It’s a new year, and whether 2020 was a good or bad year for your company should not change the fact that you want to drive sales growth in 2021. In the blink of an eye, new competitors emerge, products similar to yours are released, and before you know it, there’s a race to get on top. Here are five ways to drive sales growth:

Identify Where Sales Growth Will Come From

There are several ways to grow. Look at new markets and add more people to your sales team. You can introduce new products or services. You can raise prices, grow current accounts, and more.

Focus on one or two areas of growth. Once you have established where you want the growth to come from, you need to perform some analysis.

Analyze the New Growth

If you want to add more product or services, determine if there are existing products or services that aren’t getting any attention.

When choosing to raise prices, confirm that your competition has similar pricing. If your products/services are different, pricing doesn’t need to be the same. The ultimate goal is for your sales team to drive customer awareness and understanding of the differentiators and value in your product and service offerings vs. the competition.

If you want to reach a new market, then determine the specific needs within the market and how they will benefit from your products and services.

Do not add more people if all your markets are all covered.

Make Your Decisions Data-driven

Set measurable KPI’s so you can monitor and track results. After setting these goals, you can start to identify the type of data needed for your sales team to succeed.

Find Your Top Customers

Identify characteristics and find out what products or services your top customers value. Then you can determine if those products or services provide value to similar customers.

Ask Your Sales Team

Get input from your sales leader and team; what are they seeing and hearing from customers. Your salespeople are on the front line with a direct link to your customers, they can explain how your company or products are being perceived.

Market Trends

Start by looking at trends. Get an overall view of how fast or slow markets are growing. Then use that information as a data point for setting your sales goals.

After you’ve analyzed growth and where it will come from, it’s time to set your initiatives.

Create Your Initiatives

Give your sales leader and sales team clear direction and defined expectations about where you want them to focus and set specific goals.

For example, if you want your team to improve the close rate and add more accounts, then set a goal that is obtainable.

To increase close rates:

• Make sure the sales team is doing better qualification and not chasing the wrong customers.
• Ensure salespeople know how your company’s products/services are different from the competition and are leveraging that differentiation to show value.
• Get the key stakeholders involved early in the process so they are invested in building the best solution. If not, they may lose on price.

If you want your team to increase your average deal size, make sure they are offering all the products/services that apply to that customer. Too often, salespeople focus on selling the customer one offering and entirely miss the opportunity to sell additional products and services from your portfolio that could be of value to the customer.

Right Structure and Right Team

Make sure you have the right sales structure in place.

Sales structure refers to the segmentation of your sales team into specialized groups. Territories can determine your sales team, the number of products and services you offer, the size of your sales team, and your customers’ size and industry all can be factors in how you structure your sales team.

Keep your sales structure in mind when introducing a new product. Often salespeople who are used to selling Product A will continue to sell product A instead of introducing Product B. Or visa versa, and they only sell Product B. One product often cannibalizes another product.

So, adding new members to your team to only sell Product B may be a wise decision.

Executing Your Plan

You can create the most compelling strategic plan, but if you do not have a way to execute it, it’s merely a piece of paper. Ensure your sales leader knows your long-term goals. The strategy you will take to get there provides the map, but directions are also needed.

Create goals for them to hit at specific intervals. Then break those goals down into activities and tasks that are needed to complete the overall goals.

Sit down with your sales leader in your weekly one-on-one and check in on those goals. If they are hitting plan, then ask them to show you proof and numbers. If they are not hitting the plan, discuss different options to achieve it.

You play a significant role in making sure your sales leader is executing and holding them accountable.

Overall

If you want to drive sales growth in 2021, you need first to figure out where that growth will come from and second analyze it. Third, ensure you have the right sales structure in place, fourth create realistic goals, and then fifth confirm that your sales leader is executing it. If you follow these five tips, your sales growth will increase.