5 secrets to sales growth

Whether you’re a company of 1 or 1,000, these tips can help you make the most of your sales efforts. You don’t have to do everything. And quite frankly, you shouldn’t. It doesn’t make good business sense.

Just as architectural design and software development are specialized fields you wouldn’t hire just anyone to do, so are outbounding and inbounding.

Some excel at finding new business, while others prefer guiding those already aware of and interested in your products or services. What talents exist within your current employee base? Figure out what your existing team thrives at, and where gaps exist.

  1.       Specialize

You can’t effectively grow unless you specialize.

What might be one role today could turn into two or three roles next year. If you expect the existing incumbents to assume all these new roles, you risk burning them out—or worse: losing them to your competitor.

Instead, ask: If our team were to expand, which roles and responsibilities would you like to specialize in? Use this information to motivate.

And if you feel they’d need more training to effectively focus on their areas of interest, explore viable options.

2.       Outbound

As much as I’m sure we’d both like, hot leads aren’t going to land in our laps. We’ve got to work for them. If no one is calling out, don’t expect much to come in.

Finding it hard to motivate your team to outbound? Turn outbounding into a game.

3.       Inbound

Always have someone available to answer the phone during normal business hours. When it comes to technology, people tend to call because there’s an immediate need. If no one answers, they’ll go to the next business name in their Google search results. And you’ll miss out on a business opportunity.

If you’re not able to hire a full-time inbound specialist, consider assigning this task to your receptionist or pushing these calls to someone’s cellphone.

4.       Build

Hiring is hard. Especially hiring for areas in which you have no expertise. People who sound great on paper—or in an interview—might fall flat once hired.

But great performers tend to know other great performers. That’s why, at ConnectWise, we provide referral incentives to employees who refer in talent. Here are our top recruiting tips:

• Provide a referral bonus to employees
• Ask your LinkedIn network for referrals
• Use a recruiter
• Hire a qualified freelancer to review applications and provide recommendations

These are just a few of the tactics we use to grow our team.

5.       Equip

If you’re a smaller company, automation is vital to help you grow—without adding additional headcount.

Every business is different. Look at the most painful and time-consuming tasks your team currently takes on. And then research solutions that can eliminate egregious time spend.

Whether you want to streamline invoicing, service delivery, help desk operations, or improve customer relationships, ConnectWise can help.

To decide which automation solution makes the most sense for you, compare the projected time savings against the cost of the solution. You’ll be amazed at how quickly many automation solutions pay for themselves.

I’m an open book about sales success. What would you like to read about next? Let me know in the comment box below.