Sales Areas Even Fortune 500 Companies Struggle With

When it comes to sales, many would like to believe there is a magical formula or method that will fix the sales woes of any business.

This simply isn’t true — though assembling an all-star sales team can’t hurt.

Even Fortune 500 sales can turn into a rollercoaster from time to time. Giants, such as HP and Nintendo, have all experienced the wrath of a rapid market shift or poor marketing decisions. However, with proper planning and research, it is usually possible to get back on track and continue to grow your business. These four areas are concerns that even Fortune 500 sales teams struggle with.

Defining and communicating value

In order to sell a product or service, one must communicate its value to the buyer. The problem is that many businesses and their salespeople are not communicating the right values to the appropriate targets.

The consideration of value differs per target group. Each needs its own value proposition carefully thought out, and this might take a bit of discovery to find out exactly what the prospect considers valuable and which communications they best respond to.

Another way of putting it is “find out what each target group will pay you for, and figure out the best way to communicate about it.”

For more on determining an optimal value proposition for your sales process, check out this article from Forbes.

Cashing in on the top 20 percent

Pareto’s Principle, or the 80-20 rule, is mentioned so much that it is almost cliché. However, many businesses overlook this concept when trying to improve Fortune 500 sales.

Simply stated, the idea is that 20 percent of your customer base is responsible for 80 percent of your sales intake. In the quest to build the perfect brand, please every customer and corner the market, this 20 percent is often neglected.

Find your biggest fans, tap into their potential and catapult your sales performance. For tips on finding and utilizing your top 20 percent, consider this guide from Entrepreneur.

Implementing CRM software

With the increased availability of cloud services and the possibility to gather information like never before, businesses have more tools to close the sale than ever. However, these tools are only useful if your business uses them efficiently.

A popular example is CRM suites. The benefits of these tools are easy to see, what most service providers don’t mention is that adoption rates, even within Fortune 500 sales teams, can be difficult to increase.

Fortunately, this trend is starting to reverse thanks to mobile devices which make it easy for salespeople to access CRM 24/7 from anywhere.

Retaining sales superstars

Sales team turnover is a bugaboo for even Fortune 500 companies with deep pockets which can afford the best compensation packages. That shows that money is not the end-all in retaining top performers.

The best salespeople thrive under challenges. Embrace your sales superstars and use them to drive the rest of your team. From roleplaying and mentoring to volunteering innovative ideas, great salespeople appreciate going above and beyond — as long as they feel valued and are compensated for any extra duties in some way.

Conquering these four obstacles will improve close rates, bolster sales team morale and help businesses of any size perform like champions.