7 Outright Benefits Earned From Direct Sales Marketing
Direct Sales Marketing, as the name suggests, is a form of marketing that advertises directly to existing customers or potential customers. Marketing is a very crucial, and yet sensitive, aspect of any business. The success of your business is directly linked to your marketing efforts. However, just because you have a marketing department doesn’t mean your products will fly off the shelves.
There’s a lot of hype surrounding inbound marketing, but it hasn’t really worked for every business. Sometimes it's better to stick to the good old ways. That way, you’re most likely going to increase sales margins, especially if you do it correctly.
In this article, we’ll look at seven apparent advantages of direct marketing. Though most businesses have shied away from this marketing technique, we’ll show you why going back to the basics might be a good idea.
What Is Direct Sales Marketing?
Happy customers are at the core of every successful business. How to spend marketing funds is one of the most agonizing choices business owners and execs have to make. On one hand, you want to reach a wider audience, and on the other hand, you need a creative and effective marketing campaign.
This marketing entails sending marketing messages to the customers or prospects with a strong call to action to conclude the message.
Forms of Direct Marketing
There are a couple of ways you can launch a directing marketing campaign. What’s more, you don’t have to choose only a single method. You can combine two or more methods for the greatest effect.
Here are some common methods of direct marketing:
- Direct mail- you send mail directly to an existing customer or a potential customer. The mail can include information about offers, discounts, and other customer incentives.
- Face-to-face selling- this method is the most basic form of direct marketing. The sales team personally comes in contact with current and potential customers.
- Catalogs- catalogs are an excellent way to entice your current and potential customer base on your products.
- Internet marketing – directly promote products or provide more information about your products. You can also leverage internet leads for your business’ benefit.
- Telemarketing- telemarketing still generates lots of sales, but you need to do it right. Ditch the annoying robocalls that almost everybody loves to hate; these robocalls may actually be costing your business.
Key Advantages of Direct Marketing
Direct sales marketing is the most basic method of marketing. Although the marketing industry has revolutionized significantly, direct marketing still works like a charm.
Direct marketing has also evolved with time, and now there are modern methods that most companies are embracing. There are a plethora of reasons why you should adopt direct marketing campaigns for your business. Here are a few of the most important.
1.It's Cost-Effective
Direct marketing will save you a lot of cash as compared to most marketing methods. This is because it targets a specific customer base that is most likely to buy your products. The technique whittles the audience down to the customers or people that will be beneficial to your business.
A direct marketing campaign is more purpose-driven and straightforward and is more likely to generate results.
2. Enhances Customer Loyalty and Retention
You can never underestimate the importance of customer retention and loyalty in your business. With direct marketing, you can personalize messages, offers, and discounts to improve customer relationships.
Personalized communication portrays how much you value your customers. In turn, this increases your connection with the customers and will boost their loyalty to your brand.
3. Helps You Pick out Your Ideal Customers
Direct marketing will give you the criteria to pick out your ideal customers. Since the advertisement is tailored to these customers, they are more likely to engage with your products. They are also more likely to be repeat customers or even neighborhood brand ambassadors.
However, targeting the ideal customers doesn’t just happen automatically. You should have a well-coordinated marketing campaign with a competent marketing team both on the ground and at HQ. The team will help you learn more about your customer base.
4. Boost Sales
The greatest advantage of direct marketing is that it boosts sales, which in turn increases profit margins. Direct marketing will get you more sales from your current customers.
If you fell out with a few customers, direct marketing is one way you can get them back. You can rekindle that past relationship and get things rolling again.
5. Direct Marketing Is Relatively Easy
There are so many direct marketing methods that the hardest part might be choosing one. However, all you have to do is just find a way that works for your particular business. Digital marketing is a viable option that won’t need a lot of resources, either human or technical.
6. Helps Get Your Brand out There
You don’t need huge billboards to get your brand recognized, you just need a cohesive direct marketing campaign and you’re good to go.
Get enough mails, catalogs, and emails to the right people, and your brand will spread like wildfire.
7. Faster Turnaround
You get to reap the fruits of your direct marketing campaign pretty quickly. You can also set up that same marketing campaign in no time. For instance, sending an email to your customers will take no more than 10 minutes.
Embrace Direct Marketing for Greater Profit Margins
Hopefully, you’re now aware of the many advantages of direct marketing. You can now incorporate some of the direct marketing methods into your marketing endeavors. Although you don’t have to spend a lot, you still need to put in considerable effort to launch a successful marketing campaign.
For accurate and real-time internet leads, contact us today, and we'll sort you out.
At Last, the 7 Secrets on How to Be Successful in Direct Sales Are Revealed
In the United States, direct sales is big business. In fact, it’s a $35.4 billion industry with over 1 million sellers doing it full-time and another 5.2 million using it to supplement their income.
However, not everyone will succeed. If you truly want to make good money and turn your direct sales gig into a real business, you need to learn the right strategies and implement them the right way.
