Most business owners have the same goal: More leads so their business can grow.
We all know that lead generation is an important way of growing your revenue, but it’s not the only way. There are other options to consider.
In this blog we take you through seven ways to grow your revenue - included in this list are six that you can turn to once you’ve exhausted all your lead generation options:
- Generate more leads
- Review your distribution
- Ask for referrals
- Improve customer retention
- Cross-selling and upselling
- Review your pricing
- Optimise your sales process
This is generally the number one goal for business owners.
If you’re looking to improve your lead generation performance, here are a few good places to start.
- Find your top-performing lead generation channels
This may sound obvious, but it’s worth sharing. Find your top-performing lead generation channels and double-down on them. Figure out a way to do more of the things that work well.
An example is increasing your websites conversion rate by creating more traffic to it. If you’ve found that webinars were a good way to meet potential customers, look into running them more frequently.
An important thing to do is to also review the channels or tactics that aren’t performing well and ask yourself two questions:
1.What can you do to improve performance?
2.Should you reallocate budget to tactics that are more successful?
- Target your campaigns
If you are wanting to improve your lead generation activity performance then you need to make it more targeted. How can this be done?
Target a specific industry that you have success with in the past. You can target specific pain points or challenges. You can target people regionally, or look at a certain level of seniority.
The right answer will depend on your business and your buyer. But you will almost always get more traction by targeting a specific audience with a message that’s highly relevant to them.
If you’re looking for more information on lead generation, you might want to check out these five cost-effective lead generation strategies.
2- Review your distribution channels
Here are a few examples of some common Distribution channels:
- Wholesaler distributor - selling to businesses who sell on to other businesses
- Retailers - selling to businesses who sell on to consumers
- Resellers - signing agreements with partners who then sell on your behalf
Finding new distribution channels or making better use of the ones you have is a proven way to increase revenue. Let’s look at each of these in turn.
- Existing distribution channels
Track distributor performance
Your sales report ought to be able to tell you which distribution channels your leads and clients are coming from.
You can at that point discover your top-performing distribution channels and:
- twofold down on them
- discover the ones that aren’t performing and remove them
- try to improve the non-performers
Hold reviews with your distributors on a regular basis to discuss your results and to see if you can assist them with anything to help them sell for you.
Depending on the relationship you've got with them, you could also set targets and offer incentives based on sales performance.
Make it easier for them to sell for you
Create sales material such as brochures, point-of-sale displays or case studies that they can share with customers. You can also create offers or discounts to help them drive demand.
-New distribution channels
The most consistent way to find new distribution channels is to speak to your customers. Asking them where else they go to find products or services like yours is a reliable way to find new opportunities.
Paying attention to the ads in relevant trade publications or websites is another way to find distribution channels who are actively trying to reach your end buyers.
Looking for something you can share with your team? Here’s a handy checklist.
3 - Ask for referrals
The only referrals you definitely won’t get are the ones you don’t ask for.
It might feel a bit awkward at first, but referrals are a tried-and-tested way of growing your revenues. Asking for them is a good habit to get into.
In our experience, it’s best done over the phone. If you’re wondering how to do this, here’s an example call script you could use.
“We’re really pleased with the work that we’ve done together and the results we’ve got so far.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I was wondering if you have any contacts who would benefit from our work in the same way that you have. If so, a referral or introduction would be very much appreciated.
“But if you’d rather not, no worries.”
-Offer referral incentives
Another way to get referrals is to offer existing customers incentives to pass your company details on to their contacts. Examples of these incentives are discounts, upgraded products or services or gifts.
-Track referrals
Set up your CRM to track referrals as a lead source. This will help you keep track of how your referral programme is doing and which tactics are having the most impact.
Webinar: 7 Ways to Grow Your Revenue
For more advice on each of the recommendations in this post check out our on-demand webinar. Click here to watch.
4 - Improve customer retention
-Monitor and analyse churn (for recurring revenue businesses)
Your sales data should be able to tell you the stage in the customer lifecycle where you’re losing customers.
If you discover that clients tend to drop off at a certain point, ask yourself how you'll move the encounter forward or give more bolster at that point. Proactive interventions are a demonstrated way to increase retention - and if you automate them, they’re also adaptable.
-Re-engage past customers (for one-off businesses)
You'll be able utilize your CRM to set updates to check in with clients after an adequate amount of time has passed for them to be back in the market.
If you’re looking for more advice on retention, check out How to Implement a winning customer retention process.
5 - Find cross-selling / upselling opportunities
-Create bundles
Even in the event that you don’t offer your products or services as bundles, you ought to know which of your products or services are complementary and attempt to make sure you’re marketing and selling them together.
