11 Tips to Make Your Company an Online Sales Machine

Do you want to create a real sales machine and increase sales at the end of the month?

So, the first thing you should keep in mind is that you need to improve your sales process.

I’m not saying that he’s bad.

It may even be that you already have an incredible dynamic in the company, achieving satisfactory results.

But optimizing performance is something that must be done continuously.

Thus, the development of a sales machine occurs in several stages.

It starts from the generation and qualification of leads , goes through the training of the team and monitoring of indicators and reaches the marketing strategy and the experience delivered to the consumer.

There are many different aspects, isn’t it?

So the sooner you start, the better.

Ready to create your sales machine?

Read on and we will learn more about the fundamental tactics to succeed in this challenge.

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Unite the human expertise of the sales team and use technology to increase the company’s performance.

You can tell that the sentence above sums up the meaning of a vending machine.

This term basically represents having a sales process so efficient that the indexes increase steadily – as if it were automatic.

In sales jargon, it is as if the product “sold itself”.

But building a sales machine is not an easy task.

Nor is it something that can be built overnight.

In fact, this achievement requires planning, strategy, involvement and dedication from the entire sales team.

A vending machine also requires a well-structured process, which is continuously optimized and designed specifically to meet consumer expectations.

In other words, it requires an automated and smooth process throughout all of its stages.

And, of course, it invariably depends on the company’s ability to attract qualified sales leads and retain customers.

But, after all, how to create a real sales machine?

If that’s your goal, keep reading to explore the best tips on the subject.

So, you decided to turn your company into a sales machine.

It is an excellent choice.

But where to start?

What are the actions needed to increase sales rates considerably?

In the next few lines, I will list the main tips that you should put into practice if you want to build a sales machine. Prepared?

1. Generate leads

You can’t increase sales if you don’t expand the base of people interested in your product or service.

I’m talking about sales leads: users who have shown this interest, providing a contact usually on the company’s website to obtain specific material, such as an e-book or a course, for example.

In other words, they are potential customers for your company.

Think of lead generation as the fuel to keep the machine from running.

This step is the beginning of the sales funnel .

Therefore, only from there is it possible to continue the funnel, working the leads until they are converted into customers.

2. Segment leads

The next step is to divide the lead group into categories.

In general, segmentation represents the stage where the potential customer is in the shopping journey.

It may be that he is just learning about a certain subject and does not yet know that he needs the solution you deliver.

Or that recognizes the need to buy a product like the one you sell, but is still analyzing which is the best option on the market.

Do you see how these two categories represent different moments?

Therefore, you should not have the same sales approach for all sub-groups.

Define criteria to segment the leads, as this will help in customizing the strategy to turn them into customers with assertiveness.

3. Qualify your leads

There is an important detail that you need to be aware of: a large lead base does not mean that they will all become customers.

In fact, the greater the number of leads, the greater the chances of having false sales opportunities.

What I mean is that if you analyze only the number of people attracted to the business, you will have a misconception based on a vanity metric.

What really matters is your ability to qualify leads.

This is what we call SQLs: sales qualified leads, in English.

But, for that, you need to know what the profile of your ideal client is.

That is, the consumer who is most likely to become a customer of your company.

At this time, consider the segmentation done previously, in which some leads are just realizing the need for the product, and others are almost ready to buy.

Then, your homework is to analyze the stage where the lead is in order to be worked properly by the sales team and digital marketing efforts .

In other words, you need to guide you through the maturing process until you are ready to close a deal.

4. Improve your processes

Creating a sales machine requires the company to continually improve its processes.

Each step is crucial to gaining a customer, which means that any failure can adversely affect sales performance.

Of course, by adopting the tips I quote in this article, you will automatically optimize your processes.

But you also need to have a systemic view on the functioning of your company and the actions taken by the team.

Are there any gaps or points that can be improved?

What strategies could improve the results?

How to increase productivity ?

In an article for the Entrepreneur portal , Brian Horn, co-founder of Authority Alchemy, recommends that the entrepreneur take a minute to reflect on the processes.

“What are the steps in your sales process? Who is your client? Where are you getting your leads from? What is your messaging strategy? ”.

These are some of the reflections suggested by the author.

5. Invest in training

Is training already part of your business investment list?

If your answer was no, it is time to rethink that attitude.

A company only has good results when it has a qualified and qualified team to achieve high performance.

It doesn’t matter how many years of experience the salespeople have.

They need to be up to date, prepared for new sales dynamics and instigated to test new tactics with customers.

So, training should be a priority, okay?

And, preferably, follow the evolution of the sales team.

Promote feedbacks , encourage the exchange of ideas and listen to what are the main difficulties of professionals.

