Developing sales strategies for your company can help you to more successfully get your products and services in front of the right people, and they can also help your sales reps and employees to focus their time and energy on the activities that will be the most profitable in the long run. Sales strategies are plans. They’re different than marketing strategies. Marketing strategies are all about strengthening your brand and becoming more visible to the public. Sales strategies focus more on closing deals and making sales.

The following are three secrets to developing sales strategies for your company.

1. Create Sales Objectives for Each Product or Service

Not all of your products and services should be sold the same way, and if you try the same strategies with all of them, you may find that some of your products or services don’t sell well. 

Developing sales strategies for each of your products and services by analyzing them individually. You can use the following questions in your analysis:

• Why do clients need this product or service?
• Who needs it?
• What are five or six reasons that customers are better off using this product or service?
• What benefits does this product have over the competition?
• What are the sales costs associated with this product or service?

Having answered these questions, you can create sales objectives that will help you with developing sales strategies for each of your products and services.

2. Choose Sales Channels

When developing sales strategies, it’s important to reach the right customers. This sounds simple and easy, and it is. But often, sales managers don’t think through the pathway their sales reps need to travel in order to find the right sales channels. What sales channels are right for you? Consider the following:

• Will people be researching your products and sales online? If so, is your website designed to educate, inform, and help your customers to move toward making a purchase?
• Are your products and services best sold in face-to-face or on-site meetings? If so, how can you most efficiently get your sales reps where they need to be?
• How is your conversion rate for phone sales? Is cold-calling a good sales strategy for your products and services?
• How has direct mailing worked for your products and services in the past? Have you considered developing sales strategies associated with direct mail?
• Could you use an agent or intermediary to get your products in front of potential clients?

3. Consider Developing Sales Strategies for Existing Customers

Don’t forget that developing sales strategies for existing customers can add significantly to your overall revenue. These sales strategies include the following techniques:

• Up-selling. Are your sales reps attuned to the additional needs of existing clients? Getting customers to buy a more expensive model of a product they already know and like is an effective way of developing sales strategies for your products and services. Consider options for adding features or warranties to products to give your sales reps ways to up-sell.
• Cross-selling. Cross-selling is similar to up-selling: it’s getting customers to buy more products from other categories. For example, if you sell paper products and a customer is currently buying office paper from you, consider selling them printer toner or cardboard shipping boxes.
• Integrated Solution Opportunities. Solving customers’ problems should be the goal of your sales reps. Think about how your products and services can be combined to offer more comprehensive solutions to customers’ problems. When integrated solutions are presented, not only will your sales reps make more sales, but they’ll also be seen as problem solvers who have the tools to truly make a difference in your customers’ lives.
• Retention. Developing sales strategies is not just about acquiring new accounts and reaching new customers. It’s also about retaining the customers you’ve worked so hard to acquire. You can build stronger client relationships by staying in touch and regularly following up.