Why Every SME Needs a Sales Process

store, online, ecommerce

Why Every SME Needs a Sales Process

Image for post

Last month, I reached out to 3 different IT hardware suppliers to make inquiries regarding laptops. I had a clear budget, basic technical requirements, brand preferences, and a timeline. If you were to assess my situation according to the BANT framework that looks into Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline, I was what you would call a qualified lead.

The responses were as follows:

  • One promised to send me details via WhatsApp but didn’t, even after sending them a reminder.
  • One sent me a quote with two options: a new machine or an ex-UK machine.
  • One sent me 2 options, both of which were ex-UK machines.

Sixteen days later, and none of them had reached out to follow up to close the sale.

This made me reflect on how easy it is to lose opportunities for closing a sale without a proper process in place, one that is preferably not managed by the business owner themselves as they tend to wear many hats.

Remember that you only grow when you maintain the business you already have while closing new sales. So build a sales process regardless of how small your business is.

Article also available on Linkedin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more
, , , ,

You Need To Build Your Skills to Grow Your Business

You Need To Build Your Skills to Grow Your Business

Image for post

“My focus right now is business growth and not skills development.”

It is a statement I often hear when I’m talking to entrepreneurs, which makes me wonder, how can business growth go without skills development? Shouldn’t the two go hand-in-hand?

I’ve always believed that if you were to grow your business organically through selling directly to clients, it is important to master several vital skills, among them:

  • Strategic thinking and planning: This is the process of crafting the direction you want your business to go within a three-to-five-year framework.
  • Team building and management skills: Unless you are a Solopreneur, it’s very hard to attain operational excellence without a team to deliver your product/service.
  • Customer service skills: You need to ensure your customer’s expectations are met and they are kept happy. It would be really hard to grow a business if you keep on losing customers at the same rate you’re acquiring them.
  • Financial Management skills: Cash flow is the life-blood of all growing businesses and is the primary indicator of business health.

These are a diverse set of skills that you would need to master through experience as well as business courses such as the Advanced Entrepreneurship Program(AEP) by ISBI at Strathmore Business School.

 

 

Read more