This way, more than offering training, you will generate training specific to the needs of the team.

6. Know your business

You need to have full knowledge about the company if you want to turn it into a sales machine.

And when I say that I am referring to all aspects of the business.

In other words, you need to know the processes, the profile of the ideal customer, the characteristics of your product or service and the value it delivers to the consumer.

You also need to have a good understanding of the market in which you operate and the competition itself.

In short, all this information serves as a basis for you to plan strategies appropriate to the business and, above all, the customer you want to reach.

But I want to highlight here a piece of information that should be on the tip of the tongue: the value you deliver to the customer.

This is the information that differentiates your company from the others and provides guidance for you to explore your strengths when attracting and retaining consumers .

In an article for the Entrepreneur portal, entrepreneur RL Adams warns that if you are not solving problems for your customers, the likelihood that you will increase your sales over time will decrease.

“However, if your products and services solve major problems, your chances of exponential sales increase substantially”, counters the author.

So, after reading this topic, do you already have a clear vision of your company’s value?

If not, is it time to analyze that point, combined?

7. Understand your average ticket

The average ticket is a key performance indicator essential for sales planning .

It represents how much each customer spends, on average, when purchasing their products or services.

The calculation is made by dividing the total billing by the number of sales in the analyzed period.

Okay, but why is this indicator important?

It is that, from it, you can identify flaws in the sales cycle, map customers willing to pay more and plan assertive strategies.

A low average ticket, for example, indicates that your billing does not make up for the costs you have to offer a product or service.

A medium high ticket, on the other hand, means that you are moving in the right direction.

8. Master the acquisition channels

What are the customer acquisition channels used in your company?

Telephone? Email marketing ? Online store ?

Well, you need to have mastery over these channels.

In fact, I recommend that you go further: master several acquisition channels and offer an omnichannel consumer experience.

Don’t you know what that is?

Omnichannel consists of the integration of sales and communication channels to improve the consumer experience with the company.

So, he doesn’t have only one or a few channels to buy and be served, but several channels.

In an article for Forbes magazine, entrepreneur Lilach Bullock says that this type of integrated experience is just what the younger generations expect.

“New generations use multiple devices at any time, research products and services extensively online before purchasing them and generally require personalized experiences that flow seamlessly from channel to channel,” warns the author.

9. Use tools

Companies that don’t use technology in their processes tend to fall behind.

Therefore, the ideal is to include useful tools in the routine.

My tip is to use a CRM program , acronym in English for customer relationship management.

It contains all the information about customers, creating a history for you to create a relationship with them in a personalized way from various actions.

In addition, the system gathers relevant sales data, which can be analyzed to support management decision making in order to improve the sales process.

10. Analyze metrics and indicators

Metrics and key performance indicators ( KPI ) are fundamental numbers that you need to follow to validate or correct the sales strategy.

This constant monitoring should evaluate both the individual performance and the results of the company as a whole.

Revenue, customer retention, customer acquisition cost ( CAC ) and sales index are some relevant indicators.

It is worth mentioning that this continuous monitoring should not be done only by large companies, but by businesses of all sizes in any area.

My tip here is that, with this data in hand, you create a dashboard: a panel with visually organized information that is available to the entire team.

In this way, all salespeople follow indicators and metrics as well, identifying points that need to be corrected and strategies with good results.

11. Know your audience and do digital marketing

I will be very categorical now: virtually no company today survives without digital marketing.

After all, the consumer is inserted in the various digital channels.

Therefore, it is not possible to postpone the company’s performance in these online environments.

Digital channels represent opportunities to engage with the public, position the brand, invest in advertising and, of course, sell.

The first step in developing a digital marketing strategy is to know your target audience .

Assemble a persona , which is a character created from the characteristics of real people.

You should keep that persona in mind when designing the strategy, as this will increase the level of assertiveness.

Then, map the digital channels where your target audience is present.

Generally, the most common ones are social networks and blogs , but you can still use channels like email marketing.

Then, plan the communication, language and subjects to be addressed, always evaluating the persona’s needs.

Extra tip: if you are going to invest in a blog, bet on a good SEO strategy (search engine optimization) and make content for the various stages of the buying journey.

By the end of this article, I am sure that you are prepared to create a real sales machine.

By putting the above tips into practice, you will undoubtedly see significant improvements in the company’s sales process .

As a result, your results will also get better.

In other words: more profitability at the end of the month and competitiveness in the market vis-à-vis competitors.

But it is clear that this challenge requires effort and dedication.

Remember that the role of the manager is not enough.

You can’t do all these steps yourself.

The entire team must be involved in the process, not least because the salespeople have a direct relationship with the company’s sales results.