Maximum Impact: Finding Your #1 Growth Strategy

"What was the #1 strategy you used last year that significantly impacted your sales?" asked Jan Visser of Sales Team Tools.

Now that's one good provocative question! Almost immediately, an answer popped into my head. Then the next moment, another response emerged and then another. Before long, I was in a full-blown argument with myself with six different strategies vying for the top spot.

But after a rigorous analysis, I finally decided that the best results came from the strategic relationships I established with other firms who sell to my targeted decision makers.

These companies leveraged my expertise (in the form of ebooks, podcasts & webinars) as a part of their lead generation campaigns. Essentially, they "blessed" my work, telling their prospects and customers that I was a well respected thought leader in the sales field.

As a result, my ideal clients learned how my company could help their salespeople crack into corporate accounts and shorten sales cycles. In short, I leveraged their database to create more opportunities with minimal extra work.

The key to this strategy is LEVERAGE!

Have you ever stopped to think how you could achieve the same or better sales results with less effort? Mmmmmm?

I bet not! For some odd reason, most of us feel we need to slog it out by ourselves. Each morning we get up with a humongous list of "to dos" we need to accomplish in order to grow our business. And it seems like we can never get ahead.

So I'm going to challenge you to step back from your normal way of working for just one day to see if you can come up with a leveraged approach to increase your sales. 

The first thing you'll want to do is identify potential strategic alliance partners. Think about who else calls on the same decision makers you want to reach. I'd suggest looking at companies that have related, but not overlapping products or services. Also, talk to your customers to find out which companies & individuals they respect.

Once you have some names, set up a time to explore the concept of strategic leverage. Be creative! There are so many things you can do together. You can share leads, focus on developing your business at specific firms, bring each other in as trusted resources and more.

Here are two examples of alliances that turned out to be extremely profitable for all involved.

• The top salesperson for a company that sells to the automotive industry established an alliance with other sellers who call on the paint shop. This enabled him to keep on top of new developments, thus ensuring that his customers didn't experience any line-stopping problems. Even though his offering is pricey, his sales are growing at the expense of the competition.

• Several years, I joined forces with four other firms to put on a seminar about new product launches. We co-marketed the event to our combined databases. Then, at the workshop we each talked about our areas of expertise. The event paid for itself, but more importantly, everyone netted new clients.

Have I got you thinking? I sure hope so, because it doesn't have to be so darn hard to get sales and grow your business. 

When I realized that strategic leverage was my #1 growth factor, I took a long lunch with myself to rethink my own plans. Within two hours, I came up with a couple knock-your-socks-off ideas that will take my business to a whole new level with less effort.

You can do the same thing! Figure out your own top growth strategy and do more of it! Or borrow mine. What matters is that you act with deliberate intent, analyze your results and focus on strategies with maximum impact.

Also, I invite you to share your #1 growth strategy in the comments section!

Comments

[Karl Goldfield]

Jill,

My greatest efforts in 2007 were aligned with educating the hungriest reps with our largest partner on our sales process and strategy. I educated them just enough to go out and evangelize the product and help us generate a pipeline. In December and January 35% of our inbound leads have come from this alliance, and we are seeing more and more opportunity set in place by our partner.

We definitely had similar success, and even now in trying to cultivate my opportunities for the future, I am working to align with great mentors to build my personal brand. Using experts to leverage opportunity is paramount to long term success.

ANOTHER GREAT ARTICLE!!!

[Shama Hyder]

Our greatest asset has been our blog-site. Currently we get 100% of our clients through that blog.

I haven't focused too much on strategic partnerships, but now that you mention it-I will take a long lunch myself and ponder possibilities. Thank you for sharing Jill!

[Ian Brodie]

My #1 strategy?

I'm almost embarrassed to say, but it was asking some of my best clients to recommend people they knew who would benefit from my help.

A completely obvious, simple strategy. But one I hadn't used for a while - and it worked a treat.

Ian