The bottom line success of your business hinges on its ability to execute the sales that will generate revenue. Developing a reliable means of reaching clients is a challenge for many sales and marketing managers. The way that you choose to communicate with clients and sell your products or services is reflected in your choice of sales distribution model. Unfortunately, picking the wrong strategy could impact your bottom line, requiring that you re-assess those missed opportunities for the sake of your long-term survival.

It's no longer enough to simply target your chosen customers and hope for the best in this competitive environment. Any B2B enterprise that wants to grow and remain a going concern has likely woken up to the reality that the landscape has shifted. To stay ahead of the competition, you not only need to create distinctive value and experiences for your clients, but you also have to approach everything you do in the most pre-planned way possible. This is where using project management for client development can put you ahead of the curve.

A targeted marketing strategy has the potential for generating far more revenue than a generalized mass marketing approach. However, proper targeting is contingent upon segmenting your audience into distinct groups that share the same needs or characteristics.

Nobody wants to have a ‘networking conversation,’ especially those who are at the highest levels of business. They are hungry for real conversations and real relationships. It has to be authentic, genuine and sincere.”  -  Rich Stromback

Even with a plethora of information, books, classes and generous experts, rooms are full of people who have yet to develop excellent communication skills (and who you prefer to avoid). 

It appears the top 20% of your sales team are closing 80% of the deals. This reality of 80-20 performance, where approximately 20 percent of salespeople produce approximately 80 percent of sales, can be disappointing. (Though it validates Pareto’s Principle).

Pareto’s Principle was named after Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), an Italian economist who observed that for certain economic conditions, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Instead of accepting Pareto’s Principle as a standard, I would prefer to see your team perform with excellence. Inspiring and leading a team to break away from average can be difficult if they are following the crowd and paying attention to what ‘everyone’ follows. I learned firsthand the importance of a network, excellent habits and a mindset of high standards when I grew a business from $4 million to $16 million over the course of four years.

Today I want to share thoughts, habits, and mindsets that help many to be a top 5% sales professional and potentially break Pareto’s Principle.  

Knowing the secret to effective marketing to grow sales and drive profit is often elusive, even to the those with expert marketing skills.  DISC Assessments can help you have better insights into the minds of your marketing and sales team, customers and prospects. Today I would like to share with you the importance of DISC Assessments for growing revenue.

The process of customer acquisition is critical to success, but often many leap first without a process in place. Without direction and strategy, the early stages of customer acquisition may be misdirected, resulting in lost time, money, and resources, as well as shaky profits. This is especially true for new businesses trying to get a foot in the door as they compete with well-established companies. The wrong customer acquisition strategy can be costly.

Sales forecasting is not simply a necessary evil mandated by finance. The best sales leaders use revenue forecasting as a tool to manage the business, support strategic decisions, and allocate resources. Estimating sales accurately for the upcoming 12 months gives your organization foresight into where your income is really coming from and when. Sales forecasts drive decisions related to: