• Business owners have invested time, money, and resources to launch amazing products and services into the market, but the revenue is not coming in.
• The majority of the business owners do not have a clear vision of how the revenue will trickle in and for how long.
Image: CONNECTS MARKETING GROUP
Over the last eight years, I have met and interacted with many business owners.
What has consistently stood out for me is the fact that they are constantly looking for someone or a team to drive sales for their products or services.
More often than not, these business owners have invested time, money, and resources to launch amazing products and services into the market, but the revenue is not coming in.
Image: COURTESY
Coming from a sales background I always ask these questions to business owners;
Tell me what you had envisioned for your sales when you thought about this amazing product or service?
Who did you have in mind when you were creating the product or service?
The response that I have gotten over the years has been consistent.
The majority of the business owners did not have a clear vision of how the revenue will trickle in and for how long.
There are also grey areas on who exactly their paying customer is.
Where Sales Comes in
Business owners need to take a step back and actively think about sales.
Sales is a critical component of the organization, this is what brings revenue to the business.
It is important for business owners to have a high-level understanding of their sales processes and their vision and investment in numbers, for example, who are we going to sell to and at what does the sales conversion time look like, is the product fit for the market they desire to serve?
This knowledge helps business owners understand the right talent to onboard, allocate the required investment to build a solid sales function within the organization, and also help them manage sales teams better.
For business owners, it is important to invest time and resources to package their products and services to convert these into numbers to increase sales.
Here are five insights on how to achieve this
- Price for value: Clearly define the value your product or service is providing. There has to be a clear problem you are solving for the customer, customers pay to solve a problem they currently have or is not being met by the current product or service they are using.
- Understand your clients: You need to understand your clients’ needs and what their pain points are to effectively communicate how your product or service will provide solutions for them. Define effective sales and negotiating skills that resonate with your client's pains.
- Customer-focused selling: Focus on selling the solution you are providing to the customer. This way the customers connect with a solution to a problem they are currently experiencing.
- Have clarity on your customer: Once you have clarity on your ideal customer you then know where to get them, source for the potential customers from the right places, this will help in driving quality leads and quality conversions and closing sales leads faster.
- Align and identify the relevant digital platforms: Find out where your customers hang out and strive to connect with them on the digital platform, harness the power of digital to sell your products and services. This is an important factor for business now. I have met business owners who say they do not do social media, this does not mean your business should not be on social media. If your customers are on social media your business should also be there.
If you are a business owner looking to find more customers online, WomenWork is running a program dubbed The Digital Future Program that seeks to equip entrepreneurs with digital skills to digitize their operations and marketing efforts. Apply today to join a cohort.
Maureen Amakabane has found purpose and passion in women and youth socio-economic advancement. She believes women and youth are able to achieve socio-economic empowerment by leveraging entrepreneurship as a catalyst. She has dedicated my time and expertise in offering professional support in setting up startups and optimizing their internal processes. She spends time ideating on business models that solve real challenges of unemployment and income generation in Kenya and Africa. I can be reached via phone - +254 721 430 867. My email is [email protected].