Personal selling is a major component of small business marketing. 90% of small businesses get business from referrals. Without a significant budget for advertising to drive sales growth dictates that referral selling is vital. Selling is also the most engaging way to convince buyers of the value of your products and services.

Here are four ways you can transform your sales process in your small business.

Have a Clear Strategy

One of the best ways to help your sales people is to present a clear understanding of their role in executing your business strategy. You can do the same by making sure your reps understand your long-term vision, core solutions and their value, and ideal customer profiles.

A simple strategy combined with a well-developed sales process makes selling more straightforward.

Develop a Consistent Framework

Every sales reps will apply their own personality and unique touch, to their selling process, which is a major advantage. When you establish a consistent approach, you can more effectively train and develop your team to sell with it.
Your company only grows if the talents and productivity of your sales team members grow. A well-outlined selling process allows you to set goals, evaluate performance on stated criteria, and coach reps that need improvement in particular areas.

Get Analytical

Don’t rely on hunches or what “feels” like the best way to sell. The world is loaded with high-quality CRM programs that you can integrate into your small business marketing system, such as Insight.ly. By collecting data on prospects and customers, and comparing customer types to their buying activities, you get a more precise view of what products and communication methods work best with different customers.

The more precise your team’s understanding of the needs, preferences, and primary motives of a buyer, the greater the ability to communicate value. People buy a solution that solves their problem.

Take a Step-by-Step Approach

With the limited opportunities a small business has, I strongly encourage you to consider the first impression your company makes with potential customers. Your sales representatives are called that because they represent who you are, your brand promise and what you would do if you were there in person.

As you work to develop the performance of a sales rep, focus on the particular areas of needed improvement. Monitor execution at each selling stage, including lead generation, appointment setting, closed contracts and customer retention. Some sellers need to enhance efficiency in getting prospects to agree to a meeting. Others need training on post-sale service to improve customer retention.

A big part of transforming your small business marketing and sales processes is painting a clear picture of goals and expectations. Give your sales team a framework that drives consistency and easy performance evaluation. Take advantage of technology to leverage data, and isolate training and development on specific areas for improvement.

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