Luckily, we’re here to help. Here are our seven best tips for how to be successful in direct sales.
1. Use (And Love) Your Product
This should go without saying, but if you really want to succeed in direct sales, you need to choose your product carefully. It should be something you use, love, and truly believe can benefit other people. If you’re truly excited about what you’re selling, it will come through in your delivery – and people will notice.
If you’re using your products consistently, you can also easily demo them and will have plenty of personal testimonials. You might even have some “insider” tips and tricks to share with them.
2. Define Your Target Market
One mistake many direct sellers make is assuming that everyone with a heartbeat is a prospective customer. If you do this, you’ll waste a lot of your time on people who simply aren’t interested.
Instead, take some time right away to figure out exactly who your target customer is. Once you really get to know your product, it’s fairly easy to figure out the type of person who is most likely to have a need for it.
Is it busy moms? Is it young, single people? Once you narrow this down, think about where these people “hang out.”
Are you likely to find them spending their spare time on Tik Tok or Snapchat? Or do they spend hours scrolling through Pinterest? Maybe Facebook is a better platform, or even LinkedIn.
Maybe your target audience doesn’t spend much time on social media at all, and you need to focus on chat groups or other types of gatherings. Figure this out and it becomes easy to put your marketing efforts into the right places
3. Identify Your Value Proposition
Most people are careful with their money, so it’s not enough for you to just tell them that your product is great, and they should buy it. You need to actually show them how it will make their lives better.
Will it make them look gorgeous and feel better about themselves? Will it give them more energy? Or help them be more efficient in the kitchen?
Also, beware of touting the features of your product. Is it non-toxic? So what!
Instead, let them know that using a non-toxic product means that it’s safer for their children and pets. Or that it could reduce the chances of having an allergic reaction.
Turn features into benefits and you’ll be way ahead of the game.
4. Differentiate Yourself
With almost every direct sales product, there are many other people working for the same company. Why would a customer buy from you instead of their neighbor, co-worker, or family friend who is offering the same products?
Find the answer to this question, and you’re setting yourself up for success.
One great option is to incorporate your personal story into your sales pitch. This is something that nobody else can replicate, so it will automatically set you apart.
You can also differentiate yourself by personalizing your sales process, adding additional services or a loyalty plan, or even creating a monthly newsletter that you send to your customers and prospects.
6. Leverage Social Media
Social media is one of the best ways to get leads. If you’re not using it consistently, you’re missing out.
Post photos and videos of your products. Share ideas about new ways to use them. Try having a photo contest where your customers post images of themselves with your products and use a specific hashtag.
You can also host contests and giveaways, or even pay a few dollars for targeted social media ads.
7. Throw an Online Party
While in-person networking and home parties have long been some of the best tactics for direct sales, we live in a different world now. With “social distancing” being the phrase of the year, your entire sales process needs a revamp.
Do yourself a favor and start figuring out how to create social gatherings online right now. Facebook groups are a good start.
You might also look for other ways to throw virtual parties online. For example, look for online event software that will allow you to showcase your products and do demonstrations for groups of people in remote locations.
You’ll also want to refine your shipping or delivery options. Many people don’t want to leave their houses right now, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop doing business. The people who figure out smart ways to work around this will ultimately be the ones who succeed despite these new challenges.
How to Be Successful in Direct Sales? Never Stop Learning!
Now you know the top seven secrets for how to be successful in direct sales. But, you’re not done yet!
One of the most important keys to success is to never stop learning. We suggest you bookmark our blog and come back every day. Read through a few of our posts and decide how you can implement our tips into your business.
Then, come back the next day – and the next – and keep repeating the process! This will ensure that you’re always a step ahead of your competitors and that your business doesn’t just survive but truly thrives.
9 Brilliant Ideas on How to Maximize Effectiveness When Working From Home
About 8 million people in the country are already working from home. That number is expected to leap higher than ever as social distancing is becoming a new norm.
If you're new to working remotely, it can feel like a big adjustment. With these nine tips, you can learn how to work from home successfully without it hurting your productivity. It's all about finding the right balance between your work and personal life.
With these tips, you'll find working from home is easier than you realized. Start boosting your productivity and finding that work/life balance with these nine tips!
1. Keep Regular Work Hours
The first step you need to take when working from home is to change nothing.
That's right. If you usually get up at 7 a.m. to go for a jog, stick to it. If you used to drink a protein smoothie before driving to work, make that smoothie.
Either way, you want to create a routine and stick with it.
Sticking with your usual routine will tell your body and mind, "Hey, it's time to go to work." Even if you're not leaving your home, keeping to a routine will help you maintain your worker bee mindset.
It's also important to set boundaries for yourself. Working from home gives you the flexibility to start early or extend your day. However, you should still set clear "start" and "stop" times for yourself.
Have clear guidelines about when you'll start working and when it's time to log off.
