Have you reached that point where your sales efforts bear no fruit? When you do everything by the book but still feel the results you get are not proportionate to the time and resources you put in?
Well, being the results oriented person you are, you have thought of downsizing and having a small sales force that do more with little expenses.
However, even downsizing isn’t the answer because it will leave your sales team fatigued and disengaged. Also, downsizing comes with a permanent fear of “you don’t know who is next”. People working in permanent fear of job loss shift their attention to their career advancement plans— not profits for the company.
Sales is important, it is what keeps the diesel engines running, workers coming, and landlords away. If you have hit a sales plateau, a quick fix isn’t what you are looking for— you need a sustainable jumpstarting strategy to keep the juice flowing.
Here are 3 tips to break the sales plateau glass ceiling
1. Pay attention to the process
One major reason that get most sales teams stuck is because the leadership is focusing on the results rather than the process. In the end, the only things that you remain with is a high expectation and a sense of entitlement to results.
You might say, “But I pay them to do the job, I should get the results”, but do you pay attention to the efforts they put in?
In his book of strategy, The Art of War, Sun Tzu teaches that the war isn’t won in the battlefield, but every war is won before it is fought. It is healthy routines that fuel the pursuit.
Ask yourself these questions; How will I keep my sales people motivated to keep the chase alive? Is there an accepted reward and punishment strategy in place? What are our daily/weekly/monthly/yearly sales targets?
Investing in the process, helps you forecast and keep your expectations in proportion with periodic milestones. It is by focusing on the process that you will know loose bolts to tighten and broken conduits to fix.
2. Keep Learning
The shifting business grounds requires that you keep learning. The market dynamics do not stay the same for years, in fact, with social media, email marketing and all the ‘new generation’ lead strategies, what worked last year might not work today!
You must therefore keep learning to be in favourable position when the complacent business owners are getting a sales snag.
Grant Cardone, a best-selling author of many marketing books says; “Even a veteran sales person needs to continue to read, educate and train in order to keep skills sharp,”
To retain your clients you need what works to satisfy them, and to gain new ones, you must know what works in getting their attention and how to meet their demands.
3. Make Prospecting a priority
How serious are you prospecting? Without prospecting you remain with the only customers you have had for years, and while it is important to prioritize customer retention, it is even more important to add new customers.
Prospecting helps you land customers who will be more profitable as you have created credibility serving your old clients.
Most importantly, prospecting keep your sales force in the ‘hunting spirits’, it kills complacency and is a motivating factor to your sales team.