-Segment your customers by product or service
Once you’ve defined your product or service bundles, you canhttps://blog.themarketingcentre.co.za/business-insights/customer-retention-process-how-to-implement examine your sales data to see which products or services your customers bought.
You'll be able at that point cross-reference this with the bundles you’ve made, which can show you other items they could be interested in.
-Create processes around cross-selling / upselling
Sales representatives tend to be naturally opportunistic and will spot opportunities themselves. But by creating processes around cross-selling and upsetting you will help make sure you’re not missing out on any opportunities.
Get more advice on encouraging current customers to spend more.
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Note: Want to speak to an experienced marketer about growing your business’ revenue? Our part-time Marketing Directors are here to help. Book a free one-hour consultation. |
6 - Review Your Pricing
One of the most obvious ways to impact your bottom line is to revisit your pricing strategy. But whether you’re increasing prices to improve profit margins, or dropping prices to encourage customers to buy, you need to tread carefully.
-Increasing prices
Small incremental adjustments made on a regular basis is much better than raising your prices drastically overnight. Customers tend to respond poorly to serious changes in your pricing, so if you do make changes, make sure the conversation is handled in the right way.
-Dropping prices
The only good reason to drop you prices is to drive short-term demand. If you are doing this, make sure you don’t cheapen or undermine your brand, as it can look a bit desperate, especially if you’re a service business.
-Price anchoring and hierarchy
Price anchoring is when you give customers alternative price points that make the actual price more appealing. The most common price anchoring technique is a price promotion or a sale. Normally a product is R1 000 (the anchor), but today it’s just R700.
An alternative is tiered pricing. The Basic package is R4 000 a month, the Pro package is R5 000 a month and the Enterprise package is R10 000. The anchors on either side of the Pro package make it seem like a better deal. It’s only slightly more expensive than the Basic package and a lot cheaper than Enterprise.
Another example could be a direct comparison with your competitor, assuming that their price (the anchor) is more than yours.
Watch our The CEO's Guide to the Science of Pricing: How To Price Your Platypus Webinar
Understand the science and psychology of pricing and gain insights on how to increase your prices.
7 - Optimise your sales and marketing process
Optimising your sales and marketing process is about making the experience as frictionless as possible. This tends to come down to three things:
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The ratio of enquiries or responses to marketing campaigns that become sales leads
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The average time it takes for a lead to become a customer
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The average ratio of leads that become customers
You may enjoy our article on Convert your leads into sales.
Here are a few ways to optimise these metrics:
-Have a process for handling new opportunities
Your marketing team should have a repeatable and measurable process for engaging new enquiries or opportunities as soon as they come through.
Your goal should be to qualify whether the lead is a genuine sales opportunity and, if so, pass it on to sales as quickly as possible, along with all the information your sales team will need.
The prospect’s first interaction with your company needs to be a good one.
For example, if they fill out a form, they should receive an autoresponder email letting them know that you’ve got their message and when they can expect a response by.
It is also a good idea to share some relevant content with them, so that you’re adding value right away. Little touches can make a big difference.
-Define the buyer journey
Before you can optimise the sales process you need to define it. There are lots of ways to do this, but the simplest is to define at which point a person goes from being a marketing qualified lead to a sales qualified lead to a customer.
Here are some example definitions:
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Marketing qualified lead (MQL) - a potential customer who’s interested in your company and can be reached by your team
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Sales qualified lead (SQL) - a potential customer who has shown intent to buy
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Customer - someone who has bought from you in the past and may do again
Every company will have slightly different criteria for what constitutes a MQL and a SQL.
-Set up reporting in your CRM
Your CRM will be able to track leads as they proceed through the sales process. Set up dashboards so that your team can easily track their sales and marketing efficiency.
This also makes it easier to hold sales and marketing to account if things aren’t improving.
-Don’t abandon old leads
Your pipeline probably has hundreds if not thousands of ‘closed lost’ leads in it. Each of those leads is an opportunity.
A key way of improving your sales efficiency is to find ways of re-engaging the leads that you already have. Every lead in your CRM should have a ‘next action’ against it.
The motto we use with our own sales is ‘no lead left behind’. Check out our recent post for ideas on how 5x your sales pipeline in 3 months.
Lead generation may get the most airtime when it comes to increasing sales and revenue. But generating new leads takes time and it can be a bit unpredictable, especially if your processes aren’t well-defined.
By exploring all the options mentioned in this guide, you might find opportunities to increase your profit margin that are closer to home.
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