If you're not working a clear nine-to-five schedule, determine your schedule ahead of time. That way, you'll know when it's time to shut off "work" mode and let your personal routine take over.
2. Set Some Ground Rules
Are there other people at home with you? If so, it's important to set ground rules about when and where you'll work.
If you have children at home, make it clear that there are activities they can and can't do when you're working. Otherwise, you might hear loud music playing during your next conference call.
When learning how to work from home successfully, these ground rules are key. Let your family members or roommates know you can't let service people in or take the dog for a walk. Set your work hours and make it clear you need to stick to your schedule.
Otherwise, your at-home life will eat away at your productivity.
3. Take a Break
Does your company have a policy about breaks? If so, stick to that policy at home as well.
If you're self-employed, take a break from the computer every few hours. Glance away from the screen and give your eyes a break.
Try taking an hour lunch break and two 15-hour breaks during the day. These breaks will give you a short chance to recharge and refocus on the task at hand.
4. Leave the House
Completing a full workday at home only to finish the day off by lounging on the house isn't healthy. In fact, you'll probably go a little stir crazy if you don't head outside.
Try to leave the building at least once a day. Go for a walk and enjoy the fresh air. A little exercise will do your body good.
Make sure to soak in a little vitamin D, too. Your body needs the sunshine as a natural mood booster.
5. Dedicate Your Space
When you first start working from home, make sure to dedicate a space for yourself. You don't need an entire office. Instead, try to create a workspace that's outside of your bedroom.
Have everything you need within reach, including your laptop, a monitor, and your favorite mug.
When it's time to work, try to keep your laptop off your lap. Make it clear that you're working by sitting at your at-home office. When it's personal time, pull your laptop onto your lap.
Establishing this difference will help you maintain the divide between your work and personal life.
6. Keep a Separate Phone Number
In order to keep that work/life balance, try to divide your personal and work tools if you can. For example, try to use a separate phone for calls with colleagues and clients. You don't need a separate phone or landline anymore.
Instead, consider getting a free VoIP service through Google Voice or Skype.
Otherwise, make sure to use a VPN when you're on a network you can't control. For example, you'll want to use a VPN if you're connected to the internet at a cafe or airport.
Some organizations even have their own VPNs for off-site employees. Ask your company if they offer one.
Otherwise, you might want to consider using a VPN while you're at home, too.
7. Socialize With Colleagues
86% of employees say they're most productive when they work alone. When you're working from home, you don't have to worry about distractions like unnecessary meetings or load work environments. However, it's still important to take the time to socialize with your colleagues on occasion.
Isolation can have a major impact on your mental health. When learning how to work from home successfully, don't ignore the importance of socializing.
Check with your company's remote work culture. See if they have chat channels where you can communicate with your colleagues. Maybe you want to schedule a weekly video conference together.
Socializing with your colleagues will help you take a mental break from work. It can also help improve your company's remote culture or help you brainstorm as a team.
8. Overcommunicate
To work from home successfully, it's important to overcommunicate with your team. When you complete a task, speak up. Let people know about your schedule and availability.
Otherwise, you're creating an opportunity for people to make assumptions.
Take the time to learn new skills, too. For example, try these strategies for improving your direct sales. Then, share what you learned with your team.
9. Remain Positive
Above all else, make sure to remain positive as you use these tips for working from home. Try to avoid sounding brash when you communicate with your team. Embrace the exclamation point or use emojis to keep communication lighthearted and fun.
How to Work From Home Successfully: 9 Tips to Boost Your Productivity
Now that you know how to work from home successfully, put these tips to work! These tips for working from home will help you improve your productivity. In the meantime, they can also make adapting to this sudden change a lot easier.
Embrace the remote working culture today!
Want to discover more ways to boost productivity for your business? Contact us today to discover how we can help.
5 Simple Ways on How to Manage Your Sales Pipeline
According to a study by Harvard Business Review, companies that have a defined formal sales process have an 18% difference in revenue growth when compared to companies with no formal process. The same study revealed that companies that use at least three specific sales pipeline practices saw 28% higher revenue growth than those with none.
In the world of business today, it is vital to know how to manage a sales pipeline. This is the new way of doing business, and without one, you may not close a lot of sales as you ought to. You also need to deeply understand the actual conversion process to manage your pipeline successfully.
What Is a Sales Pipeline?
This is the visual snapshot of where predictions are in the sales process. They will show how much you should expect from your sales team per week, month, or even a year. With a sales pipeline, you will be able to know if your salespeople are reaching their quotas.
Managing a good sales pipeline will help both you and your sales team remain organized, focused, deliberate, and disciplined. You will be able to know what to do every step of the way and how to channel your efforts to cultivating leads and closing more sales.
A sales pipeline is the best way of defining your sales process from the initial contact with a prospect to the time the sale will close. Just like with other aspects of your business, having a tool, be it in finance or marketing, is not enough. You have to make the tool work for you.
This means a sales pipeline as a tool will need a good strategy and management for it to succeed.
