One common challenge small businesses face is that they often don’t have the same resources or experience as their larger counterparts. This can lead to them getting priced out of the market and just not being able to compete in many other fronts.
By having the right SME sales strategy in place, you’ll be able to generate leads and close more deals without having to worry much about your competitors. In this post, we will look at some tips to help you create a more effective sales strategy for your small business.
Understanding Sales Funneling
A sales strategy is the planning and implementation of all sales activities, from identifying prospects to closing deals. Sales funneling, on the other hand, is the process of designing a system that efficiently moves leads through the sales process from discovery to conversion. Together, they form a comprehensive plan for driving sales volume and achieving profitability.
An effective sales strategy begins by understanding your customer and what their needs are. After identifying those needs, you then create a compelling offer that meets them.
Next, you create a sales process that leads them through the various stages of the funnel. The goal is to convert as many leads as possible into paying customers, so it’s important to design a funnel that helps prospects move from awareness to interest to purchase.
Sales funneling is essential for ensuring that leads move through the system quickly and efficiently. A well-designed funnel will help you identify which stages in the buying process are most important for converting leads into customers, and it will allow you to customize your offer accordingly.
8 Effective SME Sales Strategies
1. Use LinkedIn To Find Leads
Unlike most other social media platforms, LinkedIn’s userbase largely consists of key business decision-makers. If you’re in the B2B sector, then there’s no better platform to find leads on the internet.
LinkedIn allows you to search for people based on their industry, location, and even places of work. That makes it very easy to find your targets and send them a strategic cold message. Check out our guide on how to find leads on LinkedIn.
2. Host Free Webinars
This is another effective sales strategy to help boost your conversions. You can host occasional webinars on various topics that your target audience is interested in.
For instance, if your business is in the HR space, you can host a webinar on “how to increase employee productivity”, a topic that would be of interest to your target. Make sure to start promoting the event early to get as many people to attend as possible.
Although the purpose of the webinar is to educate your audience, you’ll have some opportunities to talk about your products and how they could help them achieve their goals.
3. Email Marketing
Email marketing has one of the highest ROIs out of digital marketing strategies. If you’re not already collecting lead contacts through your website and social media pages, then you should start doing so immediately. You can use a lead magnate such as a free e-book to encourage people to sign up for your contact list.
An important thing to keep in mind before starting your email campaign is to segment your leads based on the stage that they’re at in the sales funnel.
That will enable you to send relevant and targeted emails to each segment, which will help increase your conversion rate. A person that just discovered your business should receive a different email from a person who’s a repeat buyer.
4. Be Active On Social Media
While most businesses acknowledge how powerful social media has become as a sales and marketing tool, many are still not taking advantage of it as they should. This is often due to not having the time or personnel.
According to a study by Pew Research Center, 83% of adults use social media. It is undoubtedly one of the best places to find leads online. There is a number of ways that you can use social media to reach your customers.
The first (and perhaps easiest) is through advertising. Organic social media posts often have a very limited reach, regardless of how big your page following is.
Through ads, you can reach thousands of people every day very easily. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, allow you to target people based on various attributes, including age, location, gender, education, etc. This makes it relatively easy to reach your buyer persona (if you have one).
Another great social media strategy is having a posting schedule, and sticking to it. Consistency is key to growing your page following, and along with that, your brand awareness.
This is the part that most businesses fail in. Posting regularly can be extremely time-consuming. If you don’t have the time or personnel to handle your social media pages, you’d rather outsource it to a freelancer or a virtual assistant.
5. Set Up Meetings With Prospects
Physical meetings enable you to build trust and rapport in a way that’s almost impossible to replicate through emails or phone calls.
Make sure to find the right time and place for your meetings so that you can create a positive impression. If possible, they should not be in an office setting. If you’re dealing with a high-value lead then you can take them out for lunch in a nice restaurant.
6. Develop An Action Plan For Each Lead
Developing an action plan for each lead ensures that you are taking the appropriate actions with each individual prospect, and maximizing their chances of buying from you.
There are a number of things you can do to help develop an action plan for each lead:
- Research them thoroughly. This will allow you to tailor your pitch accordingly.
- Get to know the person behind the lead. What are their needs? What are their concerns? By knowing these things, you can develop a targeted sales approach that is relevant to them.
- Take notes during your meetings. This will help you remember key points and build on what was discussed later on.
7. Keep Records And Stay Organized
Keeping good records of your sales efforts is an important part of any successful sales strategy.
This will help you to track your progress, identify areas where you need to improve and measure the success of your campaigns.
Moreover, staying organized will help you stay focused on your goals and make better decisions about how to allocate your time and resources.
By keeping track of both your successes and failures, you can learn from your insights and develop a strong foundation for future success.
8. Follow Up With Leads
This is one of the most important parts of any successful sales strategy. Studies have shown that 80% of sales happen after an average of 5 follow-ups, however, the majority of salespeople give up after just the first follow-up.
Make sure that your follow-ups are done over an extended period of time, otherwise, you’ll only end up becoming a nuisance. For instance, after the initial contact with the lead, you can wait around 3 days before doing the first follow-up, then 5 days before the next, then a week, then 2 weeks, etc.
Conclusion
Creating a successful SME sales strategy is not easy, but it is worth it if you want to grow your business and achieve your goals. By following these tips, you can create a winning plan that will help you reach your goals and exceed expectations.
