Goal: Learn to Sell Strategically
Maximize Sales with Strike Zone Selling
Like everything else, the key to selling effectively is focusing your
time, efforts and energies where they’re most likely to pay off.
That means identifying and targeting your best prospects by
drawing on intelligence you already own. It’s called Strike Zone
Selling, and it’s a snap when you follow a few simple steps.
Remember the 80/20 time management rule? Well, Strike Zone
Selling is based on its own 80/20 rule: that a mere 20% of a
business’s customers, products, and activities typically generate
80% of its results. Also, consider the gross margin contribution.
You previously created a profile of your target customer. Use that
information to start working and selling within your Strike Zone.
Here’s how:
Review your current prospect list. Who fits your target
customer/Strike Zone profile? Those are the people or
businesses you should focus in on, because they are most
likely to become your best type of customer.
Look beyond your current prospect list. How or where can
you find many more prospects within your Strike Zone? Can
you tweak your marketing, social media and sales efforts to
reach them more effectively?
You can apply this principle across every sales situation. For
example, when attending a networking event, don’t make it your
goal to collect as many business cards as possible. Instead, scan the
attendee list—do advance research if you can—and focus on those
few individuals who are, or could lead you, to Strike Zone
prospects. I want to help you hit it out of the park.
Similarly, be strategic in requesting referrals. Instead of broadly
asking everyone you know for referrals, hone in on Strike Zone
accounts and associates, and ask specifically for referrals to
“companies like yours.”
This approach can help you approach your daily sales activity
differently, so you can use your sales time more effectively.
Define Your Sales Funnel
Whether you know it or not, your operation has its own distinct
sales funnel—the telescoping start-to-finish process you use to
make sales happen.
You begin the process by casting a wide net for prospective new
customers. Gradually, through a series of defined activities, you
narrow your scope to a defined number of buying customers.
For example, an insurance agent might start with a broad direct
marketing program, such as telemarketing or direct mail, to reach
thousands of potential customers. As a result of the direct
marketing effort, a percentage of interested prospects will be
identified. The agent will arrange appointments with each one of
them.
A percentage of these appointments will be kept…and then a
percentage of those kept will result in the agent’s opportunity to
prepare a proposal. He will ultimately present a number of those
proposals to his prospects. Then, a percentage of those
presentations will result in a final sale.
Your sales funnel, of course, is unique to your organization. But
you do have one. And once you’ve identified it, you can
mathematically define the percentage of response typically
occurring at each tier of the funnel.
What is the benefit? Once you look at the results, you can identify
your weak points and improve them accordingly. You can tweak
you sales process to improve your end results.
Finally, you can measure the performance of your sales staff
against the standard. If your closing standard is 8%, but your newest
salesperson is performing at 4%, you now know you need
to work on his closing skills.
Knowing your Sales Funnel is a valuable tool that helps you define
your processes, measure your people, and identify areas where
training is needed.
Another important use of the Sales Funnel is to determine the
number of activities you need to perform at each stage to get to
your goal. If you know the average size of your order or business
from an account, you can determine the number of leads that must
be generated to meet your sales goal.
Classify Your Existing Customers
It’s not enough to target your prospects and practice Strike Zone
Selling. That same philosophy applies to servicing your existing
customers, too.
It’s not wise to provide equal service to all customers, because
not all customers are of equal value to you. Classify your
customers—and reserve your very best, priority service to the
customers on your “A” list.
How do you classify your current customers? Determine what
criteria are important to your company. It might be sales
potential, profitability, payment history, ease of doing
business—or perhaps some combination of these.
Ironically, many companies provide their best service to their
worst customers! The squeaky wheel, after all, is the one that
gets the grease. Chances are, the companies that hassle you the
most (those on your “F” list) are getting your best “A” level
service. What’s wrong with this picture?
There is both a direct and indirect cost to servicing a customer,
and you should assess both of them. Accounts that pay late,
require maximum hand holding, and have little or no
profitability represent an opportunity cost. Why miss out on “A”
level service opportunities at the expense of a problematic “F”
level customer?
In short, your customer service resources are limited. By
classifying customers in terms of their value to you, you can
deploy your resources more wisely.
You can go further with this information by contacting Ray to help you go deeper into this subject of Sales Goals. He’s always happy to help Small Business Owners, Presidents, and C-Level Executives strengthen their businesses and take them to the next level.
Set up a zoom meeting with Ray:
https://calendly.com/ray-124/
Or call: 312 593-5133