Here are some of the simple ways on how to manage your sales pipeline.
1. Collect Relevant Data
When identifying a prospect, your first step should be to collect all the data that you need. Record their names, address, contacts, the value of the deal, their interests, and also the closing date. Keep this information on your database for quick access.
The information that you collect will have a huge impact on your success when it comes to following up. It is impossible to go forward with the sales process and expect to get some good results if you do not have at least the basic information concerning your prospect. With this information, you can then proceed to prepare a persuasive proposal.
2. The Right Content
In digital marketing today, content is king. A good sales pipeline should not be about selling but about educating. It is almost exchanging ideas and thoughts. This is because you offer your prospect a how-to guide or a piece of advice, and they offer something that you want, like attention, time, or custom.
You can achieve better optimization and efficiency by adding content in an automated email, which adds the lead to the sequences when they change to a particular stage in the sales funnel.
As you create content for your pipeline, do not forget to consider the customer's journey, the sales process, and the data collected at the beginning. They have an impact on the type of content that you should create.
3. Regular Follow-Up
A common mistake that sales teams make is a lack of follow up. This is very quickly forgotten; however, those who do it well end up closing the sale. Take advantage of the digital age and set automated reminders and tasks that will promptly send a call or an automated email follow up.
Remember, consumers have several choices, and they need help to make the right decisions, and this makes deals a little harder to close too. Following up with leads will help you land the sale.
Please do not give up after two phone calls no matter how challenging it can be, your company stands to gain a lot from it. You will also maintain your customers through follow up.
4. Measure
How else would you know if your tool is effective, or if a lead has successfully completed the first step and is ready to go to the next if you do not measure whether it is working or not? Take this as a milestone for your sales tool.
While measuring, you can also ask yourself if you need to do more than you currently are and the effects of face to face versus the non-face to face relations. With this in place, you will see what helps you close a deal faster and pay more attention to it.
5. Evaluate and Improve
This is a huge part of sales pipeline management. How can you measure your success?
A good sales pipeline should be able to succeed so that you can know if you should reevaluate your strategies. You should know the factors to consider when evaluating how effective and efficient the pipeline is.
To do this, consider the time that it took the team to convert a sale, leads lost in the various stages, customer satisfaction, and more. There is always an area that needs to be improved on and the best ways of doing so.
The feedback you get can also be useful. Therefore, ask your latest customers what their feelings are towards the whole process and what they would like to see changed. Collect feedback from your sales team, too, to identify any gaps in the pipeline that needs improvement.
Manage Your Sales Pipeline Well to Grow Your Business
Having a well-managed sales pipeline will give you a clear view of the whole process and this, in turn, will also give you the best chance to define, evaluate and optimize each step of the process and get more leads,
If you are looking for a sales tool, we have just the right one for your business. Visit our website for more about what we can offer you and do not hesitate to contact us for an appointment.
What Is a Mailing List and Why It's Important for Email Marketing
For every dollar you spend on email marketing, you can expect to make $42 on average. Is this a kind of return your business is willing to throw away?
Email marketing is a critical component of your overall digital marketing strategy. Due to the fact that the people who sign up to your email list are in effect, allowing you to message them, you stand a better chance of making a sale.
If you are wondering, “What is a mailing list?” then here is a guide to help you understand what such a list is and how it can benefit your business.
What Is a Mailing List?
Simply put, an email list is a collection of email addresses that a business gathers from its customers and prospects, to use when sending them periodic information.
The information you can send as a business includes your newsletter, discount offers, and other material related to your business. Unlike traditional post mail, an email list lets you send out an email to each subscriber in one go.
When you are building an email list, the quality of the information matters. Therefore, you need to source real data from real subscribers that look at their inboxes regularly.
The people who receive your email should also be interested in what you have to say for your list to make headway. Once you have the high-quality subscriber information from those interested in hearing from you, then you can focus on growing the subscriber base.
How Email Lists Are Critical for Your Business
Using technology to power how you reach your customers is nowadays a baseline operational requirement, and email lists help you achieve this. Some of the compelling benefits of using an email list include:
1. Personalization
Email is a personal form of engaging with your customers. As such, an email list offers you an opportunity to leverage personalization for great results.
When building your list, you can segment various subscribers according to the criteria that most matter to you. Using these preferences, you can send out information and offers that are specially tailor-made to meet their unique needs.
Being able to offer relevant solutions to a subscriber's needs time and again can help you not only make sales but, more importantly, retain your customers.
The level of personalization you can achieve through a mail list is not just about what you say but also in how you say it.
For example, you can integrate each subscriber's name in the content to make them feel you are speaking directly to them and not a massive amorphous crowd.
Such a touch tends to earn more attention from the subscriber for your current and future emails, which can set you above the pack as more businesses vie for the same subscriber's inbox.
2. You Own the Land
Digital marketing platforms offer a unique opportunity for you to market your business. While there is immense value in this, there is always an unspoken, underlying risk - you don’t control the third party platform.
