The document provides guidance on growing revenue in an uncertain economy. It emphasizes establishing an excellent sales and marketing function to drive growth. It outlines strategies like selling more to existing customers through cross-selling or selling to new customers through proactive planning. Excellent sales requires properly selecting salespeople, having an effective sales strategy and processes, and offering products that meet market needs. Key aspects of sales covered include understanding the market and customers, building relationships with prospects, and closing and delivering on sales. The document stresses the importance of a strategic sales plan, managing sales activities, and holding salespeople accountable.

1. Lighthouse Growth Resources
Copyright William W Bayer

2. GOAL: Grow Revenue
in Current Economy
 Economy is still slow growing with an uncertain future
 Growing your company requires establishing an
EXCELLENT sales and marketing function
 Failure to grow creates huge long term issues
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3. Two Ways to Increase Sales
Sell more to existing customers
 The key is to develop new products and services that you
can deliver which are related to what you currently
deliver
 Leverage the trust relationship with your customers to
cross sell.
Sell to new Customers
 This requires pro-active planning and activity
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4. Excellent Sales is not Magic
 Many believe sales process and sales people cannot be
managed – This is not true
 Excellent sales requires:
 Properly selected people
 Effective sales strategy
 Well Executed Sales Processes
 Products and Services that meet the needs of the
Marketplace
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5. Good Sales People Are
 Self-Motivated
 Economically driven or Results Driven
 Persuasive
 Fast paced
 Self- Determinant or Individualistic
 Often abrasive or misunderstood
 Challenge the status quo
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6. Know Your Market
 Knowing your market is more important than great
products and services
 The market doesn’t care what you want to sell
 The market buys what it needs
 And they will buy it from whoever sells it
 Relationships and loyalty give you a chance, but you
must respond quickly to the needs of the marketplace
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7. How to Know Your Market
 Customer Surveys
 Feedback from Sales People
 Review, analysis and responses to
complaints
 Industry feedback
 Face to Face meetings with Key customers
 Internet research
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8. Think Like Your Customer
 How do your customers and prospects make the
decision to buy your products and services?
 What are they looking for?
 What is the value they are seeking?
 What is the process they are using?
 What are their criteria for picking a solution?
 What is the key thing they want?
 What problem can you solve for them?
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9. Your Competitive Advantage
 A sustainable competitive advantage is the key to
creating long term value
 What do you do better than your competitors that your
customers value?
 How can you add differentiate your company, products
and services in a way the your customers and prospects
value?
 Do you have a sustainable competitive advantage? If
not, you must build one.
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10. Effective Marketing
 Effective marketing presents your company and its
products and services to your prospects in a manner
that enhances the ability of your sales people to sell
 Effective marketing is not Ego-tizing or bragging on
your company
 Effective marketing show your prospect that you
understand the market and their needs and that it is
worth their time to meet with your sales people.
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11. The Selling Process
 Find your market
 Find your prospects in the market
 Meet your prospects
 Build relationships with your prospects
 Understand your prospect’s needs
 Present your products and services as a solution
 Get the order, deliver, and get paid.
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12. Finding your Market
 Use the internet as a tool to gain a broad
understanding of your market or markets
 Create a process to involve marketing, sales,
production, and customer service people in the sales
planning process.
 Validate your market view by meeting with key
customers
 Consider trends – what is changing and how?
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13. Finding your Prospects
 Develop targeted and cost effective strategies to find
your prospects
 Build and maintain a dynamic website.
 Optimize your website
 Fine tune your prospecting as you learn what works
and what does not.
 Utilize prospecting venues such as industry groups,
networking and referral groups.
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14. Meet your prospects
 This is a critical step and Proactive Sales People are the
key!
 Effective sales people should contact or meet 5-15
people per week.
 Effective sales people should meet with 3-10 new
prospects each week.
 Prospects should be graded A, B, or C and followed up
with appropriately
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15. Building Relationships
 Don’t sell too soon
 Take time to build a relationship of trust with your
prospects
 Qualify the Prospect – Can they write a check?
 If possible, encourage the prospect to test your product
or service in a low risk manner.
 While building relationships with your prospects, you
want to learn all you can about them. Avoid selling!
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16. Understanding Prospect’s Needs
 Until you understand your prospects needs, you have
nothing to sell.
 Learn your prospects needs before you talk about your
product or service
 Only present your product when you understand how
your products and services create value for your
prospect
 Earn the right to talk about your product
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17. Present a Solution
 Your product or service only has value if it presents a
solution that creates value for the customer
 Use your understanding of the customer’s needs to
create a value proposition for your customer
 Present your product in terms of what impact it can
have on your prospect’s business.
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18. Close, Deliver, Get Paid
 Goal – Get prospect to become a customer
 Until the prospect writes a check, they are not a
customer!
 Many sales people struggle to close because they are
too nice.
 They don’t ask the tough question
 Proper delivery is part of the sales process
 Operations must deliver what was sold in the way that it
was sold.
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19. Selling is NOT
 Activity that does not create value
 Talking about your products and services
 Meeting people who are not qualified
 Networking activities that don’t yield qualified
prospects
 Activity without results
 Taking orders from people who can’t or won’t pay
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20. Sales Prevention Department
 Nearly every company has a person or a function that
is the enemy of sales
 Billing
 Operations
 Accounting
 Legal
 Marketing
 Get Rid of It!
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21. Accountability
 Sales people don’t like structure and accountability but
they need it.
 Measure Activities
 Goals
 Results
 Quality is critical
 Activities don’t guarantee success but the lack activity
guarantees failure
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22. Fundamental Selling Concepts
 Good sales people are action oriented
 Good sales people focus their efforts on opportunities
that are likely to lead to sales results.
 Activities are Costs; Results are Value
 Meaning – Good sales people look for a positive return
on the investment of their time.
 Only “Sell” when you know your product or service
meets your prospects needs.
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23. Final Thoughts
 Do you have a strategic sales plan?
 Sales success is not a result of chance or disorganized
activity
 Sales can be managed – Sales management has
become a lost art
 Sales people, including good ones, hate accountability
– but they need it.
 Lead your sales function! Without strong sales focus,
you will not grow and may fail!
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