Sales play a pivotal role in the overall health of your business. It’s what generates your revenue and keeps your business alive, which is why it’s crucial to continuously review your performance and find ways to optimize your processes wherever possible.
However, from time to time, your sales or client acquisition figures may not be where you need them to be. If that’s the case, it’s important you diagnose the issue and figure out where you’re going wrong. With that said, here are four big mistakes that will cost your business sales.
1. Poor marketing strategies
It’s all well and good devising a fantastic product or service, but you will have a hard time finding buyers if nobody knows you exist. Granted, marketing is not an easy task, yet business owners must utilize a wide range of marketing tools if they want to keep up with their competition.
Here are some of the most common marketing mistakes to watch out for:
Not implementing sales funnels
According to a recent study, 68% of companies do not identify or measure any form of sales funnel, which is a big missed opportunity.
A sales funnel is the step-by-step process of the theoretical customer journey, from the discovery of your service/product to purchase. Implementing a sales funnel gives you a chance to step back and view the bigger picture, analysing how potential customers might find your company and what processes to put in place guide them towards purchasing.
This is something Russ Ruffino from Clients on Demand drives home in his program as he teaches his students how to secure big-ticket sales through qualified traffic, drawn in by effective marketing campaigns.
Poor research
You have to figure out who your ideal customers are and how to engage with them appropriately. You must understand their pain points and how you offer solutions to those issues. If you don’t fully understand your customer base, you won’t be able to choose the appropriate mediums to connect with them.
Not building your brand image
Marketing should be used as a tool to build a strong brand image and create a better understanding between the company and the consumer. If your marketing campaigns neglect to build and maintain your business reputation, you will almost definitely lose sales.
Not measuring your cost per sale
From a revenue standpoint, you need to understand your costs per sale. As you know, most forms of marketing are resource-intensive and can get expensive. Analysing how much your business spends per converted lead, sale, or client acquisition is vital if you want to trim down on costs and boost your profitability.
2. Ignoring feedback
One of the cardinal sins business owners can commit is choosing to ignore consumer feedback.
This is a huge wasted opportunity, as feedback from your customers is precious information that you can use to improve your product and future decision making. Top performing companies are able to use this knowledge to search for ways to make their best even better, gaining strides over their competitors.
Facing negative criticism can be daunting, especially if you let your ego and pride get in the way. However, it’s vital you listen to each piece of feedback, both positive and negative, so you can get a firm grasp of what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on.
Rather than turning away from negative criticism, you should actively pursue it. Give your clients a feedback form, ask them for reviews, and even conduct a survey on customer satisfaction and adjust your processes accordingly.
3. Not balancing your work and home life
You may be wondering what your home life has to do with your business success, yet this is a subject that isn’t discussed nearly as much as it should be.
You need to be on your A-game if you want to perform at your very best, and failing to balance your personal life and work obligations will cause you to burn out and grapple with conflicts, both internally and externally. Just ask Kathleen Bryar, who once quit her high flying corporate job as she struggled to meet the demands of all of her responsibilities.
In this review, Kathleen Bryar shares how Clients on Demand’s coaching program helped her regain her focus by tweaking her mindset and discovering the tools she needed to live a healthy balanced life while achieving more business success than ever before.
4. Selling just for the sake of selling
It’s easy to remain on autopilot and go about your days searching for new customers without putting too much thought into the process. Of course, this is not the best use of your time or resources, and before long, this will lead to poor sales results and stagnating revenue.
Everything you do in your company must be deliberate. You need to have a purpose. What are your company’s core values? What is your mission? Who are you trying to help with your product or service, and why would they choose you over a competitor?
The most successful companies all have clear and concise answers to the above questions, and so should you.
Remember, it’s essential to keep your customer in mind at all times. What are their needs or desired outcomes, and what can you offer to help get them there? Focus on the value you create for them and hit them with targeted marketing campaigns in an attempt to lead them into your sales funnel.
Measure everything, analyse your results, and pivot your strategy accordingly and make the most out of every opportunity that comes your way.