As such, there have been many cases where businesses have poured lots of money into such platforms only to lose them in one stroke.
When it comes to using email lists, you own the land and don’t build on rented digital property. Sure, you still need to rely on third-party email providers. But, you own the subscriber base, which is the most critical part of the asset.
Thus, as you plow your resources into growing and optimizing the list, you don’t need to fear losing it all due to a lack of control. You can, therefore, plan your marketing strategy with greater certainty to drive more leads and sales consistently.
3. There Is Customer Buy-In
Email lists are permission-based, and that fact holds one of the highest values when it comes to digital marketing. Since most subscribers give you consent to send them your message, they are more open to reading each email.
Due to this buy-in, you stand a higher chance of converting a reader into a customer since they are already showing a degree of interest in your offering.
The friction that comes in between you and the customer is reduced a bit, meaning you can not only find it easier to win clients but that retaining them also becomes easier to achieve with the right strategy.
4. You Can Introduce New Products With Less Resistance
Introducing a new product into the market is always an uphill task, no matter how high the reputation of your business. If you try to add to that the fact that you will be selling this new product to leads who are not yet buying from you, you have your work cut out for you.
One way you can ease the task of bringing that new product to market is by using an email list. As we have seen in the previous point, most subscribers give you permission to send them your emails.
Therefore, when it’s time to launch a new product, you will not be communicating with people who don’t care about your business. You can tap the buy-in you have with the subscribers on your list to generate interest that can give the latest entrant into your portfolio the traction it needs.
That is the reason why major brands like Amazon will continually send their subscribers an email about new products on offer no matter how successful they have become.
It is much cheaper to pitch a new offer to a customer who wants to hear from you than to try to win them over then convince them again about a new product.
Create a Direct Relationship With Your Customers
The email inbox is not dead. Businesses big and small rely on email marketing to deliver personalized messages to their customers for more effective campaigns.
An email list is the customer information tool you need to help you segment and target your subscribers effectively. Begin by asking and answering the question, “What is a mailing list?” to help you gain valuable insight on how you can optimize your email list for high conversion rates.
Sales Data Pro understands your need for high-value customer information to make informed sales decisions. Talk to us today for updated consumer data and internet leads you can access in real-time to fortify your sales strategy.
Your Customer Retention Guide: What Is Retention and Why Is It Important for Sales Professionals?
There are multiple marketing strategies that you can use for your business. While acquiring new customers is a great hack, it’s just one part of the puzzle. The other part of this picture is retention.
Customer retention is an aspect of your business that can save you tons of money in acquisition. Doing this part right is important and should be given a good amount of attention.
If you're looking to understand how to retain customers in your business, check out this quick guide to learn what is retention and why it's important for sales professionals.
What is Retention?
Customer retention is a percentage that measures the number of existing customers after a certain period. The rate is affected by the number of new customers acquired and the old customers come in. The latter can be by closing a contract, not returning to buy, and canceling their subscription.
Customer retention is calculated as follows:
Retention Rate = (# of Customers at End of Period - # of Customers Acquired During Period) / # of Customers at Start of Period) X 100
You can decide on the duration of the period. It can be quarterly or even annually, depending on the nature of your business.
Why is Customer Retention Important?
Now that you understand what is retention let’s get to the nitty-gritty of why it’s crucial to a business.
Besides being just an equation, customer retention is about being able to continuously serve the people that have already experienced your business. Customer retention enables you to increase your profit margin in many ways. It eliminates that need to constantly need to generate new leads just for your business to survive.
Here are a few reasons why customer retention is vital in every business.
Save on Money on Marketing
The process of acquiring new customers can be tedious and expensive. Think about it. You’ve got to do some or even all of these things, depending on the competition in your industry.
- PPC
- SEO
- Outbound sales team
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
Each of the above strategies can be expensive. There are factors included such as hiring specialists to undertake the task, training your employees on the tasks, or buying the required tools.
According to a study, after all these efforts, there is only a 60-70% chance of selling to an old customer. You’ll also need to invest in keeping your customers happy. For example, by increasing the number of customer care staff.
Upsell and Cross-Sell
This is the easiest way anyone asking “what is retention" can benefit from. Many salespeople think that once a sale is made then everything is done. But you could get a new opportunity if you listen to your customers well.
For example, let’s say you specialize in lady clothes. You may realize that most of them are continually complaining about how hard getting new-born attires is. This means they may be willing to buy baby clothes from you.
If you’ve got the capital, you can test the market and add the product to your store. The best part is that you got a loyal customer base already, so it won’t be like you’ll start from scratch.
Referral System
Relying solely on cold pitching isn't the only way to build clientele. Gaining referrals is probably the best part of retaining customers. They refer you to their friends, colleagues, and relatives.
