Having everyone across your organization singing from the same hymn sheet is critical if you are to achieve your sales goals and objectives.

Without an effective sales strategy in place, every aspect of your sales operations will suffer.

So how do you go about creating one?

In this detailed guide, I’ll share with you some of the best, and current, sales strategies that you can use to streamline your processes, make your job that little bit easier, and what you are really looking for, increase your revenue.

Let’s jump in.

A sales strategy is a structured and detailed plan that serves as your blueprint to acquiring new customers and generating revenue for your sales team. This encompasses everything from the types of reps you hire, the processes they follow, the techniques they use, the tools they implement, and much more. 

It’s important to keep in mind that your sales strategy should always be evolving and adapting to changes. 

Variables such as market conditions, customer preferences, and your competitors' strategies are constantly in flux, so a static sales strategy won’t suffice. Regular updates and adjustments ensure your sales strategy remains effective and responsive to the ever-changing sales landscape.

Building a sales strategy will require you to keep in mind the GOST framework:

• Goals 
• Objectives
• Strategy 
• Tactics

Let’s break them down.

Goals are broad intentions and are often abstract in nature. They articulate the overall mission or the end result that you wish to achieve. Goals are typically qualitative, making them somewhat less measurable than objectives. 

Goals have likely been established on an executive level as it pertains to the company as a whole — strategy, objective, and tactics within each department are then to be aligned with the company goals.

Example: Become one of the most recognized sales programs in the industry by a specific year.

See how you can set more realistic goals in sales here!

Objectives are specific, measurable steps that serve as the target to help you achieve your goals. They should be clearly defined and measurable which will allow you to track progress effectively and establish when they have been met. 

Example: Increase sales of a specific product by 10% within the next 6 months.

Your strategy outlines the path you will take to achieve your objectives and ultimately your goals. It is broader than your tactics and provides a general framework for the necessary actions you must take. 

Example: Begin communicating with new target segments to improve brand recognition among the tech community.

Check out the top 25 sales growth strategies from top sales leaders such as John Barrows, Samantha McKenna, and Steve Benson here!

Tactics are the specific actions or steps to implement your sales strategies. They are practical, detailed, and often short-term, focusing on the immediate actions required to move your strategic sales plan forward. 

Example: Direct a lot of your resources to selling to a specific segment of the target market.

Back to Top ↑

Your value proposition is a clear, concise statement that states why a buyer should purchase your product or service. With this statement, you must highlight exactly why your product stands apart from your competitors.

This is a short document, no more than five or so sentences. 

You want to explain what your product is, who it serves, what are the benefits of using it, and what sets it apart from its competitors. 

Let’s take a look at a value proposition example from Badger Maps, a route planning tool for field salespeople. 

¨Badger Maps is the #1 route planning app designed specifically for field salespeople. It allows sales reps to automatically plan, route, and maximize their time in the field by cutting down driving time by 20%. 

Reps save an average of 8 hours a week from better planning, becoming more focused and organized, and driving more efficient routes. The time savings can be used on productive sales activities, which has resulted in the average team of 10 reps selling $936k more the year they start using Badger Maps.¨  

In just a few sentences, you understand what this product is and who it serves. Your value proposition should do exactly that.

Although market segmentation is usually done by marketing teams, aligning your sales and marketing strategy is crucial. This should be a collaborative effort, as both teams are working towards the same goal of acquiring new customers. 

Your sales team's job here is to collect customer feedback from your customer interactions which will allow the marketing team to segment your target audience. 

This feedback will give you insights into your customers preferences, needs, and behaviors, all of which will help you identify the types of customers you should be targeting.   

A study done by Emergen Research found that companies using market segmentation reported an 80% increase in sales. As a salesperson who is engaging with customers on a personal level on a daily basis, the chance to uncover your customers' pain points is invaluable.

This will also feed into how you approach each customer interaction. 

Let’s say you. 

As an example, let’s say you are working in manufacturing sales and are selling advanced filtration systems. This is a broad industry and you could be selling products to customers in a wide range of sectors. You could be selling to both food processing plants and pharmaceutical companies. 

