Improve Sales Revenue? Should Businesses Increase the Marketing Budget First; OR Optimize the Sales Engine?

We have all witnessed a seismic shift in the way we do business during the last two years, where we were immediately pushed into engaging our potential clients remotely, whether it be by phone or video calls. It quickly became the norm, and although in-person selling won’t phase out, buyers are finding it easier and more efficient to filter through multiple suppliers virtually before committing to an in-person meeting. In many cases, and depending on the ticket price, full transactions are made completely virtually. So, the question is, how efficient are we in selling remotely, and how does that impact our sales growth and future? Well, what we have come to realize is that many companies have still not invested in building an efficient remote selling system, and that the companies that did build a strong system, gained significant competitive advantage; this has allowed them to be ahead of the game in their industry, and gain new market share in a new virtual world. Some of the advantages of efficient virtual selling include faster market reach, advantage over competition, more meetings per day, lesser sales costs, and new virtual market-share potential. Therefore, we strongly believe that having a strong virtual selling system as part of a business’s sales strategy is no longer an option, but a necessity to achieve growth and not be left behind.

One of the main challenges that we see small & medium businesses struggle with, is their inability to differentiate themselves from competition; at least when it comes to the market’s perception. This usually leads to losing sales to competition with lower pricing; although most business owners are convinced that their products and services are superior. What we have found is that many businesses in this situation can gain competitive advantage by focusing on adding unique value, and this may be established by packaging unique products and services or highlighting unique expertise in their field and industry, that are difficult to duplicate. Another common way to avoid getting into price wars with competition is by narrowing down to a very specific target market, where the company, products and services can be positioned as the only expert, unique, and credible solution. No matter the approach to gaining competitive advantage, it might prove to be very difficult, especially in very competitive industries with little room for creating unique value. However, the fact remains that there is always room for improvement with almost any product, service, and industry, and identifying these areas of improvement usually starts by finding out how a product or service can add unique value to the customer. Once established, this unique competitive advantage with the appropriate market positioning, can allow businesses to charge premium prices for their products and services. Translating this competitive advantage into a business’s sales & marketing efforts effectively could prove to be challenging due to inconsistencies in many sales & marketing processes and structures. Therefore, it is crucial that a highly effective sales and marketing engine is in place to achieve optimal results. Finally, it is important that companies remain agile and continuously work on creating unique competitive strategies to avoid price wars with competition and achieve scalable growth.