Alongside any good marketing strategy should sit an equally strong sales strategy. We’re delighted to have a guest blog from David McLean sharing his top tips for how to build your sales strategy.
Did you know that customer segmentation, combined with a focus on product benefits, can greatly enhance your sales strategy?
Businesses that understand their customers and address their needs directly will see improved engagement, conversion, and retention. Segmentation isn’t just an essential part of your sales strategy, it’s key to unlocking sustained growth.
But what is segmentation and how can you make it work for your business? This blog reveals all…
What is Segmentation?
Segmentation helps you to break down your customer types, so you can focus on who you’re selling to. But it’s far more effective than this idea of “niching down”. Rather than saying I’m going to focus on this one particular type of person or business, you instead group together types of people or businesses into segments.
This gives you a much larger pool of potential customers to sell to, and it makes it far easier to manage as you’re grouping them together.
Think of an orange being your entire customer base, but each segment is a different type of person or business. You can pick who you want to sell to at any one time, with messages that resonate with them, rather than having to speak to everyone more generically. But you’re still left with a large potential customer base than having a really niche market.
Think Tailored, Not One-Size Fits All
Many businesses adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to their sales strategy, which often misses the mark.
Customer segmentation allows businesses to deliver tailored messages that resonate with specific groups, increasing engagement and conversion rates. In a complex and diverse market, different segments will have different priorities. You might have city based customers as one segment, and they might prefer convenience. While those in rural areas, a separate segment, might value a personalised service.
Understanding these nuances and writing a strategy taking these into account helps you to sell more effectively.
The “Why”
- Tailored Messaging: With segmentation, you can develop messages that speak directly to each customer group’s needs, improving your chances of closing sales. A budget-conscious customer, for example, requires a different message to a premium-seeking client.
- Optimised Product Offerings: Segmentation helps you align your products and services with customer needs and wants. By offering the right product to the right group, and in the right way, you enhance customer satisfaction and increase sales potential.
- Resource Efficiency: Sales teams can focus on high-potential segments, optimising time and effort. You can spend more resources on high-value customers and automate or streamline efforts for lower-value segments.
- Customer Retention: Tailored engagement improves customer satisfaction and loyalty, leading to repeat business and organic growth.
Focus on Benefits, Not Features
For any business, it’s essential to highlight how your product benefits the customer, rather than just listing its features.
Features are important, but customers are more interested in how your product solves their problems or meets their needs. For example, instead of saying your software has “24/7 support” (a feature), emphasise that “you’ll never be left without help, no matter the time of day” (a benefit). Benefits address the customer’s pain points, making them more compelling and relatable.
The “How”
- Gather Customer Data: To build your segments effectively, you need to understand them first. Collect insights on demographics, purchasing behaviour, and preferences. This should be done by channel.
- Analyse and Group: Where possible, use CRM tools to divide customers into distinct segments based on shared characteristics.
- Tailor Strategies: Customise your sales messaging and product offerings for each segment.
- Review Regularly: Continuously monitor and update your segmentation to stay aligned with customer needs.
Without segmentation, you run the risk of being too generic, and it becomes a mammoth task trying to sell to so many people in one go. Segmentation has multiple benefits for marketing and sales.
To explore more on this topic, take a look at our blog from 2020 that shares why we never talk about the “ideal customer”.