These sectors have different needs and preoccupations so you need to tailor your sales pitch accordingly.   

Market segmentation can be tricky, but when done in an open, honest, and collaborative way across your company, you can easily align and start identifying quality prospects. 

Check out these 5 tips for mastering sales and marketing alignment!

Back to Top ↑

Your sales process is where the magic happens.

Broken up into seven different stages, your sales process serves as your roadmap for turning your prospect into a paying customer.

You’re going to need a specific strategy for each stage of the sales process. 

Each one needs its own framework, as without a plan you will struggle to efficiently manage your sales pipeline. 

We’ve put together valuable sales process resources for every stage of the sales process here.

Prospecting is the first step in the sales process. This is where you identify and initiate contact with potential customers for your products or services.

The majority of prospects will do their own research before talking to a sales rep according to studies done by HubSpot. Customers usually know the problem they have; they just don’t know what product they need to fix it. 

Smart sales prospecting can help you identify the right types of customers that will help you grow your sales pipeline.

Resources

Sales Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide

Shift Selling: Turn Your Prospects into Customers - Outside Sales Talk with Craig Elias

11 Tools to Help You Discover & Engage With the Right Prospects

Driving Sales Momentum with Effective Prospecting - Outside Sales Talk with Dave Kurlan

A study done by Clover Mortgage found that 67% of the sales that reps lose is because they are not properly qualifying their potential customers. Qualifying your prospects is vital as the more qualified they are, the higher chance they will sign on the dotted line.  

Resources

How to Get More Qualified Sales Meetings - Outside Sales Talk with Tito Bohrt

How To Get More Qualified Sales Meetings (with scripts)

Qualifying Prospects with the MEDDIC Sales Method - Outside Sales Talk with Darius Lahoutifard

Taking the time to nurture your relationships can be the best thing you ever do in sales. 

Not just because you will make one sale of a customer you develop good rapport with, but because that same customer can become a repeat customer, can refer you to other people, and provide you with excellent testimonials that you can produce in your sales pitch. 

A study done by HubSpot found that 82% of sales reps believe that building relationships with their customers is the most important part of selling.

Always strive to make a good first impression. The revenue it could end up generating you could be endless.

Resources

The Secrets to Building Relationships in Outside Sales - Outside Sales Talk with John Chapin

How to Identify Your Prospects’ Pain Points: A Guide for Sales Professionals

How to Sell with Authenticity and Build Trust with Anyone - Outside Sales Talk with Shari Levitin

7 Key Benefits of Mock Calls Exercises for Sales Representatives

Your sales pitch is delicate business. 

You don’t want to overload your prospect with boring information about product features. Instead, provide them with the value your product can bring them. 

It’s also imperative that you let them speak and get their point across. This will give them the impression that they are in control of the process. 

Follow the 80:20 rule which states that you should spend 80% of your time listening and the other 20% talking.

Resources

How to Prepare for your Sales Pitch

Anatomy of a Lousy Pitch: Worst Presentation Habits & How to Avoid Them - Outside Sales Talk with Tim Wackel

17 Actionable Tips to Nail Your Sales Pitch

Say Less and Sell More: The Art of Storytelling - Outside Sales Talk with Park Howell

Objections aren’t obstacles you face. They are opportunities for you to learn more about your prospects.

Research done by Gong shows that top performing sales reps respond to objections by asking questions.

Don’t be fazed by a prospect who is not biting. There are numerous ways to overcome their objections.

Resources

How to Overcome Price Objections - Outside Sales Talk with Steve Benson

The Power of Questions in Sales

Objection Handling Insights from Pandemic Selling - Outside Sales Talk with David Priemer

"I'll Think About It..." The Best Response To Overcome This Sales Objection

Statistics show that the average close rate across all industries is only 19%.

Closing can be difficult and when you lose out on a deal, especially if you arrive at the final stages, can be soul destroying. 

You are going to need various different strategies here. Sometimes you will need to be fast and direct, other times you will need to be patient. This will depend on what type of customer you are dealing with. As a salesperson it’s important to be flexible.

