3 steps to creating an effective sales strategy

What are the best steps to take when developing a sales strategy? Jennifer Willey has over 20 years’ experience in sales at companies like Yahoo and AOL and is currently Chief Business Officer of Independa, a technology company that creates remote solutions for caregiving. Willey shares her insight into creating an effective sales strategy.

Build your roadmap

Willey believes the first step to creating an effective sales strategy is knowing where you want your company to go. “Where exactly do you want your business to be this year or in three years? Who are your customers that you need to get?

Come up with a very specific plan, like you do when you put in where you’re going in Google Maps, that tells you exactly where you’re going, and then pinpoint every single step that you need to take to get there.”

According to Willey, building out your roadmap for your business, including creating a list of target customers and developing a plan for how you’re going to connect with them, is crucial if y    ou want to reach your sales goals. “If you don’t know exactly where you need to go, and have a plan to get there, you won’t get there. You’ll maybe get somewhere close, but [you won’t] get exactly where you need to be.”

Approach target customers in an authentic way

Once you have a roadmap and a list of target customers, Willey says the next step is to start reaching out to your targets directly. One of Willey’s tactics for approaching key customers is authentically engaging them on LinkedIn or over email.

Her favorite LinkedIn strategy is to take advantage of LinkedIn groups: become a member of the same groups as your target customers, which will give you the ability to connect with them without needing to have their email addresses. Then send short, personal notes to those people mentioning your shared interests and showing that you’ve spent some time getting to know more about them and their businesses.

Willey also has some advice for writing emails that your target customer will actually read. “Try and keep it as brief as possible. You’re never gonna sell anything in an email; you’re going to sell to your customers in a conversation, so keep [the initial email] short and tight as you possibly can with a formula that’s something like, ‘We help companies like yours that are trying to do things like X, Y or Z to be successful. I’d love to schedule some time to time to talk about how we’ve made your competitors successful or could help drive [your] sales [or] growth.”

According to Willey, the key is keeping an email succinct–just a few sentences long–and focused on how you can add value to your customer. “All the detail, how you ‘make the sausage,’ nobody cares. All they care about is your sausage is delicious, and they’re gonna love it.”

Captivate your target audience like a rockstar

It is important to remember that your target customers are busy and have several things vying for their attention. In order to captivate your target audience, Willey says there are five basic “ingredients” you’ll need: confidence, a genuine connection with your audience, clarity on what you want from them (and what they need from you), command of your data and what sets you apart, and most importantly, closing the deal.

“Before you get to that big meeting, you need to begin with the end in mind,” says Willey. “Think of the two things: (1) how should [your customer] feel at the end of the meeting, and (2) what should [your customer] do that will make you successful.”

Willey also stresses the importance of building rapport with your ideal customer or potential client. “Building that rapport is really critical and it’s hard to do sometimes if you don’t prepare for it.”

Willey suggests before heading into an important meeting with your ideal customer, to look them up on social media and see what interests you have in common. Be sure to also check them out on LinkedIn: perhaps you went to the same school or know mutual people.

Culled from inc.com