Sales Strategies

A sales strategy is the way you plan to increase product and service sales. Sales strategies range from very simple to incredibly complex. Every business builds its own sales strategy based on thorough research and clearly defined and measurable goals, mapping out and executing strategic actions to drive sales.

Popular Sales Strategies:

There are a number of different sales strategies, many of which may not be suitable or efficient in helping you achieve your goals.

Read on to find out about the most popular sales strategies and how to use them to your advantage.

1. Sell the benefit.

Sell a solution to a problem rather than product specifications. Clearly communicate a powerful value proposition. This does not mean that you should completely omit your product or service specs in your messaging, but that they serve a different purpose. The benefits you offer should tell customers why they should buy your product and the product specifications describe how the benefits are delivered.

2. Create a compelling customer journey.

A popular strategy is to create sales experiences tailored to the customer and make the communication activities customer-centric. Great customer journeys and experiences increase the value of your offer, contribute to your competitive advantage, and help you build strong customer relationships.

How to create a great customer journey:

• Identify the decision-maker and understand who they are, what drives them, and what they value. You will want to build an emotional connection with your customers.
• Map out how and where to engage with your customers. Which channels do they use and what types of content do they prefer?
• Engage with your customers on their terms. If social media is their preferred channel, that is where you should be as well.
• Identify any barriers and objections your customers might have and provide solutions.
• Listen to your customers, show empathy, and be responsive. This will help you build a strong connection.

3. Target niche markets.

Targeting a niche market can be a highly cost-effective strategy and is a popular choice for small businesses. Rather than spending your budget on a generic, one-size-fits-all approach, you would tailor your sales strategy to reach a smaller and more defined market, offering benefits that meet very specific needs.

You may already have noticed a specific group of consumers, a niche market, based on geographic area, lifestyle, profession, culture, or occasion that presents a distinct opportunity for your business.

How to target a niche market:

• Conduct research and get to know the market. Research the potential buyer profile, unique needs, key issues, and preferred communication channels.
• Determine how your product or service can solve the market's problems and meet their unique needs.
• Research and assess competitors targeting the same market with a similar or related offer.
• Ensure that your messaging resonates with the market by using the appropriate tone, language, expressions, etc.

4. Tell a story.

Storytelling is another strategy for building strong connections with your target audience, prospects, and customers. Telling stories (typically based on positive customer experiences) of people who faced and overcame challenges brings what you are selling closer to your audience and illustrates the use and benefit of your product or service in real-life scenarios. Stories can be a powerful tool to trigger emotions and create empathy, making your sales pitch more engaging and impactful.

How to use storytelling in sales:

• Identify what it is you want the audience to walk away with, the idea you want to communicate.
• Keep the structure simple: One main character, a challenge they face, and how they overcome it (the solution you offer).
• Keep it simple and use language and phrases your audience can relate to.
• Make sure it feels authentic and personal. Storytelling is about making a strong human connection.

5. Give something away.

Offering something for free, such as a free trial, sample, or a complimentary product or service, is a common strategy for boosting sales and is popular with small start-ups and multi-national enterprises alike. Offering customers a free trial or sample lets customers get to know you and increases the likelihood of a purchase.

Offering a complimentary product or service with a purchase is often perceived by customers as more valuable and appealing than receiving a discount. Research suggests that this may be due to an emotional response to being offered something more rather than something less or reduced.

How to incorporate giveaways and freebies:

• Create a contest to drive awareness and encourage prospects to engage with your business.
• Offer a free trial limited by the number of users, a specific time period (e.g. 30 days), or, depending on your product or service, a basic free plan that can be upgraded by purchasing add-ons.
• If you do not want to offer a free trial without any commitment from the consumer, you can offer the first month free of any longer-term service subscription, such as a 3-month or 12-month subscription.
• Depending on your product, you can also offer free samples to let customers get to know your product before committing to purchase.
• Offer a complimentary product or service with a purchase to get customers interested in your other offerings.

