As a small business owner, you have a ton of responsibilities. One of the most important is bringing in revenue, (your sales). You have to sell your products and services to stay in business, pay your staff (and yourself) and continue to operate. Sales is such a vital part of any company’s success and yet so many small business owners struggle with it. The struggle is real and for many it is on-going. For many entrepreneurs, the reason why sales fall short is complex.
The question becomes; how do you prevent your sales from falling short? Or better yet what are the pitfalls you must avoid to keep the money rolling in? But first, let’s discuss some of the culprits that could be contributing to slow or stagnant sales.
It goes without saying that every small business owner wants and needs to sell their products and services in order to meet business and revenue goals each year. However, many times entrepreneurs find themselves lacking in revenue and not meeting financial projections for their businesses. If you find yourself or your company in this position, it is probably because of one or more reasons. I’d like to offer you a little insight as to why your sales may be falling short. Check out the list below and see if any of these issue resonates with you.
1. No Sales Follow Up – The fact is you must follow up on every single lead at all times. Failure to follow up on a lead is leaving money on the table. When you do not follow up with a lead when it is warm or hot, you risk that lead losing interest or going to buy from your competitors. Many sales people aka business owners do not have a sales funnel system or sales pipeline and therefore allow many opportunities for new business to slip through the cracks. It is critical to keep your sales pipeline up to date and maintain a system for tracking your performance and results.
2. Fear of rejection – Many times entrepreneurs and sales people have a horrible fear of hearing the word “no.” They are afraid that people will judge them harshly for attempting to sell their merchandise or services, so they shy away and don’t try to sell for fear of being judged. You can not afford to allow fear to keep you from selling your products and services. It’s that simple. You must develop thick skin and use the ‘no’ response, as a reason to press on for more information. Many times no means you have not given a prospect a reason to say yes. So press on.
3. Poor mindset – Many times entrepreneurs sabotage their sale efforts with negative thinking. If you believe that you will not sell anything, you will not sell anything. Having a winning mindset is the best way to conquer the anxiety or fear of the sales process. You must believe in your product or service. You must believe that you can sell it. It’s that simple.
4. Failure to qualify your prospects – At all times you should know whether or not a prospect is a good fit for whatever you are selling. You will waste a lot of time talking to the wrong people and trying to sell the wrong type of people, if you fail to qualify them. If you qualify your prospects, you will stand a better chance of selling them something they need and they will be more anxious to buy if what you are selling solves a problem or meets a need they are aware of.
5. Ineffective sales pitch – Many times business owners pitch their products and services in a way that talks about features of that offering rather than describing the benefits to the prospective buyer. Your sales pitch should include a brief summary about your product or service, and how it addresses a need as well as the top two or three benefits of that item.
6. Failure to master the sales conversation – Sales is nothing more than having conversations with the right type of people who are interested in what you have to offer. If you learn to master the sales conversation, you will be able to turn a simple conversation into a closed deal. The art of turning conversations into favorable sales outcomes means you know how to listen and respond to buying cues. The prospect will always provide you with information that you can leverage to move closer to a close. Your job is to listen and provide enough value so the transition is flawless.
7. Minimal or No Sales Training – Believe it or not, sales is a skill and requires training. As a business owner, you may not have the experience required to sell your products and services effectively. This means you either need to invest in a sales team or invest in a sales trainer or mentor. Either way, obtaining professional help should be on your list of priorities.
Achieving success in sales is serious business.
There are several reasons why you may not be selling as much as you would like. However, I’ve listed the most common reasons that entrepreneurs and small business owners fall short in their sales goals. If you would like to master the sales process, work on this areas and you will be ahead of most.
If you find yourself afraid of rejection, sabotaging your success, not qualifying prospects, using an ineffective pitch and unable to turn conversations into cash, it’s time for you to turn that situation around.
Here are 10 sales strategies and tactics to ensure your sales measure up:
- Build genuine relationships of people who know, like and trust you.
- Learn to think positive by using daily affirmations and declarations.
- Practice qualifying all prospects by asking a series of questions.
- Perfect your sales pitch with simple descriptions of what you do and how you help people
- Master the sales conversation by listening more than you speak.
- Build a customer base of loyal buyers.
- Maintain excellent customer service at all times.
- Have a growth mindset.
- UpSell on each product/service.
- Sell multiple items at once.
Whether you are responsible for the sales in your company or you have someone selling for you, you must become comfortable with sales. To ignore the most important and vital part of business is doing yourself and your future a huge disservice.
Did this article help you? Leave me a comment below.
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This article was written by Lori A. Manns. Want to use this article for your website or blog? No problem, here’s what you must include:
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Lori A. Manns is an award-winning, marketing expert, sales coach and business strategist who works with small business owners to help them elevate their brand, get more clients and grow revenue in record time. Lori A. Manns is CEO of Quality Media Consultant Group and founder of the Trailblazer Business Mastermind™ where advancing entrepreneurs go to learn business growth strategies so they soar in business. Lori is also the creator of Sponsorship Sales Secrets System;™ that shows you how to get more sponsors and sales for your business, guaranteed. To purchase consulting services on marketing, advertising or sales and, learn how to increase your revenue and grow your business; please visit the contact us page on www.qualitymediaconsultants.com.