Sales excellence in the new reality
In this blog article, we discuss how agencies can apply a demand generation process for the retail industry to grow fullistically. Furthermore we will outline an easy step by step guide of how to define a demand generation and sales process for retailers in your agency.
What you will learn from this article:
- Growth needs to be planned from your purpose and vision to actionable OKRs
- For service brands, such as agencies it is important to review your current client structure and your existing human capital
- A growth definition cycle should be conducted in Q4 and ready to start working on in beginning of January
- It is important that you understand that growth in agencies is four-dimensional
- It is crucial to set a clear focus on either new acquisition or client development
- To know when you have to innovate a new service package to reach different client groups’ needs
- The sales process has four phases: prospecting, lead management, client onboarding and client retention
- The more digitized data is used in your prospecting phase the better your scaling will work
The more precise your offering is outlined within the lead mgmt. phase the higher will your hit rate be
To explain the most important points in detail, we divided the content into the following points:
- Your agency growth needs
- Acquisition vs. Cross Sales
- Demand generation for retailers
- Execute prospect & lead generation
- Increase your conversion rate (Hit Rate)
1. Your agency growth needs
First of all, you need to understand your current growth traction. Did you grow mainly because of existing clients or because of new clients you were able to acquire?
Tip: To analyse your growth traction we recommend to fill out an easy template to clearly visualise your findings for the whole team.
Based on your findings, we recommend to develop an easy and sufficient growth plan for 2021, which could look like this:
In order to reach the goals of your growth plan, you should start to work with the right strategic Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), that need to be reviewed on a regular basis. To do so, we recommend to make use of an OKR Cycle:
2. Acquisition vs Cross Sales
On the basis of your client service map analysis (for help please click here), you will be able to figure out your clients white spots and thus the growth pillars you will need to focus on. Usually, we use the Ansoff Matrix to evaluate with our clients whether to acquire new or existing clients:
Depending on your evaluation of your client development potential, you have to set the strategic focus on “New Acquisition” OR “Cross Sales”. E.g. If you want to primarily offer new services to existing clients, you should focus on a so called Cross Sales Strategy.
3. Demand generation for retailers
It is more difficult to create trust in the virtual world as in reality, because we only develop oxytocin, the neurotransmitter of trust, if we have physical contact with people.
Thus, it is necessary to find engaging ways in order to strengthen the relationship with e.g. retail clients when speaking to them on remote. Our tips are:
- Explain the principles of oxytocin
- Grab a virtual coffee together
- Ask everyone to switch on the camera
- Ask more questions
- Present with two voices
When it comes to demand generation, we recommend to:
- Understand how to generate demand in general
- Tell a real storyline
- Talk with the help of engaging slides
Demand generation process
4. Execute prospect & lead generation
We divide a sales process in four phases (1) Prospecting (2) Lead Management (3) Customer Onboarding (4) Customer Retention:
Furthermore, a good prospecting process is based on a clear definition of your desired customer segment and offering:
A good lead management process on the other hand has five different stages supported with digital tools:
In order to assess the performance of your sales phases, we recommend defining the right KPIs in order to track your success. Possible KPIs, mapped to the individual sales pages could look like this:
As a result, an exemplary approach of KPI setting and tracking could look like this:
5. Increase your conversion rate (Hit Rate)
Based on our experience the hit rate can be significantly improved by following these 5 steps:
- Digitalise your pre-sales process with a flow of activities and client interactions
- Develop a diagnostic before you offer. This creates trust but also your signal if the client is suitable for your service
- Provide your clients modular offerings to choose from
- Investigate negative feedback with a quick survey or a call
- Evaluate your outcomes on a monthly bases
If you have any questions or need help on specific topics, please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.
Your Amaze Growth Team