Getting a referral is like free marketing, and it’s the most effective marketing tactic. When a loved one recommends a product or service to you, you usually trust their opinion. You’re confident they are referring to you based on their personal experience or their trusted chain of friends.
Yet once a salesperson calls you, you feel like their motive is to sell to you. So as much as the product may be good, you might be a bit hesitant in making the purchase.
This is why you need to spend more on customer retention. To encourage your existing customers to refer you to their network of friends, invest in a referral program. For instance, you can offer a discount or a gift card for every person who refers a new client.
Customer Advocates
Besides the referrals, there are customers who tell everyone who cares to listen how great and solid your product and services are. The best part is that they do it free of charge.
They are extremely vital in persuading customers to purchase your products online, and it’s just not through word of mouth and referrals. Advocates are also very active online.
You’ll find them on social media platforms, websites, product review sites, eCommerce sites, and forums. With the buyer’s journey starting online, it’s very important that you have the people passing a good word for you on your behalf.
Another way advocates help in your business is when you end up in a conflict with a customer. Remember, the angriest voices are the loudest, and they could significantly affect the reputation of your business.
Advocates help in correcting the image by building up, on the positive aspect of your business to keep the balance.
Knowing What Is Retention Can Help Your Business
Understanding what is retention is something that every marketer needs to get acquainted with. You might be putting so much effort into acquiring new customers, and yet your profit margin remains low. Focusing on adding in a strategy for retaining customers can be the answer to your troubles.
Set aside funds and excellent customer care training to keep your existing customers around. Remember, they can help you spread a good word for your business as they continue buying from you.
If you're looking for help with coming up with a customer retention strategy, feel free to contact us today.
How to Perform a Sales Data Analysis
79% of sales teams use or intend to use sales analytics technology to improve efficiency.
There's no getting past that every company should at least use some basic sales data analysis. With the vast majority of sales teams already using it, sales data analysis has become necessary just to keep up.
But where to start? Read on for a summary of the key steps you can take to start your own sales data analysis.
Benefits of Sales Data Analysis
Everything you do in business creates data. Without any sales analysis, all of that data just passes by you, unused. Given that we now live in the era of big data, and the big data market is growing so fast that it's expected to double in just the next 3 years, this data could be being better used.
By recording your actions to create data, you can then organize that data to create powerful tools for analysis. Sales graphs and other analytical tools can be the best way to get a big picture understanding of what's been going on in your company and what you can do about it.
As soon as you know what influences your sales trends, you become the driver, able to take effective, intentional action to positively affect your sales. No more will you be subject to mysteriously fluctuating sales numbers, with no apparent rhyme or reason.
Collecting Data
Most of the data you're going to need is probably already being collected. If each of your sales reps records their sales along with when they happened, how big they were, and in what area, then you have plenty to start with.
On the other hand, you may need to shore up some blank spaces in your landscape. Are your sales reps recording the timeline of their sales? Ideally, they'll record when they first found a lead, how quickly they contacted the lead, how quickly they offered a quote to the lead, and how long it took them to close on the sale after they offered a quote.
Additionally, you'll need data from your storage or warehouse indicating how quickly you run out of any given product.
Entering Data
The next thing you'll need to do is transfer all the data you're collecting to a powerful processing tool. Something as simple as Microsoft Excel can work fine, although you can also find specialized software designed for trend analysis.
If any of your data has been collected on paper, then you'll need someone to do data entry to get it all into your chosen processing software product. You might think about updating your data collection procedures to be purely electronic.
You're going to want to get all the data into one place, so you may have to gather it from disparate electronic or paper records. Once it's all in the system, you're ready to start organizing it.
Organizing Data
The simple data points on when sales were made, where, and what was sold is enough to perform a lot of analysis.
First, you need to decide on a given metric and isolate it. For example, you might start with something simple like calculating the sales rate of each of your reps over time.
Knowing how to do trend analysis is as simple as knowing how to make a line graph on Excel and entering the data into the appropriate cells. There is plenty of information on how to do this online.
In short, to make a line graph that displays the sales rate of each of your reps over time, you'll make a column for each representative and enter the total value of their sales each month into a series of cells. Each cell in the column will hold one month's sales.
You then tell Excel to display those numbers as a line graph, and voila! You have a line graph showing your sales representative's sales over time. Maybe you'll see that their numbers tend to be steady, or, hopefully, they go up over time as the sales representative continues to build up experience and sales skills.
No matter what you find, you'll be able to see at a glance any interesting trends in your sales rep's performance. Simply repeat the process for your other sales reps and you'll be able to identify which of your reps needs extra training or deserves special praise.
This trends analysis example is one of the simpler ones, but as long as you have your data and know a few basic tricks on Excel, you can make many more.
Other Sales Metrics
Keeping track of how each of your products is performing is a powerful way to tell which products are no longer worth spending time on, or which ones could be huge moneymakers if you gave them extra attention.
In this case, you'll need to look at what was sold in each of your sales reps reports and break the total sales number down into how much of each product was sold, and for how much.
