When someone gives a referral, it is an honor and a gift. Every company wants and needs more referrals to grow profitable revenue. Referrals convert better, close faster, and have a higher customer lifetime value than any other type of lead.

Referrals are preferred over salespeople.

More and more buyers are avoiding salespeople during the buying process. Sales reps, according to Forrester, tend to prioritize a sales agenda over solving a customer’s problem.

If organizations don’t change their outdated thinking and create effective sales models for today’s digital era, Forrester warns that 1 million B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service e-commerce by 2020.

Salespeople Must Adapt

Salespeople must adapt to new culture and the new world of media to research, prospect, and network by sharing educational content and answering questions. As a result, they’re able to build relationships until prospects are ready to buy. "Solve the customer's problem" must become a mantra.

Adding a B2B Referral Strategy

A revenue growth plan dependent 100% on referrals will probably remain a dream, but achieving greater referral success doesn’t have to be out of the realm of possibility. If have satisfied customers who find value in your product and services and if you have a high Net Promoter Score – you may be closer to a referral engine than you think.

“In strategic planning it is important to discuss key performance indicators (KPI). ... The first step to determining your KPI is to understand the difference between lagging and leading indicators. The second step is to define and monitor your business indicators. Lagging and Leading Indicators.”  - May 27, 2014 - Project Times

Both leading and lagging indicators can occur at approximately the same time and there are circumstances where the leading and lagging indicators may not be easily identified. Today we will review definitions, examples and how to recognize the differences. By doing so, we hope to help you improve Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to make better decisions.

Manufacturing and service operations answer different questions and formulate different strategies when it comes to planning and managing the way in which their organizations operate and grow revenue.

Sales-as-a-service (SAAS) is not yet clearly defined and could be considered as software or services (or a combination of both), which provides businesses with “sales capabilities as a service” whereby, businesses can access relevant and crucial sales resources when they need them. For instance, if you are looking for an efficient sales channel or sales team, SAAS software can help you acquire the resources you need to meet your company’s goals.

Setting goals is easy, “I will meet my sales goals; I will achieve success in business.” This sound’s great but how will you achieve this (your goals)?  The “how” part is the sales methodology; the strategies you use to achieve your target or goals. Professionals usually refer to sales methodology as the fundamental approach to sales and the terminology used when relating to customers to “close the deal.”  The ‘how’ is usually the most difficult part of a sales process, as it determines whether you succeed or fail in making that sale.

How can you develop a sales methodology to meet your goals? There are different sales methods which have been developed by sales leaders and professionals over many years. You can combine these different sales approaches to developing a sales methodology or use one (single) method.

Sources you can use to develop a sales methodology include books and/or professional training. How you develop a sales methodology will largely depend on your “selling environment,” or your target audience.

Here is a brief summary of sales methodologies
frequently used:

Managing leads to convert them into more sales requires good timing and persistence. This infographic presents four best practices to follow to close more sales.

"It is time to lower the price." Competition, entering a new market, bad economy, and lack of success are all reasons you might have this thought. Is it worth the risk to lower price knowing it will impact your profit margin? 

Moving forward, instead of lowering prices and firing staff, consider what it takes to increase profitability with SMART Revenue.