The Smart Strategy Book by Kevin Duncan

Author:Kevin Duncan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LID Publishing Limited
Published: 2018-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

5. NEW BUSINESS COULD BE OLD BUSINESS

Some sales strategies are obsessed with new business.

They triumphantly (and often misleadingly) measure the numbers coming into the top of the sales funnel while failing to stem the flow of customers falling out of the leaky bucket.

This is not really a sales strategy.

Sales includes the maintenance of a healthy and satisfied customer base who are both happy to remain with your company and open to the idea of buying more from you when the time is right.

A classic example of getting this wrong is when brands make discounted offers to new customers that are clearly better than the terms their existing customers receive.

These are widely publicized so all existing customers can see, and they get grumpy as a result.

So a successful sales strategy will naturally include the need to pitch, but it must also be prepared to improvise and serve the customer.

The maths is interesting here too. It costs barely anything to retain a customer or sell them another product, but the cost of acquiring a new customer is always high.

Most sales strategies are too complicated.

Your first step should be to simplify everything.

The next step might be to try a reverse pilot – a notion we first came across in Part Two on brand strategy.

Test whether removing an initiative or activity will have any negative consequences. If not, take it out.

Remember: if it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.

SMART STRATEGY WARNING

Be wary of setting macho targets for sales. Loading the pot with large amounts of new business may not be beneficial, particularly if existing customers are leaving in droves.

Make customer satisfaction a priority, thereby reducing the burden on brand new business. Then consider the complexity of the sales strategy and do everything possible to simplify it.

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