You can then combine the entire team's sales on each product together to find out which of your products has sold the most, which sold the least, and which were in between. Enter the total sales of each product per month into a line graph on Excel, and you'll be able to see which products' sales are growing or shrinking.
While this will tell you each product's performance, it also paves the way for you to use another sales metric: cannibalization rate.
Your similar products compete with each other, and it's possible that a new product will simply take the sales away from an old one. Since your total sales don't go up when that happens, that new product may only be worth a minimal investment.
Every situation is different, but by tracking each product's performance and then comparing them all, you may notice that one product's performance goes up at the same time that another's goes down.
Now that you can see what's going on in your company, you'll be able to apply your judgment to decide what to do about it.
Know Your Company
We hope you learned something helpful in this brief explanation of sales data analysis.
As you optimize your sales performance, you'll need more leads to power your sales. Check out our other pages to find out how you can use real-time and aged leads in your sales team. You can also learn more about the effective use of business and consumer data.
Contact us today to find out how we could help your business.
10 Sales Analytics All Professionals Should Track
More and more companies are learning to take advantage of the power of sales analytics. In fact, "79% of sales teams currently use or are planning to use sales analytics technology to increase efficiency."
The strong majority of sales teams have decided that sales analytics tools are the way to go, so how can you get the most out of them?
Read on to learn 10 ways to use sales analytics to help your company grow.
Benefits of Sales Analytics
Every action anyone takes in your company creates data. These data points can be a goldmine of insights into how you can refine your business model and buff up your bottom line.
But none of those opportunities is worth anything if you don't take advantage of them! Tracking, sorting, and storing data in an accessible and comprehensible way can empower leaders to track the business behaviors that are adding to, detracting from, or doing nothing for the bottom line.
Making these connections can help you to double down on your winning behaviors, and eliminate or adjust patterns that are a waste of time or actively harmful to your business success.
How Many Sales Each Sales Rep Makes
A company's strength is ultimately built on the sales team, and a sales team's strength is built one representative at a time.
When programs and incentives and everything else is taken care of, the thing that really determines your success is going to be how effective each of your representatives is.
Companies are used to using crude rules-of-thumb for guessing at the effectiveness of their reps like seniority. While seniority may be a useful hint at your most valuable reps, tracking sales per rep can give you a much clearer picture of who's generating sales and who isn't.
Sales Targets
Sales targets require you to first set a goal and then keep track of how successfully your team is moving towards achieving that goal.
At first, you might not know exactly what goal to set, but over time using this sales performance metric, you'll learn about how much your team can accomplish on average and what they can achieve when they're motivated to do their best.
Growth in Sales Over Time
Changes in your rate of sales are of supreme importance to your company. Tracking growth in your sales rate can isolate moments of extreme significance for you to look into.
Anytime you see a drop or an increase in sales performance, you'll want to investigate and find out how to prevent potentially fatal losses and how to magnify anything that increases performance.
Cannibalization Rate
When you introduce a new product, there's always some chance that it will be a competitor not just with other companies' products, but with your own products!
The more similar your new product is to an old one, the more likely it is to end up pulling sales away from old products.
The cannibalization rate measures how many of a new product's sales are dragging sales away from old products. By measuring your cannibalization rate, you'll be able to tell if a hot new product is really benefiting the company versus if it's just shifting sales from one place to another.
Average Purchase Value
Sales take time and there are only so many hours in the day for sales reps to make them. Sales data analysis metrics like this track how valuable each individual sale is to the company.
You might find that two sales reps have the same number of sales, but produce vastly different amounts of value for the company. Maybe one rep has many low value sales while another has many high value sales.
You may be able to encourage your reps to shift their time away from low value sales and towards making high value sales, to create more company value in the same time and in the same number of sales.
Total Sales
Your total sales metric simply tracks how many sales you've made since the beginning of the company. Hopefully, you'll see more sales over time and an increase in the rate of sales over time!
Tracking total sales can help you achieve insight into which historical company events have produced positive or negative changes in sales.
Sell-Through Rate
Your sell-through rate tracks how quickly you sell an inventory's worth of product.
For quick sellers, knowing your sell-through rate can help make sure you don't run out of product and end up losing sales. For slow sellers, this sales analysis can help you adjust the rate of delivery so you don't end up over-stocked.
Performance of Each Product
Keeping track of how well each of your products performs is key to knowing which ones need to be emphasized or advertised, versus which ones should be phased out or left as a sideshow.
Sales in Each Region
Knowing your sales in each region can help you identify which markets offer greater opportunity for sales to your company.
Even profitable areas may need less emphasis if they're already saturated and can produce no more sales. Some new areas may be fruitful ground for greater sales while others may be duds.
Time From Quote to Close
Your quote to close rate isolates and focuses on how good your sales team is at closing. If your team is effective at producing leads and getting to quotes, but is lacking in moving from quotes to close, you may need to adjust what kind of sales training you emphasize.
