How To Accelerate Your Sales Revenue Right Now!

Written By Peter Strohkorb

Yes, thanks to corona virus and the ensuing global downturn, the world has suddenly changed, and most likely, it has changed forever. If your business, like many, has been negatively affected by the downturn, then you need to be prepared for the current situation to remain for some time yet.

If, like many businesses, you have had to cut costs, reduced your sales force, shuttered marketing spend, have only skeleton staff left, and your teams are largely working from home, then you have to consider what you can do right now: a) to accelerate your sales right now, and b) to prepare yourself for the post-pandemic "new normal" when we come out at the other end of the pandemic and the crisis is over.

You will need a plan for revenue growth for right now, and for beyond.

So, ask yourself this:

Will we just keep doing the same thing and expect a better result?

Will we sit on our hands, hibernate and "wait it out" until the crisis has passed?

Or, will we be proactive and take charge of our destiny?

 Yes, that's right. That was a rhetorical question. Of course, you'll want to use this time to plan for the future.

Of course, you'll want to use this time to plan for the future.

How will you go about it?

The business environment has changed. Nothing is as it was before.

Does it not make sense to to adapt and adjust for growth? To adjust to the current situation and to have a plan for the post-crisis business environment?

Does it not make sense to start with a review of your selling fundamentals?

Does it not make sense to start with a review of your selling fundamentals?

To help you move forward, I'll make three strategic points here:

1. Be Prepared

Keep an open mind. Be prepared for change, be prepared for a new normal. The fundamentals of selling will still apply, but the way that you sell may well need to be different now.

The fundamentals of selling will still apply, but the way that you sell may well need to be different now.

That means you have to be flexible, nimble and open to change.

2. Do Not Box Yourself In Now.

Do not box yourself in by short-term thinking.

Learn the lessons of previous crises and of those who have been in your situation before. The current crisis has been compared to the great depression last century. Here is an example of lessons learnt by Roland Vaile. His business recommendations on marketing during a recessions still ring true today.

Vaile researched the performance of sales companies during and following the recession. His findings should be a wake up call for all sales leaders and business owners:

Therefore, think twice before shuttering marketing budgets and laying off the very people you may need again down the track. Be prudent in your actions and in your decisions. Think carefully before deciding to just hibernate right now.

"Waiting it out" may end up being very costly indeed.

"Waiting it out" may end up being very costly indeed.

I suggest you work right now on building good rapport with your present and future customers and with your ideal prospects. Grow a sales pipeline now that you can lean on when demand opens up again.

I suggest you work right now on building good rapport with your present and future customers and with your ideal prospects. Grow a sales pipeline now that you can lean on when demand opens up again.

3. Prepare For Your Future Now

It is now critically important for you to adjust your business to the new selling environment, because one day, the crisis will pass and the flood gates to business will open up again.

Can you imagine how insane the competition for business will be then?

Can you imagine how insane the competition for business will be then?

What can you do today to position yourself and your business to take advantage of the growth opportunities then?

4. Make A New Plan For Growth

Given all of the above, I recommend that you start by reviewing your Sales Strategy and your Selling Fundamentals.

In fact, your Sales Funnel and your Sales Processes are a great place to start planning your sales renaissance.

Your Sales Funnel and your Sales Processes are a great place to start planning your sales renaissance.

The traditional sales funnel is seriously flawed.

It is no longer applicable to today's selling environment and is no longer effective. It is, in fact, superseded.

Let me explain.

In the old Sales Funnel we put leads into the top. The leads are nurtured. Then qualified and passed on to Sales. Sales follows them up and closes the deals.

Can you spot what is wrong with this picture?

Where in the above steps is the customer represented?

You see, the traditional Sales Funnel is very much an inward-looking series of rigid sales steps, driven by internal metrics and KPIs. No customer-centricity exists in this model.

It is completely inward-looking and catering to an outmoded model of separate departmental business silos, namely Sales and Marketing.

But how do you create maximum sales effectiveness and results in your new Sales Funnel? How can you streamline and accelerate it for the future?

But how do you create maximum sales effectiveness and results in your new Sales Funnel? How can you streamline and accelerate it for the future?

We need to dig deeper and discover a new sales funnel by looking at it from a different perspective.

I say we need to view the Sales Funnel not from inside an organisation, but from the perspective of the Buyer, i.e. the future customer.

Instead of thinking: "We have all these products. How can we sell them?", I suggest we reposition our perspective and ask: "We have all these Prospects. How can we help them to buy from us?"

Instead of thinking: "We have all these products. How can we sell them?", I suggest we reposition our perspective and ask: "We have all these Prospects. How can we help them to buy from us?"

So, what does the innovative, new and Buyer-focused Sales Funnel look like?

It combines the traditional marketing funnel and the sales funnel into one Buyer-focused, scalable and effective selling model. It is aimed at the customers' perspective and their experience, instead of focusing on an inward-looking set of process steps.

This may be a departure from what is currently taught in Marketing curricula at university. However, it really is a refinement of a very generic traditional perspective, adapted to today's B2B selling environment and updated to suit modern B2B buyers.

What's more, it will hold true in the current crisis environment and in a post-crisis world, too.

So, how do you get started modernising, updating and converting your Sales Funnel for the 2020s?

How do you get started modernising, updating and converting your Sales Funnel for the 2020s?

You start with a review of your current Sales Funnel.

How?

It is not easy to view something from a fresh perspective when one has been used to the old view for a long time.

What if you had a way to evaluate your Sales Funnel against the ideal, to identify your gaps, speed bumps and bottlenecks in just a few minutes?

I have been thinking about the new Sales Funnel for some time, so I want to help you make this task easier.

I have broken the modern Sales Funnel down into ten components. Each of these ten components is aimed at helping a suspect to become a prospect to become a customer and, finally, a raving advocate and repeat customer.

Importantly, the modern Sales Funnel will have fewer bottlenecks and speed bumps.

How will you know what it needs to look like? Where do you start?

For that purpose, I have created a free Sales Funnel Review Checklist for you.

This checklist calls out each of the ten components, explains them briefly and then invites you to gauge your own Sales Funnel's maturity levels against this new ideal.

You can use this checklist on your own, or you can ask me to help you in a free online

Either way, if you'd like more information, and perhaps would like to compare your current sales funnel to this new one, then download my free Sales Funnel Review Checklist at: https://peterstrohkorb.com/salesfunnel

I am confident that you will be very pleasantly surprised by what opportunities for improvement you will discover, and the improvements that are available for you to accelerate your sales funnel now and grow your sales revenue into the future

Stay safe.

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About Peter

Peter Strohkorb is a highly experienced sales and marketing acceleration specialist and Smarketing expert in the B2B Technology and Services sector.

He is an acclaimed Amazon book author, blogger, thought leader and influencer. 

Peter has helped many business leaders and executives to achieve

significant success in growing their sales revenue, raising their personal and company profile and increasing their What Will You Do Differently After The Crisis?market share.

Peter Strohkorb

Peter Strohkorb has walked in your shoes. He knows what it’s like to be in your situation.

Starting as a quota-carrying sales rep, Peter earned his stripes during a 25 year career in corporate sales and marketing executive experience. He generated record-breaking revenue results for multinational corporations and for small and medium businesses alike.

In 2011, he started Peter Strohkorb Advisory to help SME and mid-market Business Leaders get ahead.

Since then, he has advised many Tech and B2B Services Businesses in the US and in ANZ on modern selling and is now a sought-after sales expert.

https://peterstrohkorb.com
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