3×4 steps to more short term revenue

3 x 4 steps to more short-term revenue

New customers are the lifeblood of all businesses. But you have not got that much time right now to grow and develop new relationships – you need revenue, now!

Marketing is about developing new leads and nurture existing customers. It is not about selling right now. So how will you align marketing team to do what is needed – right now?!

It is ALL about selling right now. Inventory, event planning, learning new knowledge etc. is secondary. You need to generate revenue. Which means it is hands-on deck, from all departments, to create sales leads and opportunities. You all have some sort of relationship with existing as well as lapsed clients. How can you utilise this knowledge and the relationships in a new way?!

Your front of line personnel servicing and delivering your products/services should really start listening and ask relevant questions, to learn about needs and wants from customers. This key knowledge is then to be distributed to the sales team to follow up on directly.

Here’s what I would suggest your marketing team do:

1. Create prioritised call lists of lapsed/lost customers and match new solutions/ideas that could be relevant for these past customers.
2. Create templates for emails that makes it easy to book meetings.
3. Create insight and knowledge-based blogs for the sales team to enhance engagement with leads and customers.
4. Create specific industry insights to be used for the sales team in a challenger approach meeting. Find knowledge and research for your sales team to read before their meetings.

Your sales team should:

1. Create a contact list for every single customer who has bought in the past year.

Book an online video meeting and have a conversation, qualify them and prioritise them.

2. Offer insights. Things change, also with customers. Is there a new decision maker, have they caught up with technology, methodologies, processes….? Are there solutions you know of that they don’t – that you could provide in-house or put them in touch with someone who could deliver? Can you help them?
3. Find out if they have a need now or in the near future for the same products they already know – OR if they have a need for something you weren’t able to provide and they bought elsewhere, but is now available/can be provided in the near future.
4. Create a customer list of those who bought from you 12+ months ago. ‘Wash the list’, delete the companies that have gone bust and those that are irrelevant.

Book video meetings with them and repeat #2 and #3. Approach them as if they were new clients, qualify them and find solutions before you pitch to them.

You as a manager need to:        

1. Set clear and short-term goals for each sales rep individually.
2. Follow up on these goals weekly, and report on #video calls made, #booked meetings, #deals closed, #revenue generated.
3. Attend as many video meetings as possible with your sales reps.
4. Show both customers and sales team you are involved, and you want to create solutions.

Lars Neilsen