On the other hand, you might find that your team is brilliant at closing and your company would benefit by producing more leads for your sales team. If you have a brilliant sales team, you don't want to end up wasting this rare resource.
Sales Metrics to Take Your Business to the Next Level
We hope you learned something helpful about sales analytics in this short piece. To learn more about how to collect data and get the most out of it in your business, check out our other articles!
How to Be Successful in Direct Sales: 6 Strategies All Sales Professionals Should Know
Direct selling has leaped into a multi-billion industry. In the US, by 2018 it had jumped past $35.4 billion in annual retail sales. Many people continue to join the industry to enjoy the flexibility and financial independence on offer.
As the stats show, the model is still a viable business. Direct selling has stood the test of time and the growth of MLM companies is proof of its viability. But success in the industry doesn’t come easy.
Like any other business, you need to identify your market, deliver an appealing message and meet customers’ needs. Regardless of your networking model, there are some basic strategies you can use to succeed. Check out these six tips on how to be successful in direct sales.
1. Choose Your Products Wisely
Most of the leading marketers love what they do. They love their product, the hustle, the customer and selling itself. In the entire business world, passion is critical to selling success.
Your customers can discern if you’re giving an ordinary sales pitch or providing a solution. The more you’re passionate about the product the better. Passionate sales professionals can overcome selling rejection and sell where many people wouldn’t.
Leading sales professionals mastered how to be successful in direct sales. They choose to sell what they love and talk about their products enthusiastically.
You can use the products to understand them better and sell them from user experience. That way, you can express the benefits of your product without any fear.
2. Persistence Wins In Direct Selling
In direct selling, your marketing tactics don’t count without persistence. Most leading professionals portray direct selling like it’s a walk in the park. The truth is if it was that easy, many people will succeed.
Persistence is one of the most crucial skills in direct selling. If you know how to be successful in direct sales, persistence is the character to nurture. Prospects won’t buy after your first or second pitch.
In direct selling, you’ll lose prospects or fail to impress them. You may invest a lot in a proven marketing tactic, and experience minimal response. Often people will yell, scold or even hang op on you.
Thanks to persistence, all the rejection needs to be your launchpad to success in direct sales. Instead of focusing on rejection, you can fine-tune your strategy and target high-quality leads.
3. Embrace Target Marketing
How can a list of potential prospects help you be successful in direct sales? Most of the times your prospect list features only the warm market. That is your friends, family, church members, and workmates.
Warm marketing may be effective in the short run, but it may keep you to your comfort zone. Getting used to cold pitching prospects will get you further along when your first list is exhausted.
In many businesses, sales professionals prefer niche or target marketing from the onset. That way, you can identify the people interested in your products and streamline your marketing efforts.
Another mistake you might be making is targetting to recruit people instead of selling. You’re more likely to become successful in direct selling by targetting buyers. People interested in your product are more reliable when you want fast growth multi-level selling.
4. Sell Value
61 percent of customers expect you to listen to their needs and provide relevant information without being salesy. Customers expect value out of your product. Determine how your product addresses the needs of your market.
How will the customers feel or respond after using your product? Will they be happy and return to buy more?
One of the best ways to determine the value of products is to break down its features and benefits. A better product will have more features and benefits. When you understand the benefits of your products, you can aim your pitch to focus on value addition.
5. Build A Community
One of the most effective direct sales technique is to build a customer base. Aim at building a strong relationship to keep them coming back. How you relate to them will determine if you’ll be successful in direct sales.
If you build a close connection, customers can turn into your advocates and help you to expand your tribe. You can use Facebook groups to build a community and engage them with helpful tips.
Treat the community like it’s your family. Share inspirational posts and aim at providing the most value. Keep the clan engaged with consistent posts and try to understand their needs.
6. Use Videos And Blog Posts To Tell Your Stories
According to Uri Hasson, a neuroscientist at Princeton University, stories are the most effective tools of communication. Hasson says stories can sync your brain with your audience and create an emotional connection.
In business, marketers prefer stories to nurture audiences and drive consumers towards. Before promoting your products, use stories to hook your audience and allow them to understand your brand.
Focus on how the products have improved your life. Narrate your real experiences with products to pull your audiences.
To increase engagement, you can seek feedback from your existing customers about the products. Stories from customers are more powerful and can show proof about the effectiveness of your products.
Create videos and blog posts if possible to allow the sharing of the products. At the end of each video or blog, you can request the audience to reach out for more information about the products.
The Wrap Up: How To Be Successful In Direct Sales
Are you still wondering how to be successful in direct sales? Here’s one last tip to wrap up this guide.
Great customer experiences are an outcome of a nurtured relationship over the years. To improve the relationships, interact and go personal with customers. Think of creating memorable experiences and offering an emotional punch in every buying circle.
Combine this point with other tips mentioned to improved your salesperson skills. If you're looking for help with advancing your sales tactics, contact us today.