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Top 3 Ways to Influence Your Bottom Line

Written by: Colleen Stanley

Article Overview: Go out and sell something! Way too many companies adhere to this line of thinking and sell the wrong prospect at the wrong margins. Before you get ready to “sell something,” put some thought into who you should sell to, how to create the opportunity to sell, and what it takes to gain a competitive advantage resulting in a profitable win.

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Top 3 Ways to Influence Your Bottom Line

Go out and sell something! Way too many companies adhere to this line of thinking and sell the wrong prospect at the wrong margins. Before you get ready to “sell something,” put some thought into who you should sell to, how to create the opportunity to sell, and what it takes to gain a competitive advantage resulting in a profitable win. Here are three points to consider:

1. Get clear on your ideal client.

Not everyone deserves to be your client. I repeat, not everyone deserves to be your client. What type of prospect does your company serve best? What type of prospect is willing to pay for your expertise and services? There are three basic areas to consider when identifying your ideal client:

- Size of client: Is there a certain dollar volume where you win more business? Does a mid-size company need and value your services more than a Fortune 500?

- Niche: Is there a niche that your solutions serve exceptionally well? Is it possible for you to become the ‘go to’ person in a niche and own it?

- Philosophy: Ideal clients will treat you as a partner, not a vendor. They believe in win-win relationships where everyone makes a fair profit versus nickel and diming over every transaction.

2. Develop a comprehensive prospecting strategy around your ideal client.

Too many companies focus on one type of prospecting activity for generating leads, i.e., they make 25 cold calls a day. A good prospecting strategy is similar to a well-planned financial portfolio. It is diversified and includes a variety of sales activities. Here are three sales activities to incorporate in your business development plan:

- Referral partners: Start meeting with other vendors who call on the same prospects as you but don’t offer a competing product or service. Create a “mini sales team” and help each other grow revenues. Referrals are the most powerful lead source because it places you in front of qualified prospects resulting in shorter sales cycles and bigger deals.

- Associations: The key to associations is getting involved with a committee or running a committee. If you are just attending the meeting, chances are you will get the same results as everyone else attending the meeting…little to none. The reason is simple. People of influence on committees and are more likely and able to provide introductions to your ideal clients when you are more involved.

- Host a workshop: Partner with other organizations and host a workshop that brings prospects into the room. For example, we partner with a local law firm and invite clients to a “Selecting and Hiring Top Sales Talent” workshop. The law firm has clients that need to learn how to build high performing sales teams and we have clients that want to learn about employee law and contracts.

3. Learn how to run a consultative sales call.

If you are still selling features, advantages and benefits, there is a good chance you will be beat by the sales professional employing critical thinking skills and consultative selling skills. The consultative salesperson knows how to “quantify the prospect’s pain” and win deals at higher margins. Today’s prospect expects a couple of things; 1) they want a sales professional that makes their brain “hurt” and, 2) they expect the salesperson to understand the business of business. It is important to show how solutions provided by your product or services incorporate into the prospect’s overall business strategy.

Start influencing that bottom line by executing an effective sales strategy and closing with effective sales tactics.

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Home > Sales > Colleen Stanley > Top 3 Ways to Influence Your Bottom Line
Article Tags: business development plan, cold calls, competitive advantage, dollar volume, fortune 500, margins, mid size, niche, nickel, philosophy, prospects, referral partners, referrals, relationships, sales cycles, shorter sales
Referred by: http://www.page1solutions.com

About the Author: Colleen Stanley
RSS for Colleen's articles - Visit Colleen's website

Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership, Inc., a business development firm specializing in sales and sales management training. Colleen is the creator of Ei SellingTM, a unique and powerful sales program that integrates emotional intelligence skills with consultative sales skills. The result is consistent and predictable sales growth. Colleen is a monthly columnist for Business Journals across the country, author of ‘Growing Great Sales Teams' and co-author of ‘Motivational Selling.'

Reach Colleen at 303.708.1128, cstanley@salesleadershipdevelopment.com, visit www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com., or become a fan at www.facebook.com/SalesLeadership.



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