According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 50% of businesses fail within their first five years. After another five years pass, only around one-third of businesses survive. 

In order for your business to thrive, you’ll need to consistently grow the revenue your company takes in. The easiest way to do that is by optimizing your selling techniques to increase product sales. But how do you do that? 

Keep reading to learn about six tips that will help you go about creating the perfect sales strategy plan to grow your business. 

1. Figure Out Where You Are and Where You Want to Be

Having sales goals is important for growth, but if you don’t have an understanding of how close you are to reaching those goals, then you won’t be able to get there.

Take a hard look at your sales over the past few quarters and years. Aside from looking at the numbers, pay attention to other key indicators, as well. Which member of your sales team sold the most? Which clients have yielded you the most and least profit? 

Once you analyze the past, turn your attention to the present. Again, ask yourself some important questions to help you figure out how to move forward. Where is the easiest path for growth? Has anything changed to make it easier or more difficult to obtain your goals?

2. Understand Who Your Customers Are

You can have the best sales strategy in the world, but without a clear understanding of who your customers are, you’ll fall short of your targets.

The majority of the profit your company makes will come from a small section of loyal customers. Consider factors such as sale cycles and how easy someone is to work with, then compile a list of your top clients.

After doing that, look into the psychographics and demographics of these customers. You can then piece together an “ideal customer” profile that you can then share with your sales teams. This will help them narrow in on new clients that match the criteria. 

For many businesses, Walmart is a huge market that they can tap into. Check out this guide to learn how to create the perfect Walmart strategy. 

3. Conduct a SWOT Analysis

If you’re unfamiliar with it, SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It allows you to understand what you do well, what you can improve on, which direction your business should head, and difficulties to watch out for. 

The SWOT analysis you conduct shouldn’t use imaginary facts and figures. Instead, it should have a foundation of reality.

When looking at threats and weaknesses, consider both internal and external factors. Try to create a plan to figure out how you can overcome these issues, making sure to be specific. Try to figure out why some clients are difficult to sell to, and why some reps are having trouble closing sales.

When looking at your strengths, don’t state them just to state them. Make sure that you figure out how to further improve upon them. Likewise, when thinking about opportunities, try to figure out how you can turn them into strengths. 

4. Decide on a Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve conducted a SWOT analysis and decided upon your goals, it’s time to figure out how to achieve them. The right marketing strategy can help you in that endeavor.

Try to figure out how you can grow the accounts you have. Will they buy more of the same products you offer, or do you think it’s worth it to create a new product? If the latter, ensure that you look at the customer profile, making sure it’s in line with their preferences.

Remember that it’s much cheaper to increase sales with existing clients than it is to try and attract new ones. Try to first create marketing strategies that will appeal to your top 10 clients, then go from there. 

5. Have Clear Revenue Goals

Once you piece together your marketing strategy with your revenue goals, you’ll be able to create more specific financial goals for different customers and sales regions.

During this time, try to think about what your sales and marketing teams need in order to achieve the goals you’ve laid out. Do they need more resources? Can communication between the different teams be better?

If you give your sales team a quota without the means to get there, you’ll end up making people confused and angry. Work with them through the process, ensuring that they have everything they need. 

6. Create an Action Plan

As mentioned, your sales team needs to have a concrete plan, as opposed to lofty and vague goals.

Coach your team by helping them understand which clients to prioritize, and how much revenue they need to get from them. They should also have an understanding of how many new customers (if any) they need to bring on, as well as how much time they’ll need to invest to achieve their goals.

Once they have answers to all of that, have them show you a concrete action plan, one which lists not only what they need to do, but when they’ll do it. Pay more attention to action dates than closing dates. 

Craft the Perfect Sales Strategy Plan With These Tips

Although most people know the importance of setting themselves apart from the competition in business, few companies know how to do it. By following the tips mentioned in this guide, you’ll be able to create a winning sales strategy plan that’ll retain the customers you have while also attracting new ones. 

Do you now have a better understanding of some of the different sale strategies? If you do, make sure to take a look at some of our other blog posts to read more guides and tips.