Resources

Targeting Leads that Actually Close - Outside Sales Talk with Ian Altman

8 Proven Ways to Close a Deal

How to Close more Sales with the Perfect Close - Outside Sales Talk with James Muir

9 Tips to Convert Leads into Customers

Following up isn’t just a one and done process. 

It may take some time to convince your prospect that your solution is what they need.

80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls after a sales meeting. Nearly half of sales reps give up after just follow-up.

Have patience and be persistent!

Resources

Mastering your Sales Follow-ups - Outside Sales Talk with Doug C. Brown

How to Follow Up After a Sales Meeting

How to Master Sales Follow-Ups - Outside Sales Talk with Steve Benson

Listen to this Outside Sales Talk podcast episode with sales thought leader John Barrows who shares his proven techniques for nailing every stage of the sales process!

Tracking your performance metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) is non-negotiable. Each one of your competitors are investing in data analytics to drive revenue growth and you can’t afford to be left behind. 

Keep in mind that metrics and KPIs aren’t exactly the same. Performance metrics provide quantifiable measures of specific aspects of sales activities, while KPIs are strategic indicators that align sales activities with overall business goals and objectives.

Key metrics such as conversion rates, average deal size, sales cycle length, and customer acquisition cost (CAC) provide you with insights into the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales process.  

KPIs such as monthly sales growth, quota attainment, and customer lifetime value (CLV) will give you the opportunity to better align with your overall business goals.

This information is easily tracked using innovative sales tools that are commonplace in data driven sales teams. According to studies, over 40% of reps believe this data should be tracked weekly, something that can be easily accomplished thanks to the automation capabilities a lot of these tools can offer. 

Back to Top ↑

There is a sales tool for everything. There’s tools to help you with your sales pitch. Tools to help you close a deal. Sales enablement tools. Route planning tools. CRM tools. The list goes on. 

It can be overwhelming trying to decide which ones you need so choosing the right software should be a collaborative process including your whole team. 

What are they struggling with? Is there a process that is currently consuming way too much of their time that can be automated? 

Discussing this with your team will provide you with the insights you need before you go out and purchase the latest gizmo just because it’s the flavor of the month. If you are meticulous about it now, it will save you time and money going forward.

Let’s take a look at some of the key tools your sales team may need.

A customer relationship management (CRM) tool is indispensable to the success of your sales team. 

This is where you can store and visualize all of your important customer information, giving you a clear overview of the entire customer journey. The capabilities of leading CRM’s are becoming better and better. You can track your leads, automate routine tasks, and get real-time analytics so you can make data-driven decisions that will ultimately help you improve your processes. Also with the continuous improvements of AI systems, sales CRMs are only going to improve moving forward. 

There are a multitude of different sales CRM software that you can choose from. HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive are just a few. 

Kyle Jepson, Senior Inbound Sales Advisor at HubSpot, had this to say about CRM software -  

"When I think of CRM and the benefits it brings to a rep, a lot of it is the automated, like reminders and emails and those sort of things, but also as you start to accumulate a lot of data in a CRM, all those calls you had, all the prospects you are researching...it starts to be a lot to sit through. I think that a really good CRM is gonna help you make sense of what is in there and prioritize the things that deserve your attention"

Listen to Kyles Outside Sales Talk podcast episode to discover how you can build your sales with the right CRM and tech stack!

Sales teams who spend a lot of time working in the field should utilize a route planning tool. 

Route planning can be a time-consuming process if done manually. Sales reps can have dozens of customer visits in even a single day, so by automating this task you can save time which will lead to increased profits. Route optimization will not only save you time, it can also organize all of your important customer information into one easy-to-use app. 

As with any sales tools, there are countless route planning software available to you. These include tools like Badger Maps, Map My Customers, Salesforce Maps, and more. 

However the industry leader and the #1 route planner for field sales is Badger Maps.

Badger Maps can help sales reps automatically plan, route, and maximize their time in the field, cutting down driving time by 20%. 

