Any successful company motivated to grow its sales volume should first focus on the existing relationships it has worked so hard to build. As a best practice, companies should leverage and revitalize current areas of business before tapping resources to develop new product lines and expand selling opportunities in existing markets.
In Inc.com’s article, 7 Powerful Strategies for Strong Sales Growth, Drew Greenblatt advocates for increasing efforts with current clients first, “All the systems are set up. The team knows how to make it right. Stick to your knitting and grow market share in what you do best already.…exploit this foundational portion of your business to get the easiest quickest sales.”
See below for how your company can handle existing business in different ways, leading to growth opportunities and an overall stronger customer base.
Become more customer-centric than market-oriented.
Approach client management and new revenue development as separate functions. Understand your client portfolio, strategize new engagement opportunities, and direct resources accordingly. Nurturing these existing relationships can also give way to lucrative cross-selling and upselling opportunities. Appreciate that customers within the same industry may have unique needs and purchasing criteria, and create individualized sales plans for each customer.
Embrace the digital economy.
Networking and maintaining relationships used to mean face-to-face meetings with current and prospective customers, but nowadays, the internet is the mainstream transaction tool. It is integral to building and nurturing customer relationships, generating sustainable growth, and promoting brand awareness. Invest in a well-coded website to increase your Google search ranking and “inbound marketing” opportunities – make it responsive, mobile-friendly, and easy for customers to access the information they need. Use social media and email marketing to broaden your digital reach, take advantage of direct customer access, and keep buyers engaged.
Expand your existing product range with complementary goods or services that meet your customer needs.
To expand within your existing market, a competitive scope grows revenue while increasing the value you provide your customers. While this may seem like a large undertaking, you can readily implement this strategy by outsourcing to other companies that are willing to produce under your brand name. Outsourcing minimizes production investments, allows your firm to focus on its core mission, provides autonomy in choosing suppliers, and creates access to current technologies.
Boosting flat-lined sales can be challenging, but these strategies employ relatively modest investments that build on pre-existing, successful relationships. The strategies all support one main goal: to communicate to target customers that your firm is committed and has the bandwidth to address their growing needs. For more information on how your company could benefit from these recommendations, contact us. Follow us on LinkedIn for more industry insight on growing your business.