Are you in the direct sales game? Would you like to close more deals, drive more revenue, and earn bigger commission checks? You’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we share 11 practical direct sales tips. Once you implement them, you’ll achieve more success and become the sales superstar you’ve always wanted to be.
Sound interesting? Then keep reading. We have a lot of valuable information to share!
11 Practical Direct Selling Tips
If you sell directly to the end consumer, you face specific challenges that other sales reps don’t have to worry about. Don’t fret, these 11 direct selling tips will even the playing field:
Identify monthly, quarterly and annual sales targets
To succeed in sales, you need to identify monthly, quarterly, and annual sales targets. Doing so will help you stay focused on your goals and make strategic decisions to achieve them.
The best sales targets are SMART:
- Specific: What exactly are you hoping to achieve?
- Measurable: What KPIs will you use to gauge success?
- Attainable: Are your sales targets realistic, or just pipe dreams?
- Relevant: Will your sales targets actually move the needle for your company?
- Time-Related: Do your sales targets have a set-in-stone deadline?
Remember: sales targets aren’t just about hitting specific numbers. They’re also about challenging yourself to constantly improve and grow in your career.
So, take the time to set realistic and ambitious sales targets. Then use said targets as a roadmap to guide you and/or your sales team towards greater success.
Define your ideal customer profile (ICP)
Your ICP is a representation of your ideal customer. It should include demographic and psychographic information. If it includes behavior patterns and purchasing habits, even better.
Once you narrow down your target audience, you’ll be able to tailor your individual tactics and overarching sales strategies to meet specific customer needs and expectations. The result? Higher conversion rates, increased revenue, and greater success for your company.
Create a compelling value proposition
Confidence in the field is key. One of the best ways to acquire said confidence is to simply understand the value you represent to potential customers.
So ask yourself, “What unique benefit does my product and/or service provide?” To answer this question, think about your customers’ pain points. Then think about how your product/service alleviates these pains better than every other solution on the market.
When crafting your value proposition, use simple and concise language that your customers can easily understand. Do not use vague and generic statements, as these will almost always fail to differentiate your offering. We also suggest avoiding jargon whenever possible.
A strong value proposition is crucial when attempting to attract and retain customers. Do your best to craft one that truly speaks to your audience’s needs and desires.
Craft your sales pitch
The best sales pitches convey information in clear and compelling ways.
The people that deliver them have a strong understanding of their target audience and the various factors that convince them to purchase. They then use this knowledge to highlight specific benefits they know will resonate with each potential customer they talk to.
Now, there are two specific pitch examples you should be aware of:
- Storyteller: This sales pitch uses storytelling principles to earn a prospect’s trust. It’s an entertaining approach that makes it easy to engage potential customers.
- Pain-Based: This sales pitch helps sellers identify prospect pain points. Once they have this information, they can use it to craft a compelling case for their offerings.
Set minimum daily sales activities
The direct sales tips above were aimed at sales reps. Here’s one for sales managers: set minimum daily sales activities for your team—then hold each rep accountable to them.
Minimum daily sales activities will help ensure consistent sales growth. How? By forcing your reps to actually do the work that leads to sales, like visiting, calling, and emailing leads.
Once you set these minimums, you’ll notice that your reps seem more focused. It makes sense. They’ll know exactly what actions to take every day. This level of focus will lead to higher quality leads, more sales, and greater revenue.
Use multichannel communications
Every prospect is different, which is why you should use a multichannel communication strategy. Doing so will allow you to connect with potential customers in the ways they prefer.
Don’t rely too heavily on in-person visits, phone calls, emails, text messages, LinkedIn InMails… Instead, use all of these communication channels and tailor your messages to each specific platform. This will make it more likely that your prospects actually engage with you.
We know what you’re thinking, “Multichannel communication sounds like a lot of work. I don’t have time to contact my prospects in multiple ways and track the results.”
You’ll have plenty of time if you use a tool like SPOTIO, which can streamline multiple forms or communication and will automatically log your efforts in this area.
Automate repetitive sales activities
Want to learn how to be successful at direct sales? You have to find ways to boost your productivity. Here’s an idea: automate as many sales activities as possible.
For example, the right app will automatically log prospect interactions and sync them with your CRM. Or qualify leads and forecast sales. Then there’s SPOTIO, which will let you automate entire sales sequences, so that nothing ever falls through the cracks.
Let the robots do menial tasks for you. That way you can focus on more important things, like nurturing prospects, closing deals, and growing revenue.
Offer free samples or value-added services
How do you convince someone to buy a product they’ve never heard of? Or, if they have heard of it, never considered buying? It’s a question all direct sellers must answer.
Fortunately, this isn’t a calculus-level problem. You simply have to give your potential customers something of value. A free sample of your product, or a value-added service (such as a free 30-minute consultation) will almost always go over well with prospects.
Form strategic partnerships
Here’s another one of our favorite direct sales tips: engage in cross-promotion campaigns.
A cross-promotion campaign is a strategic partnership, in which two different brands form a relationship and agree to help the other market their products and/or services.
Two different Mary Kay representatives, for example, could host a joint event, then split the leads they generate. Two different business coaches, on the other hand, could agree to interview each other and post the resulting videos to their individual social media profiles.
Strategic partnerships are great because they lower marketing costs, while introducing your business to an entirely new audience—an audience you can sell to in the future.
Use the “referral technique”
Crafty salespeople make the most of every opportunity. When a lead refuses to buy from them, they don’t wallow. They go for the next best thing—a referral.
The next time a prospect turns you down, say something like, “No problem. I completely understand. Would you mind doing something for me, though? Pass along my contact information to anyone you think would benefit from my product/service.”
This simple technique will help you connect with way more people, who will then reach out to you if they’re interested in buying. Way to turn a negative experience into a win!
Always follow up
The money is in the follow up, as they say.
It’s cliche, but only because it’s 100% true. If you don’t follow up with prospects, you’re leaving a pile of money on the table. It’s really hard to build a successful sales career that way.
Case in point: 80% of sales require five or more follow ups, per Brevet. Sadly, 44% of sales reps give up after one follow up. Don’t be that kind of sales rep!
Reach out to potential customers at appropriate intervals. Don’t stop until they make a purchase or specifically ask you to cease contact. You’ll make way more sales, guaranteed.
Build a direct sales engine with SPOTIO
The direct sales tips in this article will help you close more deals. You just have to implement them into your sales processes, then optimize them to work for your specific audience.
You know what else you should work into your sales process? A stellar field sales solution like, SPOTIO, which will help you in a variety of important ways:
- Lead Generation: Every direct seller needs leads. SPOTIO will help you generate them. Simply choose a territory, then zero in on prospects using 200+ criteria.
- Rep Productivity: SPOTIO is designed to help you get more done in less time, too. Our app will automatically log prospect interactions, plan efficient routes between leads, schedule email and text messages to send at predetermined times, and more.
- Activity Management: If you’re a direct sales manager, you can also keep track of your sales reps with SPOTIO. Know where they are in the field at all times, how many prospects they’ve contacted, and the results of each contact at a quick glance.
- Sales Reporting: Are you on track to hit your sales targets? Understand how close you and/or your team is to quota. Then use this information to update strategies.
- CRM Integrations: One of the best things about SPOTIO is that it plays nice with the other apps you use on a daily basis, including top-level CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. (FYI: SPOTIO integrates with Zapier, too.)
Want to see SPOTIO in action? Just sign up for a free demo of our tool!
