Sales meetings have become so normalized that people forget how powerful they are toward the growth of an organization. Sales meetings today have become just another item on the to-do list. That attitude, however, significantly impacts the ability of a company or business to meet its objectives.
Are you looking to introduce new ideas or concepts in your next sales meeting to bring major changes to your organization’s bottom line? Here are five things you can bring up in this week’s sales meeting.
1. A more refined approach to sales enablement
More and more sales teams are utilizing a bit of sales enablement in their operations. Whether it is through a particular software that helps them sell more efficiently or through training sessions, there has been a significant amount of growth in the utilization of sales enablement strategies.
While it is likely your company is using some sort of sales enablement, what is even more important is adopting a strategic approach toward this tool. It should be designed around the following parameters:
- An actual plan with clear goals and methodologies
- More focus on helping sales teams to develop skills that will make them more efficient
- A better onboarding strategy for new salespeople
- Looking into technology that makes sales a lot more efficient
So as to effectively implement this strategy, you’ll need to set aside time to create a stellar sales enablement strategy.
Consider utilizing technology such as MindTickle to help you with the implementation. It will also help you to properly leverage your data as part of the enablement plan.
Through such technology, you will be able to not only create coaching programs but will also be able to simulate sales scenarios that will help your sales team to develop skills.
You will also have access to AI (Artificial Intelligence) that could help increase your efficiency and thus improve your bottom line.
2. Machine learning and sales
Artificial intelligence (AI) is arguably the most disruptive technology today, and the impact it can have on sales cannot be underestimated. For instance, we just saw how it can be utilized in sales enablement. That is just one of the many ways in which AI is impacting sales today.
Therefore, the more and the better you can implement AI into your sales tools, as well as into your daily strategies, the bigger the impact it will have your productivity.
The following are some of the ways AI can help you be more productive:
- It can analyze massive amounts of data in a short time so you can personalize your strategies
- It draws insights from that data and gives recommendations thus saving you a lot of time
From that huge data collection, AI is able to compute possibilities that allow it to make almost accurate predictions. For example, it can look at your past performances and identify trends that help it predict your future. This helps you know where your shortcomings lie.
3. Defining your target market
Businesses are often tempted to market their products to anyone and everyone. This approach, however, is flawed is it can lead to wastage of resources and time marketing to people who are either not interested in what you have to offer or see no benefit to having your products.
However, if you focus your efforts on a target market, you’ll be able to:
- Determine how much your potential customers are willing to spend on your products
- How often they’ll be making purchases
- What you will have to do to keep up with changing trends
The process of defining and identifying your ideal target market is referred to as target market analysis and is incredibly instrumental in ensuring that your products become profitable. This is because it prevents from wasting your time and resources.
The analysis involves gathering as much information about your target demographic. This helps you determine whether that demographic is good for your business or you should just target another segment.
The goal of the analysis, therefore, is to ensure that you only market your offerings to an audience that is receptive to the kind of products you deal in.
4. Think about Generation Z
For a while now, millennials have been considered as being the ‘newest generation.’ This has seen to many sales teams customizing their strategies to sell that generation. However, there is an even newer generation that you start focusing on and it is known as Generation Z.
This is where you find people born between the mid-90s and the mid-2000s.
While you may feel that this age group does not possess a lot of buying power, research shows that Generation Z accounts for about $29 to $143 billion in direct spending. Moreover, they are projected to become the largest generation of consumers by 2020.
In light of such findings, it is only wise to start thinking about aligning your sales strategies to this generation. Obviously, the approach is going to be different since we are talking about a generation that grew up with technology. As such, they are very online-savvy.
5. The omni-channel experience
As we move deeper into the digital age, people are becoming more and more online-savvy, and this is leading to certain expectations. One thing that consumers today expect is promptness and and convenience.
Moreover, consumers today will do extensive online research about products before they purchase them. Also, they expect a personalized experience that flows across all channels. This is what is referred to as Omni-channel marketing, and it has an incredible impact on sales.
Here is a guide to crafting a seamless omnichannel experience.
The sales department is arguably the most integral component of any organization. If there are no sales being made, the roles played by other departments in the company will essentially be irrelevant. As such, salespeople should always be on the lookout for better ways to increase their efficiency. Consider bringing up the above topics during your next sales meeting so you can start working on improving your productivity.
Lewis Robinson is a business consultant specializing in CRM and sales. He has started multiple corporations and currently freelances as a writer and personal consultant.
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