strategy will not be applicable to all businesses, because each target customer group will have different needs and problems. Therefore, the sales strategy for each business will also be different and adjusted to suit the target customers.
When not applying a specific sales strategy, managers and sales staff will make decisions based on short-term benefits or based on feelings without aiming for the long-term development of the company.
Why do companies need a sales strategy?
After knowing the definition of what a sales strategy is, the question is: Does the company need to have a suitable sales strategy?
To help companies grow in the long term with specific goals, processes and actions, it is essential to identify an appropriate sales strategy.
In addition, a sales strategy can help companies:
Understand the customer at each stage of the buying journey
The needs of new customers and the needs of old customers are different. To meet the needs of customers at each stage of the buying journey, companies need to understand customers and know what they need.
Potential customers and interested in the product will have a need to learn about the features of the product that the business offers. On the other hand, customers who have already paid for the product will need customer service and someone to support them in the process of using the product.
When there is a suitable sales strategy, businesses will better understand customers and have different approaches to each customer group and at each stage of the buying journey. Sales strategy will help businesses achieve the best results in customer support, help increase conversion rates and increase sales.
Draw your target customer's buying journey and strategize accordingly for each stage of that journey. This will help sales staff have an effective sales scenario and approach to each customer.
Build the right sales staff
The human factor is always an important factor in every sales strategy. A suitable staff will contribute to the implementation of an effective sales strategy. Therefore, when planning a sales strategy, companies will know what they need and who they need.
A sales team with the right sales strategy will operate according to a plan, guided by specific goals and methods. With a sales strategy, businesses can recruit people who meet the criteria of experience and working capacity set by managers.
When a sales strategy is developed and a team of qualified sales people is in place, everyone will work towards the same goal and work together effectively to achieve the sales goal as well as jointly develop the business in a long-term orientation.
Gain a competitive advantage
Sales strategy will help companies gain competitive advantage by helping managers and salespeople understand their customers well.
In order to build an effective sales strategy, the business as well as the staff must have correctly identified the target customers as well as the needs and problems they face. When customers are at the center of building sales strategies, companies will gain a competitive advantage because customers can be satisfied and trust the company more when they are understood.
Customers will certainly choose to buy products and be loyal advocates of businesses that they feel are valued and provide customers with the solutions they are looking for. When winning the hearts of customers with an effective sales strategy, companies will gain a competitive advantage over competitors who forget to have a suitable sales strategy.
Common types of sales strategies
Each business will have different goals and serve different customer groups. Therefore, managers need to consider and choose the right sales strategy for them to increase sales, meet customers' needs as well as solve their problems. So what are the popular sales strategies that companies can apply?
Inbound Sales Strategy
Sales Strategy Inbound Sales is a modern sales method today. Inbound Sales strategy is customer-centric and focuses primarily on solving customer pain.
In addition, the Inbound Sales strategy also prioritizes meeting the needs of target customers through each stage of the buying journey instead of just focusing on profits. Inbound Sales strategy also focuses on exploiting customer insights such as purchasing experience and customer feedback during interactions with brands or sellers to solve customer problems.
When effectively applying the Inbound Sales strategy, companies will really provide useful values to customers, thereby making customers trust and buy your products. Besides, when applying the Inbound Sales strategy, companies can turn customers into their friends and loyal supporters.
In the Inbound sales strategy, the main job of the sales staff will be to nurture the interest of customers by providing useful knowledge to customers, interacting and guiding them enthusiastically purchase journey.
Outbound Sales Strategy
Outbound Sales is a sales strategy that focuses on reaching target customers through methods such as cold-calling, sending emails, distributing flyers, advertising, etc.
Outbound Sales strategies encourage salespeople to focus on reaching a large number of customers but are uncertain about the conversion rates for those customers.
For customers who do not care, they will feel uncomfortable and feel stalked, disturbed often by calls from sales staff. Without a suitable Outbound sales strategy, customers will not have a good impression of the company. This will affect the reputation of the business in the market.
When applying the Outbound Sales strategy, sales staff will try to reach as many customers as possible. These customers will likely include people who have no interest or need to buy the product. Customers may not even know the brand of the business.
Therefore, in order to be able to come up with an effective Outbound Sales strategy, businesses need to accurately identify the target market as well as potential customers to be able to reach the right customers – those who are really interested. products, thereby increasing conversion rates and boosting sales.
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