Social Sales | There Are Only 3 Ways to Increase Your Revenues

I’ve been at this a very long time and, as far as I know, there are only three ways to increase your revenues. You can …

Make more calls or
Raise your average $ sale or
Improve your ratios (also a part of KPI’s or Key Performance Indicators). Get better at what you do.

Regarding ratios in general, it is often and correctly said that sales is a game of numbers. Many sales managers still require call reports and sales people continue to be reluctant to complete those. The simple fact is that you should be tracking these figures for your own use regardless of whether or not your sales manager wants (or even reads) these.

Keeping track of your activities can be very instrumental in determining where you need the most help (or things that you need to work on) and also for predicting your future sales. Once you have established your ratios (calls to appointments, appointments to presentations, presentations to sales), your obstacles to success will become much more apparent … “I make lots of presentations but get very few sales.” The problem probably is not making the calls or even securing the presentation. It lies somewhere else in the selling process.

Once you have determined your current ratios, it also becomes fairly easy to run what-if scenarios (working the numbers backward). For example, what happens if I increase my call activity by 10%? What happens if I increase my closing ratio by 5%? If you have never done this particular exercise, you should. The overall effect of becoming just a little bit better in a number of areas is pretty amazing!

Another common phrase associated with selling is to work smarter not harder so now let’s look at all three of our smart ways to increase our revenues from the perspective of both traditional and social sales and, with the help of social, I’m strongly in favor of doing all three!

Make more calls – In traditional selling this meant that you either knocked on more doors or that you dialed more numbers. Hell, maybe you even licked more envelopes. Me, I’d rather make better calls and, where possible, amplify those “calls” that I do make. Even better, I would like others to amplify those calls for me.

Amplification occurs when others share your message with their connections. This would include, but not be limited to, forwarding your message to their network at-large and or sharing your message with a specific individual(s). Either way, you win! Others are effectively making your calls for you. If you buy into the argument that social updates are a part of the new “cold calls”, and you should, you can then …

Post your “calls” via social media and thereby leverage the expanse of your own network.
Put all of your networks to work at happily buzzing your updates to, and with, each other.
Ask for, or just let this happen naturally, others to share your message with their own networks.
Create your own ad hoc networks of like-minded non-competing buddies where you have systems in place to cross-share each other’s important announcements.
Prepare and share via email pre-composed updates that your other great connections would be happy to share with their networks on your behalf.

I have either done myself, or have seen others do; all of the above and I can promise you that all work and that they work very well! Mind you, I’m not talking about constantly sending out updates that say … “Would you like to buy my stuff!” What you are doing is providing measurable value for your readers, establishing your expertise as an expert in your field, demonstrating a likable personality, and then (most importantly) attracting others to a place where they can view your offer(s). Cold calling employs interruption marketing whereas social is based on attraction.

Raise your average $ sale – I might buy stuff that I need from any one of a variety of sources. When I find someone that I know, like, and trust … I buy all my stuff from them that I possibly can. The difference is that the first scenario involves a transaction whereas the latter involves a relationship. In my mind, securing repeat business raises my average dollar sale.

Traditional and social sales are not all that different in regard to how we raise the average dollar sale. Social just makes it all that much easier! We can …

Increase business from our existing customers by providing excellent service and showing them ways that our products and services can help them to become better at their business.
Add-on (increase the size of) to any sale.
Revive a stale or under-performing account. Even bring back a lost one.
Generate valuable referrals to other accounts.

Socially, these are accomplished by the same techniques that will help us to improve our ratios.

Improve your ratios – In sales, ratios are directly tied to how good you are at what you do. Much of this comes with experience and that will not change. Experience is also not something that you can necessarily directly control. It comes with time in the field and no matter how many times I have attempted to stretch the 24-hour limitation on days … I have failed miserably.

However, social allows us many ways to improve our ratios in all sales related things that we do irrespective of that annoying “experience” thing and we can do this while maximizing our time management. In many ways, improving our ratios is closely aligned with those steps that we can take to raise our average dollar sale and it all starts with creating and nurturing relationships. By doing this we will quite naturally increase our average dollar sale.

Going back to who people buy from, they buy from those that they know, like, and trust. These are the same people who they willingly refer others to. These are also the people who they trust and listen to when they are given advice regarding the best available solutions for their needs. With these people, they will purchase based on value rather than on price alone.

Let’s say for example that I want to buy a new computer. I’m not particularly knowledgeable in this area so I would be inclined to look at basic specifications and then find the lowest priced product that meets these criteria combined with any other research and experience that I can draw from. For example, have I bought from this vendor previously and had a satisfactory experience? If I have no relationship with a vendor, this is where the transaction begins and ends.

On the other hand, if there is somebody in my circle who I perceive to be an ally, I will seek their advice and will readily consider those reasons that might include me investing more money by upgrading my purchase. In the transactional arena, I probably won’t even request advice because … there is no relationship, or trust, in place.

What are these relationships worth? Plenty! When you have a strong relationship you will rarely compete with other vendors. Referrals are like gold! You can’t tell me that your closing ratio on referrals is not significantly higher than on other types of opportunities. In fact, through relationships, all of your ratios rise substantially! Here are some tips on how to build those …

Get to REALLY know them. Social media is fantastic when it comes to accomplishing this goal. Connect with them on their networks and monitor and engage with them via their streams and preferred channels.
Place your customer/prospect needs above your own and promote them and their business to others whenever you have that opportunity. Use your social channels to inform others about your customer’s products and services. Connect them/introduce them to others who have the potential to do the same.
Show them better ways to run their business even if that does not involve your product or service. I subscribe to a wide variety of articles and some of those sources are specific to my customer’s industry. It then becomes very easy to send those articles to your reader (I am presently using Google but will likely switch to Feedly when Google gets shuttered) and can then email suitable articles to my clients.
Help them to find new sources of revenues for their business. Learn to use search on your social networks based on keywords that would relate to your customers’ products and services, save those searches, monitor them, and then share the opportunities you find with your client(s).
Become a trusted advisor and not just a vendor. Trusted advisors are seen as a member of the team. Vendors are seen as suppliers and they are easily replaced.

Be a connector. Isn’t connecting others what this is all about? What other tips might you share with others regarding how to increase their revenues?

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Bio
Twitter
YouTube
Latest Posts

Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!