An effective sales strategy involves a precise plan explicitly crafted to sell products and meet consumer demand. When planning an optimized sales strategy with your team, it’s essential to reach for a well-balanced option that satisfies your consumers while driving profit.
When developing your sales approach, it’s important to consider both new leads and the loyal customers or clients who have helped get you where you are. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss their advice for developing an effective strategy that addresses both audiences.
Young Entrepreneur Council members discuss balancing your sales strategy.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Understand The Customer’s Needs
A sales strategy rooted in a deep understanding of the customer’s needs in the product journey will help it be effective for both account leads and brand loyalty. To help build this empathy, entrepreneurs should ask questions of customers during different stages in the product journey and find patterns across feedback they receive. This will help entrepreneurs anticipate the needs of future customers so that they can proactively address them or at the very least be prepared to reactively provide solutions for them. Similarly, keeping track and finding patterns across unsolicited customer feedback can help inform the sales strategy by similarly anticipating the needs of the customer for the specific stage of the product journey they are on. – Akshar Bonu, The Custom Movement
2. Leverage Content Marketing Across Multiple Platforms
A content marketing strategy strikes a workable balance between sales, marketing and branding. Scrap product features for now and focus exclusively on the customer. Where do they love to hang out? What do they find engaging and fun there? Who’s engaging them there? How can you make your website and social media accounts hangout spots? It’s a simple concept, but it comes with a lot of hard work. You have to find them under the comment sections of other influencers and gurus. You have to read their complaints about existing products on social media and the product reviews on e-commerce stores. Product reviews on social media and search engine platforms like YouTube can give you unique insights into your market. – Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS
3. Keep Your Brand Consistent
Make sure your brand is consistent. One of the most vital factors in building loyalty is consistency. Customers like predictability and want to be confident that their brand will deliver on its promises every time, no matter what. Be consistent not only in your services but also in your visual logos and social media presence. Specifically, logos and designs should look the same on all browsers and devices. Spend a little extra to create an eye-catching logo that can be used on all mediums. – Shu Saito, All Filters
4. Show Genuine Interest In The Consumer
Know the client. People want to feel valued. Pay attention to where they live, their children’s names and the sports they play, and you will have a client for life. If they have to re-introduce themselves each time, they will lose interest in you and move on to a company that shows more genuine interest in them. – Mary Harcourt, CosmoGlo
5. Focus On Clear Communication And Messaging
Customers today are more dynamic than they used to be. This makes their purchasing behavior dynamic as well. Hence, they require more communication touch points before you can eventually get them “interested.” For me, communication is at the tipping point of a balanced sales strategy, and at the cornerstone of lead generation and brand loyalty is information. Prospects want to know more about your offering and they want to be sure that your “product” is what it purports to be, devoid of risks. However, no matter how good your product is, if you can’t communicate it, then it won’t sell. So, the messaging is key. This message must be incorporated at every stage of the sales funnel as you ascend the value ladder. – Tonika Bruce, Lead Nicely, Inc.
6. Combine Campaigns
The key is to leverage campaigns that tie lead generation and brand loyalty together. For example, you can use content marketing to attract new leads and then offer loyalty rewards to customers who convert. This way, you’re addressing both needs at the same time. You can also create separate campaigns for each focus, but make sure they work together to support your overall sales strategy. Creating leads and building long-term relationships with people don’t have to be two separate things. By integrating them into your strategy, you can create a more holistic and effective plan. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
7. Personalize Offers And Content
One way to balance your sales strategy is to focus on personalization. If used correctly, you can use personalized content and offers to reach out to first-time users and loyal customers. For example, you can create an email campaign that features your most popular products for new customers, while long-time users will get emails centered around their past purchases. Research shows that around 80% of consumers want brands to send more personalized offers and messages, so this is one strategy you don’t want to skip. – Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
8. Be Authentic
Creating a balance between attracting leads and maintaining brand loyalty is extremely important when it comes to creating a sales strategy. One effective way of doing it is to be authentic about your business. Be honest about what you offer and never try to trick your users by marketing offers that aren’t available. Many marketers promote their business by highlighting false promises and offers. This annoys the users and distorts your brand image. Just be authentic and see how big an impact it can make. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
