Are you experiencing a drop in business sales? You are not alone.
“Through my experience and interaction with different business owners and entrepreneurs I’ve learned that there are many reasons why a company’s sales may be down and I compiled the most common challenges businesses have as barriers to increasing their sales,” says Themba Nkuna, founder of the How to Sell Academy, which offers sales and competitive intelligence strategy training.
Nkuna, who is also the author of the sales guide book How to Pitch, Sell and Multiply, also uses his YouTube channel as an educational platform where he shares sales tips. Nkuna says he often gets emails asking: ‘What are we doing wrong?’.
Some of the most common reasons why sales strategies fail, he says, are business owners selling to the wrong target market or not tracking their leads.
Find out Nkuna’s top 5 reasons why your sales could be adversely affected and the solutions to achieve better results:
Mistake 1: You don’t have a sales force
Do you run a business where as the owner you are the Chief Everything Officer and not the Chief Executive Officer?
The fix: No one can run a business alone and no one can succeed alone. Build a team of highly skilled salespeople who will, daily, look for more business. Without sales you don’t have a business.
Mistake 2: You’re competing instead of dominating
So many companies are doing so much to avoid losing their customers, but not investing double the effort to gaining more customers.
The fix: Your competitor is ready to cut off your head, you need to constantly remind your customers of who you are and what you can do for them. Dominate your space, invest in marketing and strategies to constantly communicate with your customers [the existing and potential ones].
Mistake 3: You’re not showing your customer that you care about them
I’ve asked business owners and some sales people this question “when looking at a customer, what comes to your mind?”
They give different answers, but none gave the answer which I was looking for. The most common answer I got from them was: “When we see a customer we are mostly interested in their wallet and nothing else”.
This is another reason why your sales may be down. You want money from the customer and don’t really care about them.
The fix: Go the extra mile to give your customers extra value. This shows them that you care about their business and you’re not just making money from them. Ask them this question “Is there anything else I can do to help?”
Mistake 4: You do not have a functional sales strategy
You just do things as they occur. Since you haven’t planned things properly with your team and don’t understand your sales cycle, you are not making sales.
The fix: It is important to have a sales plan, whether you have a big or small company. Have a blueprint to your sales success. Selling is about numbers and hitting targets. Have systems to measure progress.
Mistake 5: You don’t build relationships
People buy from people they know, trust and like. Your goal is to build relationships with your customers.
The fix: Invite [your customers] for coffee or lunch. Invite them to a rugby or soccer game. Challenge them to a round of golf. Get the relationship away from pure business and into some level of a personal relationship.