6. Create urgency.

Creating a sense of urgency is a strategy designed to get prospects to move forward with a purchase by creating anxiety about the future availability of an offer. Creating a sense of urgency only works if your offer is something your prospect actively wants. The longer a prospect takes to consider their purchase, the unlikelier it is that they will follow through, often slowly talking themselves out of it.

How to create urgency:

• Make the offer available for a limited time and count down to the deadline, e.g. "Only 3 days left".
• Use time-related words, such as "hurry," "don't miss out," "one-time-only," etc.
• Emphasize the scarcity of the offer by communicating how many products are still available or how many other customers are currently considering it.
• Offer an incentive for making a purchase, such as a pending price increase.

Find out how to price your products with our Complete Guide to Pricing Strategies.

7. Offer added-value.

This approach is about enhancing the value of your product or service in the eyes of your customers. The important thing to keep in mind is that any component you add must be something the customer considers to be of high worth. Be sure to research and understand your customers' needs and determine what more you can do to help them solve their problems.

What you can do to add value:

• Create membership or loyalty programs.
• Differentiate yourself by offering high-levels of customer support defined by professionalism, expertise, responsiveness, and efficiency.
• Offer packages and bundles tailored to specific needs.
• Offer tools that enable customers to solve their problems on their own, e.g. a self-service portal.

8. Sell more to existing customers.

Many sales strategies will focus more on customer acquisition than on the existing customer base. This, of course, will also depend on your current business goals. However, don't discount your existing customer base as an opportunity to increase revenue. Chances are that over time the needs of your existing customers have grown or changed.

How to increase sales within an existing customer base:

• Look for cross-selling opportunities, i.e. encourage customers to purchase products or services in addition to their primary purchase.
• Look for up-selling opportunities, i.e. encourage customers to upgrade purchases, opt for more comprehensive packages, and consider add-ons.
• Be proactive and make recommendations based on current and potential future needs.
• Ramp-up your after-sales service and follow-up activities.

9. Leverage word of mouth.

Encouraging positive word of mouth (WOM) is among the most cost-effective strategies for driving sales. Consumers will rather trust the views of other people than any advertising messages, making the encouraging and sharing of consumer feedback an impactful way of spreading the word about your offers and getting referrals. Referrals also tend to deliver the best leads.

How to use WOM to drive sales:

• Provide an exceptional product or service that people will want to tell others about.
• Encourage user-generated content, such as the sharing of images. If you are using social media, be sure to have a unique hashtag.
• Share customer reviews and testimonials with your target audience.
• Create and implement a referral program.

10. Social selling.

Social selling refers to the practice of finding and engaging with prospects on social media platforms. A great alternative to cold calling, social selling allows salespeople to build meaningful relationships with potential customers.

How to generate leads through social selling:

• Identify relevant social networks (platforms used by your target audience).
• Find, create, and share engaging and valuable content.
• Actively participate in social groups and engage with other businesses.
• Look for opportunities to respond to and like followers' and existing customers' posts.
• Ask your existing connections for recommendations and endorsements.
• Use existing connections to find new prospects.

Sales Toolbox:

1. CRM software.

A robust CRM platform is an essential tool for any business. It helps you collect and organize all customer information and interaction records in one central platform. Many CRM software platforms offer an extensive range of tools to manage and streamline all customer-related communication activities.

2. Email marketing software.

Communicating with customers via email can be a time-consuming task. Email marketing software offers a range of useful tools that make creating and sending professional emails to large audiences easier and less time-intensive.

3. Live chat software.

Live chat software allows businesses to engage and interact with customers online in real-time. The ability to engage with customers immediately, while they are browsing your website, offers the opportunity to increase sales, as sales representatives can help customers with any questions they may have, overcome possible objections, and confidently reach a purchase decision.

4. eCommerce Software.

eCommerce solutions help businesses promote and sell their products and services online. Most platforms include a good range of tools for online store design, online payments, order processing, inventory management, and marketing.

5. POS systems.

As POS systems are becoming more advanced, they can do much more than just process sales. Many systems offer employee and inventory management tools, advanced reporting features, and the ability to track customer details.