90 Days or Else!
It was a Thursday afternoon. The four partners of my little technology firm were sitting around the table at a local lunch place.
We had no cash and payroll was due tomorrow. Even if we laid off the entire staff, we still owed them the money. And if there was no staff, how would we continue to service our clients? It was a dire situation.
We dug deep into our own pockets and ponied up the money. That would cover tomorrow, and enough for 90 days, but then we were all tapped out. There were no investors, no bank to come in and save us.
We had just 90 days to save our little company or we were all out of business. And out the money we just put up.
90 days or else!
That kind of situation tends to focus your mind - and your efforts.
Even if you're not as bad off as we were that Thursday afternoon, you should think the same way. Think about boosting sales as saving your company - whether it's just you, or you have 100,000 employees. Sales is the lifeblood of your company.
Here are the 7 strategies we put in place to save our company back then.
1. Be Clear on Your "Big Result" for Customers
Today, when I walk into companies that are struggling to get their product to market, execution is rarely the root cause. Generally, the company hasn't identified what they do and what
"big result" they generate.
This is the basis of most "pivots." A company has been in business for awhile, generating some revenue, but not enough. Finally it dawns on them that the thing "they really do" isn't the thing they're selling.
I don't care if you call it a "pivot" or just getting clear on your mission. But
do this. Don't think you've got it nailed. Almost 90% of the time, companies that have revenue problems don't know the "big result" they provide and don't communicate it.
2. Know Your Audience
I like to talk about audiences rather than just prospects or customers. The audience is everyone who hears your message. You need to have a message that can convert a "passerby" - or a "loiterer" as I like to call them - into a prospect who now can't live without your product.
Costly market research isn't necessary to boost sales. Most of the work you can do to understand your audience can be done in a conference room based on what you already know about your market. There are two steps.
First, write out customer profiles. Pick 5 - 10 (no more) customer profiles and create characters - or avatars - for them. Give them a name. Talk about their demographics and interests. List their needs, their fears. Write down their objections to your product. And most important, right down the one "buying trigger" - the one sentence that would get them to pull out their credit card and buy.
Next, segment by need. Take each customer profile and split them into groups based on how well they have identified their need. I use four pre-sale and two post-sale groups. I call them "need segments."
Before the sale, there are four groups: loiterers, lookers, shoppers, and buyers. Loiterers don't know you. Lookers check you out, but don't know if they need what you sell. Shoppers need what you sell, but haven't chosen you yet. Buyers are looking for the proverbial cash register.
After the sale, you have customers and fans. The difference between them is a fan now goes to work to get you more business - either through buying more or referring new customers - directly or indirectly.
These two steps combine to form your
audience segmentation strategy. Make sure you know how to talk to each group.
3. Position Your Product to Provide that "Big Result"
If your product already clearly provides the "big result" then you likely have a messaging problem. Go back through your audience segmentation and make sure you're communicating the right "big result" to the right customer profile.
Speak directly to each "need segment"
based on the language that drives them. Loiterers respond to a "learn more" call-to-action. Lookers respond to a "better life" call-to-action. Shoppers respond to a "fix it" call-to-action. And buyers, of course, respond to a "buy now" call-to-action.
Sometimes positioning your product means re-designing it. If so,
do it quickly. Don't hesitate. Align with the "big result" or you'll have a mushy value proposition.
Do a quick gap analysis of your product process. Identify unnecessary steps and eliminate them. Get to the "big result" as quickly as you can for your customer profiles, and don't worry about generic benefits at this point. It's a
minimum viable solution in the parlance of Eric Ries' Lean philosophy.
4. Make it Easy to Buy
If you offer a high-ticket product, you need to
create multiple "low barrier-to-entry" offerings to start the buying process.
The best way to get customers to spend a lot of money with you is to start them off spending a little money with you.
Create something smaller - maybe step one of your larger product or a needs analysis. This lowers the risk of a new customer doing business with you.
If there is no way to engage with your company than buy your 7-figure product, it's going to be a long time until you start selling, if at all. Don't make your prospects jump over the chasm and take a leap of faith with you. Make it easier for them to buy.
5. Teach Your Audience
People and companies buy from firms they see as strategic partners.
Add value to your audience by teaching them something that drives your "big result".
Don't get hung up on how teaching will spoil a future sales opportunity. That kind of thinking is small-minded.
Teaching your audience expands your revenue in two ways. First, because you're becoming a valued partner,
your sales cycle shortens and you close the sale more quickly. Second, after you've partnered with your customer, you've positioned a bigger value proposition.
That means bigger sales.
Teaching creates faster, bigger sales.
6. Keep Your Messaging Relevant
Listen to the market as you re-enter with this new messaging.
Have a process in place that takes the feedback from sales conversations and adjusts your messaging until you're hitting the mark.
There are two ways of absorbing this feedback: qualitatively and quantitatively. Quantitative is best, but qualitative is better than nothing.
Track metrics and use them to listen to your marketplace. Don't just measure sales conversion rates. Since you've made it easier for your prospect to buy (see #5 above), you've design a sales process with multiple steps. Measure the conversion rate of each step. That way you don't have to wait until you've lost the big sale to learn from the process.
Monitor the numbers carefully. If your numbers indicate that you won't reach your target, you need to make a change.
This feedback process has long-term benefits. These same metrics will tell you
when it's time to change due to competitive pressure or other outside market forces. Without it, you're flying blind.
7. Execute World-Class Sales
Now - only after we've done all this up-front work - it's about sales execution.
Make sure every sales executive - even if that's only you - knows your "big result" and where they fit in the process. (See how important step 1 is.)
Sales messages should vary for every customer profile and "need segment" you've identified. Sales executives should work to
close to the next step of your process - not just "closing the deal." And they should
be accountable to the metrics you've put in place.
Most sales executives are ineffective not because they don't want to work. Most just
don't know what they should do next. The processes you've created above make it clear who to contact, what to say, and what the goal is. Now hold them (and yourself) to it.
90 Days Later
These seven principles transformed our dying web-design firm into a marketing and sales strategy firm. 90 days after we barely made payroll, we were hosting a paid, two-day event in Las Vegas for executives to teach them these same sales and marketing principles. And from that work, my current practice was born.
Today, I help companies launch or re-launch their products to
increase sales in 90 days. I've seen some great success stories and you can be one of them. Just get in touch
here.
