1. HOW TO REACT WHEN THE COMPETITION ENTERS PLAY
A competitor lowers prices
PROBLEM: There is a new player in the market and it enters by touching prices.
AVOID: You should not enter a price war. Unless you are a leader or a larger company, there will come a point where others will be able to adjust margins better than you.
SALES STRATEGIES: Expand your presence. Expand your sales force with new branches or the audience you are targeting. Hire a call center (if you want others to be in charge of attracting customers, so that your sales force turns to current ones) or more complex outsourcing services (so that, in addition to attracting customers, they can manage them). Internet. Study going online. If you are already there, analyze how to improve your virtual services. You can take advantage of it for the most basic sales strategies: promotions and the possibility of discounts for carrying out online transactions, for example. Create your own brand. Sometimes, if you have a solid brand and you dedicate yourself to the distribution of products, you can invest in launching your own lines, in the style of private labels.
Communicate your differences. Through advertising or sponsorships.
A company introduces a new product
PROBLEM: Technological changes and forms of distribution mark new competitive scenarios and open up possibilities for new competitors in new markets. For example, the new forms of social configuration (immigrants, elderly population, etc.) force us to bet on new product and distribution designs.
AVOID: Lowering prices. A new product changes the rules by differentiating itself from your offer.
SALES STRATEGIES: Communicate your difference. If your features are still different and competitive, let consumers or customers know. Use the usual tactics to make it known: discount possibilities, two for one, direct gifts, coupons, etc.
Touch up your product. Give him a 'face' wash. The product is not touched as much as its 'packaging': recycling and packaging.
Launch a new product. When a service or a product becomes obsolete, it is necessary to either touch up the characteristics or find a replacement.
A competitor 'seduces' your distributors
PROBLEM: If your sales network is not your own, your distributors may be working with your competition. Keep an eye on it!
AVOID: 'Criminalizing' them or threatening to renegotiate their conditions.
STRATEGY: Free training. Take training and incentives outside of your company and offer it to your distributors as well. You will make them feel like part of your team and they will find a benefit in working with you.
Your brand is becoming outdated
PROBLEM: “The image must adapt to social and aesthetic changes, etc. Companies must modernize their practices and respond to the concerns that professionals demand: reconciliation of personal and professional life, professional development, etc. ”, explains Enrique Arce, partner at People Matters.
AVOID: Lowering prices.
STRATEGIES: Touch up your product. Launch a new product.
A company launches a strong campaign
PROBLEM: Generally this type of campaign is associated with the launch of new products, but sometimes it is also about 'cracking' to grab market share.
AVOID: Lowering prices.
STRATEGIES: Communicate your difference. If your characteristics are still different and competitive, let consumers or customers know. Use the usual tactics to make it known: discount possibilities, two for one, direct gifts, coupons, etc.
Launch a new product
Reanimate the point of sale. Organize events for customers at your points of sale: tastings, meetings with experts ...
2. HOW TO REACT WHEN IT IS A SECTOR CRISIS
Industry sales are affected by an internal cause
PROBLEM: A generalized seasonal adjustment of demand, a drop in demand ...
AVOID: Lowering prices.
SALES STRATEGIES: It grows with its own clients. In these situations it is difficult to reach new customers in your market, so the first solution is to grow with the ones you already have by offering them more services. It is about proposing the increase in spending as a saving. Look in other markets. If the geographic effects of this external factor can be expanded, expanding your field of action may be the solution to face the reduction in sales. In some cases they will be solutions for international expansion; in others, it may be enough to broaden regional perspectives. You can do it alone or through alliances. You can also search for customers in other markets through, for example, cross-selling through agreements with other companies.
Outsource services. If you have it complicated on the client side, save costs by outsourcing services that are not basic for your business.
Some external factor affects sales in the sector
PROBLEM: The external factor can be economic reasons: rise in interest rates, inflation, etc., which, in general, have an impact on purchasing power. Emergence of new markets that alter the rules of production and consumption. Changes in consumer habits (new technologies, social changes) that cause obsolescence. In the labor markets, the shortage of talent due to low birth rates and the arrival of the immigrant population alter the original situation.
AVOID: Lowering prices.
SALES STRATEGIES:
Reduce unnecessary costs. Look at all those outlays that do not help improve business, such as first-class travel, luxury car rental, or overpriced hotel stays.
Look for other markets
3. HOW TO REACT IF YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE DEMOTIVATED
Sales forces are not motivated
PROBLEM: The daily work of your sales network occurs in a competitive environment that, in addition to being exerted under pressure
on many occasions, it can also be frustrating. And it is not always a question of retribution. "Sometimes, for example, the seller has the feeling of not controlling the result, which ends up demotivating him," explains Arce.
AVOID: Always agree with the customer and not listen to what your employees have to say.
SALES STRATEGIES: Motivation plans. If they are unmotivated, it's simple: incentivize your sales force through compensation plans, introduce a variable table of incentives, create career plans ... Remember that money is not everything when it comes to motivating a staff. A well-paid job does not mean the same for a 25-year-old, newcomer to the company, ambitious, single and with a medium purchasing power, than for a 40-year-old professional with experience in the company and with a couple of children about to go to school. In small businesses it is more complicated, but it is not impossible.
Bring your sales force together outside of the company. If you cannot implement plans to motivate, organize small events outside the company in which you gather your sales team: from going out to eat to days with recreational activities.
A purchase process occurs or merger of a company
PROBLEM: So far this year there have been almost 600 cases of company mergers. “In this type of purchasing or merger process, it is sold, but not at the same rates. In times of transition, employees have doubts. This in the end ends up being perceived by the market ”, says Daniel Primo.
AVOID: Not having a well-developed internal communication plan. Improve costs by reducing labor.
SALES STRATEGIES: Communication. There are templates that, it is more than likely, may be concerned at this time about how that purchase or merger process is going to affect them. Will they keep my job? Many employees will be wondering. Communicate the change step by step and, above all, try to make clear from the outset how it affects the workers of the merged companies. You cannot ignore an internal communication effort. It will go against you.
Motivation plans.
4. HOW TO REACT IF SALES DROP DUE TO QUALITY PROBLEMS
One of our products has a fault
PROBLEM: Sometimes there is a failure in the production process and we come across defective products. “The quality of the products is necessary. You have to put measurements and communicate them. Internally or externally, depending on the degree of the failure and its consequences, on whether or not it has gone out on the street… It is important to assume the blame if it is a service or a product ”, points out Jesús Marciel.
AVOID: Bring that product to market at all costs. Cut prices.
SALES STRATEGIES: Fix it! It is obvious, but not everyone is so clear. It is also about giving priority to the solution of this quality failure over any other priority that the company may have set. Not only when it comes to health issues. You cannot think that customer service will save time. It is a business illusion. Communication. Depending on the severity, the type of product, where the failure occurred, whether it has already reached the end customer, you must design communication strategies to report the failure and why it has occurred. These are situations that, although they have not reached the customer, must be known within the company by all employees. Especially to prevent similar situations in the future
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