North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event heads to Orange County Convention Center in October 2024. FABTECH provides a convenient "one stop shop" venue where you can meet with world-class suppliers, see the latest industry products and developments, and find the tools to improve productivity, increase profits and discover new solutions to all of your metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing needs.
North America's Largest Metal Forming, Fabricating, Welding and Finishing Event
Three Low-Cost, High-Return Ways to Increase Sales
By Andrew Garman at PIPEDREAM on on
Whether you’re a fabricator, an OEM, a service provider, or just about any other type of organization, the ability to generate sales is a critical component of your success as a business. So when sales are flat and profits are tight, what can you do? Read on for three low-cost, high-return ways to get your P&L moving in the right direction.
Get Better Leads
Seems obvious, right? Start with an audit of your company’s lead generation activities. Determine what’s driving quality leads and what’s not. All marketing activities are not created equal – meaning some activities are likely driving better leads than others. So if you’re able to track where your leads are coming from, see if you can determine which sources drive leads that are more likely to turn into sales. Or ask your digital marketing agency to provide this data. Once armed with this information, you can discontinue the activities that aren’t driving results, and double down on the ones that are. In many cases, this kind of smart fine-tuning of your lead acquisition strategy can lead to big results without a big increase in cost.
Close More Sales
Despite what many professional sales people will tell you, there is as much science to closing a sale as there is art. So once you understand the mechanics of your sales process, you can begin to optimize it. And just like you can optimize an assembly or shipping process to make it faster, cheaper and more efficient, you can likewise optimize your sales process. Start by documenting your current process, then look for friction points. Where does it get hung up? Where is there opportunity for another touch, or a better touch? When would the perfect piece of information or messaging propel a prospect forward and closer to the sale? Often, documenting your sales process and measuring each step along the way can reveal the best practices that really help you close sales. Formalizing these best practices across the board will foster accountability and help your entire sales team use the best process to close more sales.
Sell More Per Sale
What if each sale was 5% higher? Even beyond a price increase, looking for ways to add value can help justify a premium that can boost your bottom line. Start by thinking about your primary products and services. Are there complementary products or services that could be packaged into a sale that would add value and command a premium price? Can you standardize an up-selling process, or cross-promote ancillary products or services during the sales process? An increase of even a few percent across a year of sales transactions can really add up to some big dollars. And formalizing these kinds of tactics doesn’t have to come with a big price tag. Sometimes it’s all in how you present it to your prospects. This makes working towards increasing your average sale value a truly low-cost way to boost your bottom line.
Ready for a Boost?
Think about your business, and think about which one of these strategies might give you the best return. Or if you’re feeling really ambitious, give them all a shot. Whatever you do, think strategically about your sales and marketing efforts. The more you can document, the more you can understand your process. And the more you can measure, the more you can optimize over time for better results. Increasing sales is often a marathon, not a sprint, but by working intentionally on the areas described above, you will drive big success for your business.
Andrew Garman is the Managing Partner at PIPEDREAM, a digital marketing agency that specializes in helping sales-process-driven businesses grow. Learn more at www.GoPipedream.com.
FABTECH 2024
About the Expo
North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event heads to Orange County Convention Center in October 2024. FABTECH provides a convenient "one stop shop" venue where you can meet with world-class suppliers, see the latest industry products and developments, and find the tools to improve productivity, increase profits and discover new solutions to all of your metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing needs.
