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Using Pros to Boost Business Sales
As a small business owner, ensuring a robust sales strategy will be essential to your company’s overall success, health, and longevity. In some instances, it can be worth the investment to hire outside sales professionals to help you reach your sales and marketing objectives. Whatever capacity and function you plan to hire for, you should first consider budgeting for your hiring program. This may include securing a loan, so be sure your debt is low enough for lenders to be assured you can fulfill your obligations.
ContentIntelligent provides a few more tips here.
Developing a Sales Strategy
Chances are, you thought through your sales objectives when you developed your business and marketing plans. If not, according to SCORE, it’s time to put a strategy in place. Your goals should include specific objectives, like market penetration and sales figures broken down by quarter. Be realistic in your projections - advanced market research and looking at your competition can help you develop target ranges. It may be worthwhile to bring in expert outside help to get you started. Professional salespeople may work in place of full-time staff or in addition to your existing employee base as a way to set the stage for long-term sales success.
Employee Versus Freelancer
If you hire sales and marketing employees as full-time staffers, you may pay them a salary, a commission, or a hybrid of the two. All compensation approaches have their upsides and downsides. Commission-only is designed to incentivize staffers to pull out all the stops and close deals, but if the market is slow, and your business is brand new, it can be difficult to retain high-quality people if they're not able to produce an immediate cash flow. On the other hand, if you pay a straight salary, you may have people stay with you longer, but they may not be as motivated to produce. According to Mailshake, often, a draw against commission is a happy medium. Remember, an in house sales team will be available day-to-day to build client relationships; freelancers won’t be around to cultivate long-term client relationships.
How Sales Consultants Work
Independent sales and marketing professionals are well trained in their particular areas of expertise. Their goal is to come in, be mass producers, and help you lay the groundwork for ongoing sales. They are usually creative and personable people with proven track records, and they know what it takes to develop a winning strategy and close deals.
These pros are well paid because of their success, and as such, you may be looking at a compensation structure that's a little different from full-time staffers. Before hiring anyone, get recommendations and referrals from trusted colleagues, and when you interview prospective candidates, ask them to outline their strategy, their approach, and ask for their success stories.
Off-the-Shelf Services
There are a number of off-the-shelf sales products and services that can help you build your business and save you time and money. You could hire a social media management agency like ContentIntelligent, a graphic artist or website designer, or a project manager. Highly intuitive software programs can also be an asset, particularly when it comes to customer relationship management strategies and cyber security measures.
You may also find it's smart to hire an agency or professional services provider company on a project-by-project basis. For example, a customer service guru can train staff on best practices, while a tax pro can prepare your business returns.
Getting a business up and running requires a number of steps, and preplanning is a wise move. If you haven't formed your limited liability company or LLC, that's also a smart prerequisite. An LLC protects you from some types of liability, makes it easier to file taxes, and gives you flexibility. Avoid lawyer fees by using a formation service. States have different rules around LLC formation, so learn yours in advance.