In this post we are going to explore the five signs uncertainty is impacting your business.... and five strategies you need to turn uncertainty to your competitive advantage.
I love data – the more data I have, the more I understand my business. Data is actually the story of your business, your company, your teams – it is the story of what is working in your business and what is not. Understand the data, and you hold the key to how to grow your business, drive sales, and leave your competition in the dust.
Five Signals Every Salesperson and Business Owner Needs To Look For
Now, I did not always feel this way about data. In fact, for most of my career I could not stand it. I hated tracking it, reporting it, and worst of all, reading it. Then I had a mentor who not only taught me how to effectively use data but reframed my thinking when it came to reading numbers.
His name was Brian, and Brian was one of those rare mentors who had a head for numbers and heart for connecting with people – he was an unbelievable leader. He told me I was looking at numbers all wrong – like they were just numbers. When what I needed to be doing was looking deep into the numbers to find the story – what the numbers were and what they were really telling me.
He went on to share that when you understand the numbers, you can actually hear what the numbers are telling you. Then you’ll have all the information you need to be more effective, update your strategy, create consistent results, and most of all, stop being busy and start being productive.
5 Signs Uncertainty Is Impacting Your Business
If you are a salesperson, if you own a business, here are five numbers you need to track and the story you need to be following:
- New Sales in Decline – Work with your sales team to track the number of new sales every month, and how many sales calls it takes them to get those deals to close. If new sales are going down for three or four months, it’s time to look at your strategy.
- Sales Cycles Are Increasing – Track how long it takes to close a sale. If your average close rate is lengthening, then it is time to update your strategy.
- Declining Requests From Existing Customers – Track the number of referrals or requests for repeat business you receive on a monthly basis, and if you see any shift in these numbers then you guessed it, it is time for a shift in strategy.
- Inbound Sales Leads Fall Off – Knowing the average number of new inbound leads you receive on a monthly basis is critical to understanding how effective your current strategy is.
- Competitors Gaining Market Share – If your competitors are gaining in market share and you are not, then that is a major clue the marketplace is shifting and you need to shift with it.
Now, it is one thing to know the date and hear the story, but you need to know what to do with it, and how to take declining numbers and turn things around.
3 Strategies To Turn Uncertainty To Your Competitive Advantage
Redeploy Your Sales Team
First and foremost, redeploy your sales team to focus less on selling and more on information gathering. I know, sounds crazy right? Well maybe a little but hang on. I think the greatest asset our sales teams have right now, is not making sales, but more their ability to find out what the real issues, and problems are with customers. Where their budgets are going, and what they will pay for.
Update Your Marketing
With the intel gathered from your customers by your sales team, you’ll understand the “real” problem in the marketplace. In other words, what your customers and prospects are looking for, buying, and seeking. Now it is time to update your sales and marketing strategies to position yourselves as the “go to” expert to solve their problems.
Focus on Existing Customers
And last but not least, focus more on your existing customers when the marketplace shifts. Their needs have changed, they already like you and trust you, and if you show up understanding the issues they are facing, armed with the products to solve their problems, then closing more sales will be easy.
Yes, I love data. You are now living in a time when there is more uncertainty happening outside of your business than in it. Focus on the changes in the marketplace by understanding the story of your data. That’s how you turn uncertainty to your competitive advantage.
