..

This post will summarize few pointers to increase the sales adoption in your business. Here's a good picture explaining how sales adoption works. Here's few pointers. Read on…

Need for Product

As a writer, I usually think 2 things before you read this post. Is this post relevant? Does my reader really need this post? Now, lets translate this to the market. Ask yourselves – #1: Is your product a real urgency to this world? #2: Can people live without your product? #3: Does your product deliver change? #4: Is it affordably priced that people will consider buying it? Do people really need your product?

Do you know the the best movies in the world have a compelling story, that provokes the audience and emotionally moves audiences globally. Now, simply translate this parallel with your business. Storytelling helps shaping the need for your product/service. Think if you are able to build a compelling story that can emotionally connect with your target audience?

Read this post!

Here's a great start to this post. Read this as a prequel. →

.

Market size

Ask yourselves – How big is your market-size? Often people value your product based on need of the hour. If you asked for DVD players, it was valued a billion dollar industry way back then. Then came the USB-era. Clean sweep! If you wanted to estimate the market-size of DVD players today, it will be 0.5% of what it used to be 2 decades earlier. Now, tell me what's your market size? Do you think you could sell "hand-made wedding gifts services" to 20 million people and expect 20% conversion? Stop wasting money on advertising. Rethink your market strategy with sales conversion as the focus. Markets like FMCG, Finance, Realty, make more money than rest combined. People often look into basics rather than exotics. And, if you are really into exotics, consider investing your money where it really converts. Next time you are selling any product from toilet paper to jet fuel, try to put it into a story telling narrative.

Cost of Customer Acquisition

Do you know large food delivery companies like Zomato/Swiggy spend almost 5000 INR ($72) for acquiring a single customer online. It includes the amount they spend to market their product, the offers the provide to the end user, the initial discounts, the early-adopter privileges, the miles et all. Yes, acquiring your first customers is real pain, and this increases your driven costs, and CAPEX. There is not just a cost factor on the money, but also effort. No one values the ROST part in acquiring a customer. ROST - Return on the Stress taken. Now, do you understand why sales teams get the big bucks, and the incentives?.

Cost of Customer Delight

Call it satisfaction or delight. Customer happiness is one crucial aspect that helps in repeat business. Don't let your clients use you one time and throw you out! Understand if you are delivering value versus growing revenue? Delivering value is implied with respect to the value proposition of the organization, but growing revenue, depends on the leader/individual driving it. Sales needs to find the right balance between the two worlds.

Uniqueness

What's the USP of your product/service. What's so unique that will convince someone to buy yours in the first sight? Think how absolutely different your product/service is positioned in the market. Here's the catch – If there are too many replicas, or similar services you need to give a huge discounts or even credits. Your product pricing strategy matters a lot in sales. But as an optimist, you need to make the sale anyway.

Speed to Market

Also refereed as "Speed of Transaction" in many sales books. Velocity of sales matters mostly for FMCG type transactions. There's a vast difference between selling a luxury imported german automobile vs an italian hand-made pizza! All you need to understand is how to factor in element speed of transaction between businesses.

Consider a bakery. Think how many hot cakes are required to be sold per day to make the ends meet. Imagine how many times the cake shelves need to be re-stocked? Factor in discounts. Consider the owner restocks 10 times per day, and still offers discounts with low-margin profits. Don't you think this one line-item will sell 3x?

Upfront Investment

Consider the CAPEX, and OPEX before you even invest. Capital Expenditures matters. And, it should not be too high that it blocks the working capital. Consider how much money you are willing to invest upfront. Reduce the risk by 1/3rd. Think affordability before even you bring your sales cycles.

Cross-selling

Obviously you need to cross-sell your products, club it with many partners and encourage upselling your retailing. Cross-selling matters. If you are opening up a farm fresh stores, and thinking about upselling, consider clubbing milk with bread, or butter with bread, or jam with bread.

Provide offers that help your identify your early adopters, and laggards. Over time, noticing these patterns, entice customers with more offers. You can spot cross-selling in almost every shop. Onion-Potato-Tomato, Milk-Bread-Jam, Razor-Aftershave-ShavingGel sold together are few examples.

Entry Barrier

Always think about monopoly in business. Playing the game often helps to understand how the minds of a shrewd business man works. To build a sustainable business, BUILD A MOAT. Identify few things that will help you build your own niches. If you can't build one, try to find entry barriers. How much can you work on your recurring revenues? Identify all entry barriers.

Remember, Anybody can — SELL. Yet, for all that pointers, we hope you become absolutely certain that tomorrow will be better and there is nothing you would rather do to Go-GET.

Keep hustling folks.