3 Steps To Increase Online Sales

One question we get asked the most often is how to increase online sales fast. Increasing online sales can be a challenging task. However, following the proper steps will help put your eCommerce store on the path to success.

3 Steps To Increase Online Sales

Increase online sales by following these 3 essential steps:

1. Gather CRM data
2. Talk to your salespeople
3. Reverse engineer your marketing plan

Gather CRM Data

Your eCommerce store is at a huge disadvantage if you're not looking at CRM data. This data includes information on your prospects and customers, such as their product needs and purchasing history.

Review the last 10, 20, or even 50 deals your organization "won" and "lost." Look for trends in the following things:

• Company type
• Size
• Source of lead
• Number of contacts

Take notice of any trends. This data can help you double down on a top-performing lead source and even save you tons of time on the channels that aren't yielding traffic, engagement or conversions.

If you need to set up a CRM system, see why we recommend the HubSpot CRM.

Talk To Your Salespeople

When sitting down with marketing teams, we ask about the feedback they are receiving from their sales teams. Often times, there is no dialogue taking place.

We like to think the sole purpose of marketing is to generate sales. One can argue that there may be other initiatives, like brand. Let's be honest:

• Brand leads to awareness
• Awareness leads to traffic
• Traffic leads to sales

Sitting down and talking with your sales team is a great exercise to exchange ideas and brainstorm. More importantly, it's a fundamental discussion that shapes your marketing strategy.

Not sure where to start? Bring that CRM data we talked about earlier and ask your sales team for insights. Not only will they be impressed that you reviewed the data, they'll also be happy to offer their commentary on those won and lost deals.

The sales team will wonder:

• What happened?
• Who did they choose?
• Do we lose to them a lot?
• Or do we beat that competitor all the time for the same reasons?

This deeper level insight will provide you with invaluable context as you think about your marketing campaigns, assets and approach.

Finally, don't forget to ask the sales team what assets would help them in the sales process. Although marketers typically view their job as simply to generate leads, you need to be marketing to that lead until they say yes.

Reverse Engineer Your Marketing Plan

Now you’ve got your sales insights, and it’s time to mesh sales and marketing together. Remember, the goal is to give your marketing plan context, and the best way to do this is to reverse engineer from a revenue standpoint.

Begin With Key Considerations:

• Business Unit: What service do we sell?
• Average Deal Size: When we sell, how much is it worth in Year 1?
• Average Sales Cycle: How long does it take us to close a deal?
• Typical Close Rate: For every 10 qualified deals we work, how many will we close?
• Quality Lead Ratio: Currently, if marketing hands you 10 leads, how many are sales-qualified (meaning they are capable of conducting business with us)?
• Target New Revenue: How much new revenue are we trying to generate through this business unit?
• Number of Deals Needed: Based on average deal size and target new revenue, how many deals do we need to close?
• Target Leads: Based on the quality lead ratio, how many leads do we need to generate?

Taking these things into consideration from the beginning will help you to better understand the context of your marketing plan.

Conclusion

True marketing success is represented by the ability to measure activity against outcomes. To do this, your marketing and sales teams must collaborate.

Following these 3 steps will provide you with valuable information on where to spend time, what assets should be at each stage of the funnel, and what sort of nurturing best supports prospects.

Most importantly, these insights will provide you with the means to increase online sales and develop a strong marketing strategy.

If you'd like help aligning your marketing and sales efforts, contact us through the form below. Our team will be happy to help!