ReVVVV Up Your Sales Engine!

Fueling Revenue Growth in a Post-Pandemic World

Are you managing a sales team and looking for innovative ways to inspire your reps? Are you an individual contributor in need of some tools you haven’t yet mastered the use of? Or, are you simply looking to amplify your current go-to-market strategy so bottom line results consistently show an upward trend?

No matter the reason, most - if not all - sales and business development professionals need to turbo charge their ‘engines’ in order to accelerate selling efforts. Thus, this author would like to share with you four key strategies that have survived the millenia and continue to aid teams across the globe in driving - pun absolutely intended - better results.

As hinted at by the title of this article, I often refer to these strategies as the “the four V’s” of selling. These four aspects of your sales efforts should resound especially loud now as we are exiting the global pandemic. For many buyers whose purchasing initiatives were put on hold or abandoned altogether over the last 13 months, you now have a unique opportunity to stand out from the crowd - aka, your competition - as you look for ways to gain traction and accelerate revenue growth.

The “four V’s” represent Voice, Volume, Velocity and Victory! Each in its own right can and should be used on a daily basis to help keep your eyes on the finish line. That is, continually measure the amount of sales activity, number of wins and - ultimately - growth of revenue within your company.

Voice

With this key tenet, you get a ‘two-for’; that is, two for the price of one. Voice refers to not only your voice but, more importantly, your customer’s voice. Follow your clients on any one of a number of social platforms and you’ll quickly establish what they are saying to the market; how they communicate to their customers and to their broader ecosystem. Deepening your understanding of their products, their company culture, their focus on social responsibility and, ultimately what’s most important to them, will go a long way towards how you position your company and your offering. Finding out what your customers are saying is akin to strapping on turbochargers for a ride that will surely make you the envy of your competitors.

Conversely, your ‘voice’ refers to the words, phrases and sentences that allow you to stand apart from the competition. Buyers - as we all know, assuming you’ve ever purchased anything on-line - are continuously bombarded with messages, slogans, pitches, advertisements and general industry banter. The question for you: how can you make your pitch or value proposition resonate on a different frequency such that the buyer will notice it? An insightful answer to this question gets you off the starting line faster than most. 

Coupling your newfound understanding about what motivates your prospective customers to seek outside expertise - e.g., in the form of products and/or services you offer - with your pinpoint messaging tailored specifically with your ideal customer in mind, will certainly give you an edge over your competition and should allow you a solid lead in the race to earn your customers trust and, ultimately, their buying decision.

Volume

Having just left a brief discussion about ‘voice’, you may be inclined to think of ‘volume’ in terms of decibels; how loudly or softly you communicate when ‘speaking’ to your customers. While there may be merit in considering the tone and timber with which you communicate, volume in this instance refers to the number of prospective customers you are reaching out to within a given period of time.

While I cannot understate enough the significance of what you say to your customers and how you say it to them, you must always take stock of the absolute number of customers you are reaching out to on a regular basis. Quantifying both the number of net-new customers in your go-to-market strategy as well as the number of ‘touches’ per customer - both new and existing - makes for a more robust pipeline of qualified sales opportunities.

Somewhere in the range of 20:1 to 14:1 is where you want to be. Provided you’re taking a targeted approach to lead generation, you’re likely to find that for every 20 qualified prospects, you’ll yield 1 highly qualified sales lead. That is, a lead that has a defined need, adequate budget allocated and is motivated to make a buying decision in the next 30 days is what you are striving for. And remember, the better job of targeting and listening to your prospective customer base, the higher the likelihood it is that your ratios will get ‘tighter’ (i.e., closer to the 14:1 ratio cited above) and produce higher quality results.

Fine tuning your sales funnel with ‘volume’ foremost in your mind is bound to get you and your team into a steady sales cadence; that is, you’re safely off the starting line, you’ve made it onto the racetrack without crashing and you’re now humming along in 4th or 5th gear with about ? the race and - with some luck and solid execution - the competition solidly in your rearview mirror.

Velocity

When I think of Velocity, I pay heed to the pace at which sales opportunities mature. Some experts call this turnover. No matter the label, tuning your sales practices with a keen eye for how long a particular sales opportunity remains in the funnel will play a crucial role in your success. From the time a sales lead enters your sales funnel to the time it comes out the other end - closed/won or lost - is a measure of your ability to successfully qualify the lead, communicate value, price appropriately, build buying consensus and negotiate the deal terms. Conversely, and according to the great Mario Andretti, “If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.” 

Following our race analogy, Velocity refers to your ability to know your car’s capabilities, exploit your competition’s weaknesses, deal with the elements - e.g., rain, sun, wind, etc. - and successfully navigate yourself into a position to win the race. For most sales pursuits this is the most arduous phase of all; filled with peril, danger, unexpected consequences and problems. For many of you, a few stops to pit - that is, change tires, refuel and tend to mechanical issues - is necessary to get across the finish line; and is to be expected. ‘Driving’ a deal to a successful close is time-consuming and rife with unexpected twists and turns. The better prepared you are for the unexpected, the higher the likelihood you will outdrive your competition towards success.

Victory

You’ve plotted your strategy. You’ve tuned your vehicle and your race preparation is complete. You’re off the line fast and with precision and determination, you’re ahead of all your competitors. You see the finish line and are racing toward taking the checkered flag ahead of everyone else! Nothing stands between you and...Victory!

Closing the deal - like winning the race - is built upon preparation, skill, attention to detail, perseverance and the desire to win. Listening to your customers voice while differentiating your message from your competitors, paying close attention to the volume of prospective customers in your sales funnel and working diligently to move those prospects through the sales funnel with adequate velocity all merge together to produce a huge victory for you and your team!

Ahh, but let’s not get too comfortable; just as victory can lull you into a sense of complacency, we must be vigilant and look for ways to constantly improve. The great Niki Lauda once said, “Happiness is an enemy. It weakens you. Suddenly, you have something to lose.” Fittingly, when you don’t win the race, take some time to reflect on areas you want to improve the next time you get behind the wheel. Perhaps you weren’t prepared and underestimated a competitor. Or maybe you weren’t able to hit a high enough gear when needed. In any event, learn from your losses just as you learn from your victories. Every pursuit has in it a lesson to be taken.

Now that you’re equipped with these four V’s, I urge you to jump in your cars, buckle those safety belts, reVVVV your engines, accelerate your sales efforts and cross that finish line first. The checkered flag awaits you and your team!