Gussy up your sales strategy

By Andrea Hill

My friends Angie and Drake seem like newlyweds after nearly 40 years of marriage—so much so that people frequently ask them what their secret is for such a long and happy marriage. Of course there are many reasons, but the short answer, as told by Drake, is this: “Once or twice a month we go on a date—but not just a ho-hum date. We get dressed up for each other. I put on the good smelling stuff, Angie puts on her heels, and we try to impress each other just like we did when we first met.”

I spend a lot of my time helping business owners prepare for dates…with investors. We make sure the strategy is worked out and toned, gussy up the business plan, manicure the financials, and put the good smelling stuff on the marketing plan. But mostly, we prepare the sales strategy. It may seem that from an investor’s standpoint the most important aspect of a business proposal is the strategy and the financial plan. But on that first date, it’s sales strategy that’s responsible for the first, second, and third impressions. It shows your investors whether or not you’re serious about making money.

Analyze Customers

The typical mistake uninitiated business owners make when pitching investors is focusing too little on sales strategy. In most cases, the sales strategy is relegated to two or three paragraphs toward the end of the prospectus, where the business owner shares the sales method (outside sales, direct marketing, or a website) and describes the sales approach. But investors are in the business of making money (as are you, right?). To impress them, your sales strategy must clearly answer these three deceptively simple questions, which can make the difference between a struggling business and a profitable business:

• Who will buy my product?

• Why will they buy my product?

• How will I find them so they can buy my product?

Specificity is the key to a strong sales strategy. Take for example the owner of several indoor/outdoor sports complexes seeking to expand through acquisitions of similar facilities. When I started working with him, his sales plan was general and vague.

“Who are your customers?” I asked.

“Well, it could be anybody in the community, really,” my client answered.

“Yes, it could be,” I said. “But is it?”

As it turned out, nobody on his team was quite sure. So the first step was to analyze current customers and look for similarities between them. We discovered several interesting patterns. The people most likely to buy an annual membership to the facilities were divorced fathers looking for things to do with their children on the weekends. The people with the highest single-visit revenues were mothers booking birthday parties. And the greatest overall source of revenue was intramural sports teams, which were typically booked by male supervisory-level workers. That’s a lot different from “anybody in the community, really,” isn’t it?

By collecting information about and analyzing your customers in a similar way, you can identify the patterns that emerge. Any sizeable customer group yields subgroups if you gather enough data and know how to look for them.

Different types of information are important to different types of companies. In the jewelry industry, retailers should collect customer demographic data (age ranges, gender, cultural demographics, where customers live, what careers they have, and whether or not they have children). Manufacturers should collect the demographics of their retailers (geographic location, methods of sale, product mix, and years in business), as well as those of their retailers’ customers.

Data collection can be as straightforward as a survey or as subtle as a birthday club. You can ask all of the questions at once or one at a time as customers call in or visit your website.

Study Motivations

Once we knew who would buy the product, it was time to learn why they would buy it. My client and his team picked up the phone and started calling customers to ask why they used the facilities, and they learned that customer motivations were quite different. The divorced dads were nearly all from the immediate neighborhood as the facility they joined; their purchasing decision was driven by convenience and familiarity. The birthday moms came from a broad geographic area and tended to buy because they knew another mom who hosted a party, or because their child attended a party at the facility. The intramural sports groups liked facilities with party rooms and the option for both indoor and outdoor sports, enabling them to host various intramural sports from one place.

Of course, you can pick up the phone to do this, but I have always had great success using trade shows. Invite 10 to 12 customers who plan to be at the show to join you for a meal for the express purpose of getting their informal feedback. Ask the questions and get the group talking. It’s a marvelous way to bond with your customers, and the opportunity to learn from them is unmatched.

We’ve all heard the old adage: 50 percent of all marketing gets wasted. The problem is, we don’t know which 50 percent. I hate that adage. It doesn’t have to be true. Once you know who buys your products and why they buy from you, the opportunities to find more customers like them become clearer—and the sales and marketing waste is mitigated. In this case, the sports complex owner started investigating where divorced dads, birthday moms, and intramural organizers shop, what they read, who influences them, and which messages appeal to them. The answers to those questions yielded important insights regarding how to use a combination of print, social media, and community involvement to fuel sales activity. A specific sales strategy was born.

The sports complex owner is going on real first dates, and this time, the potential investors are paying attention. But even if you’re not seeking capital, you can do what Angie and Drake do to keep their marriage thriving: Get all dressed up on a regular basis and make that first impression as if it really counts. Turn a critical eye on your sales approach as an investor/suitor would. It can re-ignite a flame in your strategy.