4 Ways to Increase Sales for Manufacturing Companies

The annual sales quota drives company success. The amount of products you manufacture relies on how much you sell, and the other way round. It’s the time-honored principle of supply and demand.

What’s new are the changes in sales tactics and strategies happening all over the industry due to the technological advancements and changes in consumer behavior. It’s right for the manufacturing process. Then it must also be true for sales.

Welcoming innovation is relevant now more than ever, both at the production line and at the sales office. To aid your efforts, here are four ways manufacturing companies can increase sales and remain competitive on the open market.

1. Align Marketing with Sales
Aligning marketing and sales teams aims to improve communication between the two groups, and create goals which rely on mutual achievements to be successful. This sales-marketing tactic is also known as smarketing and depends on the marketing team providing a predetermined number of leads the sales department can follow up. Sales and marketing alignment also requires a modern CRM.

Because all the goals and results are quantifiable, it is easy to increase sales by merely re-evaluating the performance and determining the number of leads needed to make the required amount of sales. It also allows the manufacturing company to decide where to invest and which channels to target to increase the number of leads.

2. Focus Efforts on Existing Accounts
Customer retention is the capacity of a company to retain its existing customers, and a cost-effective way to increase revenue. According to a Harvard Business School report, a 5 percent jump in customer retention can raise revenue up to 95 percent.

Targeting current customers has a better turnover rate because they tend to spend and buy more manufactured goods, than first-time visitors. And since you already have an established line of communication with them, the cost of marketing new offers or one-time deals is much lower.

3. Target New Accounts Instead of New Markets
Individual customers have their pain points and reasons for considering to buy your product. Because these motives can be vastly different, it is essential to approach each potential buyer differently and create a pitch that targets them specifically.

A sales team can initiate communication by calling prospects and asking questions to find out their pain points. Based on that information, a customized sales offer can be drafted and presented to the potential client.
Although this requires a lot more time to prepare, it is a lot more successful at landing sales than a general sales pitch sent out to the entire market.

4. Nurture and Create Consumer Fans
When applied to transactions, Pareto’s law states that 80% of revenue from sales comes from just 20% of your consumer base. To put it into practice, you will need to nurture those high potential customers and take steps to convert another 10-20% to fall into that group.

A cost-efficient way of achieving is by creating a solid content marketing strategy. Creating free educational material, like webinars, blog posts, guides, and tutorials about your product means you take care of those high-value accounts and nudge those with that potential into the right direction.

Ultimately, you create true fans of your brand. These fans have the potential to keep your business afloat, and according to Kevin Kelly, all you need is 1000.

How well you implement these strategies will determine how much revenue you generate. Remember to target both existing and new customers, because both have the potential to buy your product. All you have to do is make the sale.