“If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”
In this blog, we’ll unpack why a good sales strategy matters and the key pieces it needs. We’ll talk about lead scoring, why it should be your 2024 priority, and how Breadcrumbs makes it easy.
We’ll also touch on four other cool strategies that work well with lead scoring: perfecting customer personas, creating an irresistible lead magnet, using data for targeted sales, and investing in training.
Lastly, we’ll show you how to build your 2024 sales strategy using these techniques plus lead scoring.
Let’s get started!
Understanding the Importance of a Sales Strategy
Before we dive into how to build a successful sales strategy, let’s quickly define what it is and why it’s important.
The Role of a Sales Strategy in Business Success
A well-defined sales strategy will help you achieve your business objectives in 2024. Having a plan helps your sales assistant and their efforts align with the company’s goals. Moreover:
- It’s an anchor that keeps all activities relevant while providing enough adaptability in response to target market changes and customer sentiment.
- It helps you outline highly tailored sales techniques and tactics primed to attract and convert your target market.
- It’s a roadmap where you set specific and measurable goals and establish a way to evaluate success.
- It helps you position and understand why you’re different from your competitors.
- It allows you to focus resources on the most lucrative opportunities.
Without it, you risk losing out on profitable opportunities and handing the initiative to your competitors.
Key Elements of an Effective Sales Strategy
Crafting a winning sales strategy for 2024 is all about keeping it real and relevant. Here’s a condensed take on what you need:
- Know your crowd: Dive deep into who your customers are, what they like, and what irks them.
- Set real goals: Make sure your goals aren’t just far-fetched pipedreams (i.e., $500 million in revenue). They should be clear, doable, and something you can high-five about when achieved.
- Pick your message: Everyone’s different, right? Figure out who you’re talking to and tailor your pitch just for them.
- Stand out: What’s your secret sauce? Find that thing that makes you pop in a sea of sameness.
- Choose your path: Are you going digital, face-to-face, or a mix? Pick the best ways to reach your folks.
- Get your act together: Nail down a sales process that’s like a well-oiled machine.
- Tech up: Embrace tech tools that make your life easier and give you insights on what’s working (or what’s not).
- Keep learning: Invest in your team. A sharp squad means better sales.
- Be like water: Stay flexible and ready to switch gears when needed.
Lead Scoring with Breadcrumbs: Your First Strategy for 2024
A lead score helps your sales team understand whether a potential customer is worth pursuing.
Time is money, so you want to only deal with those leads that’ll likely lead to a sale. So, scoring leads can help you streamline your sales cycle.
A lead is scored against different factors. Some of these include:
- Their online behavior–the pages they viewed and how long they spent on them.
- How much do they engage with the company’s social media channels?
- Where the lead came from (website, social media, lead magnet, etc.).
- Past history with the company.
- Demographic information.
Accurate lead scoring models help sales managers and their teams chase qualified leads likely to convert. It also helps the marketing team, as some of the lead scoring data will influence the types of content they create.
Lead scoring helps you understand the makeup of your ideal target market—which is why it should be your number-one sales strategy for 2024. And Breadcrumbs is here to help.
We offer a refined approach to lead scoring that goes beyond the capabilities of traditional tools. Unlike outdated ranking systems, Breadcrumbs’ advanced analytics does a deep dive into the variables influencing a lead score.
It also integrates the recency and frequency of user actions—because someone who visited your product demo page a year ago differs from someone who visited yesterday!
Our system factors in various interactions, such as recent website visits and social media engagement. These insights help you fine-tune your go-to-market strategies and allow you to engage leads effectively and at the right time.
Breadcrumbs also supports the development of multiple scoring models tailored to different ideal customer profiles (ICPs) vis-a-vis your products and the regions you serve. This flexibility allows for more precise lead qualification.
Book a demo or start a free trial to see it in action!
4 Other Key Sales Strategies for 2024
With lead scoring at the forefront, the following four strategies should complement your sales approach.
1. Customer Persona Refinement
Adopting a customer-centric approach is essential in customizing your sales tactics to meet the unique requirements of your potential customers.
Ebook
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Worksheet
Learn how to create an Ideal Customer Profile and build a successful sales strategy with this Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Worksheet.
For example, StudioSuits is a specialized clothing brand that continually refines its buyer personas to stay attuned to evolving customer preferences.
When promoting wedding suits for men, they create a distinct persona based on factors like:
- Style preferences
- Buying behavior
- Age
This refined persona enables StudioSuits to:
- Collaborate with other relevant businesses and influencers
- Communicate effectively with their ideal customer profile
- Craft targeted marketing campaigns
- Offer customized product options
Their secret sauce? They tap into the power of user-generated content to showcase modern men’s suits, creating a whole look that resonates with the groom-to-be. The goal? Selling a dream for their big day.
While we focus on tailoring experiences to specific customer personas, it’s vital to recognize a significant yet often overlooked segment: individuals who depend on accessible web design.
96% of websites aren’t accessible, which is shocking given millions of people use assistive technologies like screen readers and voice assistants to help them navigate a website. If your website isn’t accessible, you’re missing out on an untapped target customer base.
Accessibility is also a moral obligation. And while ADA compliance checks might not be the first sales strategy you try, they’ll help open your online store to new prospective customers.
If you’re unsure where to start, use tools like the ADA compliance checker from accessiBe. The tool will guide you through making your website inclusive and welcoming to everyone.
Plus, here’s how accessibility personalizes your sales strategy:
- You speak their language: Imagine a visually impaired user struggling to navigate your website, unable to decipher confusing layouts or alt-text-less images. Accessibility removes these barriers, ensuring your message reaches everyone clearly.