Sales-specific features like follow-ups and advanced reporting ensure you can track key customer information, allowing you to be proactive about keeping closely connected with your most important accounts. 

Sales teams have reported that they sell 22% more and drive 20% less when using Badger Maps, in fact, the average sales team of 10 reps sells $936k more the year they start using the app.

Badger Maps also allows you to mobilize your CRM, providing instant access to important customer information as you work in your territories. You can sync and leverage data in your CRM, all from your mobile device. 

You can also enable a two-way, real-time native integration with the most popular CRMs such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics, Insightly, and many more. 

Additionally, sales teams increase their CRM usage by 50% when using Badger Maps.

Badger Maps is one of the best sales tools you can add to your teams sales strategy arsenal.

Badger Maps reduces sales reps’ average drive time by 20% and frees up an average of 8 hours a week.  

Sign up for a free trial today or schedule a demo to see how you can improve your sales processes with this route-planning app!

Back to Top ↑

Sales forecasting tools can be a great addition to your sales strategy. 

These tools can predict a wide range of future outcomes such lead volume, customer demand, market trends, pipeline value, and more. 

An accurate sales forecast can help you plan your sales strategies and processes more efficiently, which will not only allow you to drive revenue, it will show you tons of ways you can save money also.

Leading sales forecasting tools include Zendesk, Clari, and Pipedrive.

With sales teams delving further and further into analytics to optimize performance, the use of sales analytics tools is becoming more and more commonplace. 

For instance, CRM tools like Salesforce or HubSpot can provide you with comprehensive data on customer interactions which can help you track leads, manage relationships, and streamline sales processes. Advanced analytics tools such as Tableau or Power BI can help you visualize this data, making it easier to spot patterns and correlations that might otherwise go unnoticed. 

Sharing these insights across your entire organization can foster a data-driven culture where decisions are based on evidence rather than intuition, leading to more effective and consistent sales performance. 

Check out this blog that delves into the key metrics your sales team must track to boost sales performance!

Back to Top ↑

More and more sales reps are using AI to improve their sales processes.

Tyler Carlson, Co-Founder of Resquared, had this to say about how AI can help reps - 

"Every salesperson knows they should prospect more and wishes they could prospect more, but there are only so many hours in the day. So I think across the board, what artificial intelligence is going to do is help eliminate some of the manual processes, so the salespeople can do what they do best, figure out what the challenges are they're having, what they're trying to solve for, or what opportunity or goal they have and how they can do it with whatever service or goods is. In my opinion, that's where AI is really at right now, is just really helping to streamline and make things easier."

With AI automating important processes, sales reps can focus more on sales activities that drive revenue growth such as customer interactions, instead of wasting time with monotonous tasks. Implementing AI is easier said than done though and requires research to ensure you are getting it right and not wasting excessive amounts of resources on tools you don’t know how to use. 

Check out this blog that shows you how to implement AI tools in your sales strategy in 9 simple ways!

With B2B sales teams selling their products or services directly to businesses, B2C teams are going straight to individual consumers. These two types of sales will require different strategies. 

For example, the decision-making process in B2B sales is often complex, with longer sales cycles due to the need for thorough evaluations. Patience tends to be important in a B2B sales strategy, there’s no point rushing through a deal to meet a quota as more often than not you will only scare away your customers.

In contrast, the decision-making process in B2C sales is usually quicker and influenced by personal preferences, emotions, and immediate needs. Therefore, B2C strategies often emphasize convenience, brand loyalty, and emotional appeal to drive quick purchase decisions.

Whereas a customer in B2B is swayed by facts, hard data, and how your product can improve their processes, B2C customers are more inclined to be swayed by storytelling and how they resonate emotionally with your product. You will need to be able to display empathy with customers in B2C, while B2B customers will be more interested in getting to grips with the product through demos or free trials. 

Building your own sales strategy is a multifaceted endeavor that requires a deep understanding of your market, a clear definition of your goals, and the right tools to track and analyze performance. 

Your strategy should be continuously refined and adapted in response to market changes, customer feedback, and emerging trends to ensure sustained growth and success. 

Happy selling!

Back to Top ↑