- You break down the walls: Physical stores have ramps and elevators to make everyone feel welcome. Accessibility does the same for the digital world. By removing barriers like missing transcripts for videos or keyboard-unfriendly interfaces, you engage a wider demographic on your website.
- You stand out from the crowd: Embracing accessibility sets you apart as a brand that cares about inclusivity and values every customer–setting you up for business growth.
2. Create Irresistible Lead Magnets
Let’s face it. Lead magnets require a lot of work upfront.
But if you create a magnet that acknowledges and addresses your customer’s pain points, you can generate demand and fill your sales pipeline with qualified leads. For example, a B2B software company like Unkover might create a whitepaper or video training series addressing a common industry challenge. Offering free and relevant digital products on their website attracts business professionals who give up their contact details in exchange.
The company can then nurture these leads with personalized, targeted email campaigns, gradually guiding them down the sales funnel.
3. Leveraging Data for Sales Success
Making sense of customer sales data helps you understand their preferences, behaviors, and purchasing patterns. You can use this information to deliver targeted marketing and sales messages at the right time.
If a customer regularly restocks supplies from you every six months, it’s likely that’s when they run out. Sending a timely reminder as this period approaches can effectively encourage them to repurchase rather than look elsewhere.
And if you do this with all your customers—breaking them up into segments of like-minded behaviors—you’ll pick up those easy wins. Data analytics platforms can also help you identify high-value prospects and new options your organization can explore.
Such platforms have internal uses, too, such as assessing sales leader performance and identifying areas for improvement.
4. Investing in Sales Training
Customer needs and wants are constantly changing. It’s crucial to keep your sales reps ahead of the game and invest in their training. This supports them in refining their sales process so the company can reach its 2024 sales targets.
Practical ways to keep sales professionals’ skill sets updated include:
- Pair sales leaders with less experienced salespeople for mentoring and guidance to help improve overall sales productivity.
- Host product training sessions where the sales rep understands how the product works and fits the customer’s lifestyle. As the old adage goes, sell solutions, not features.
- If you’re a lean company, free or low-priced online courses on platforms like LinkedIn Learning can train your sales department on key areas like sales pitches, customer service, and sales tactics. It’s also worth training them in soft skills like communication. Podcasts such as The Art of Communication are designed to help professionals overcome nerves and speak confidently.
Internal knowledge sharing is a crucial part of an effective sales strategy. Are their silos in your company preventing the transparent flow of information? Tear them down to enable best practice sharing in areas like cross-selling and up-selling to boost sales performance.
Building Your 2024 Sales Plan
So, how do you turn these sales strategies into a successful 2024 sales plan?
Incorporating Lead Scoring with Breadcrumbs
Begin by implementing Breadcrumbs for lead scoring. Our tool will help you evaluate and rank leads based on their conversion potential, guiding you to achieving your revenue targets.
Use Breadcrumbs to analyze customer interactions, such as website visits or engagement with marketing materials, and assign scores accordingly. This process will enable you to prioritize high-quality leads.
Applying Other Key Strategies
Leverage the data collected through Breadcrumbs and other sources to understand customer behaviors and preferences. Use this data to segment your leads and tailor your sales approaches.
For example, you might find that a particular demographic responds well to a specific product or marketing campaign, allowing you to target your efforts more precisely.
Use Lead Magnets
Once you’ve segmented your leads, you’ll have a deeper understanding of their pain points, needs, and desires. You can now create compelling and targeted lead magnets that appeal to your target segments. These should address those specific needs or interests.
Prioritize Continuous Customer Persona Refinement
Keep refining your customer personas based on the insights gathered from lead scoring, data analysis, and the inbound leads from your magnets. Update these personas to reflect changing customer needs and behaviors, ensuring your sales and marketing strategies remain relevant.
Be Accessible at Every Touchpoint
Ensure your website and other digital touchpoints (lead magnets and online resources) have accessibility features. A website accessible to those with disabilities:
- Reflects positively on your brand
- Helps you reach business goals
- Improves user experience
Setting Goals and Tracking Progress
Setting goals and tracking progress sounds like a no-brainer, but we must stress the importance of this step for your sales strategy.
After all, you need to know where you’re going and how close you are to getting there. Here’s how you can do it effectively:
- Set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound—they’re your recipe for realistic goals that push you forward without setting you up for an uphill battle.
- Break it down: Big goals are great but can also feel overwhelming. Chop them into smaller, bite-sized tasks. Tackle them one step at a time.
- Keep score: Tracking progress is like keeping score in a game. It tells you if you’re winning or need to up your game. Use tools that make tracking sales metrics easy and visible.
- Regular check-ins: Schedule regular reviews of your goals and progress. That way, you get a glimpse of if you’re still on track or need to make any tweaks.
- Celebrate milestones: Don’t just wait to pop the champagne at the end. Celebrate the small victories along the way. It keeps your team motivated and energized.
- Learn and adapt: Be ready to learn from the misses and adapt your strategy. Sometimes, the best lessons come from detours and roadblocks.
Preparing for Sales Success in 2024
To make 2024 your company’s best year yet, you must adopt a sales approach that strategically uses data to identify your ideal customer segments. That should be followed by delivering relevant experiences and directing your marketing efforts to match the preferences of each segment.
When leads come in, tools like Breadcrumbs can prioritize them based on their likelihood to convert—guaranteeing that your sales efforts are focused on the most promising leads.
Explore Breadcrumbs for free, or book your demo.